Re: The Ridgeway | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

The Ridgeway 16

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The Ridgeway

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Rhiannon Aug 7, 2003 14:04:27

Replying to Druidisms

this isn't very helpful but just something I was thinking recently:
the thing about walking the Ridgeway is that (and correct me if I'm wrong) there is no water up there? If it's chalk downland then all the streams will trickle out at the bottom.
So that's a pain for the modern walker (that's my link to your question) - but what about the prehistoric walker? Surely it was a pain for them too, and whatever animals they were with? Why isn't the track at the bottom of the ridge, not the top? Fair enough, you can see better from the top.
Can anyone enlighten me?

By the way, where will you be starting from?

Druidisms Aug 7, 2003 14:09:22

Replying to Rhiannon

That is an interesting point about the water. I understood that it was used (amongst others things) by the warrior tribes for troop movements and meetings and it would seem natural that they would stay on high ground for safety and visability. Just a thought any way.

We shall be starting from Ivinghoe and doing the lot in 5/6 days at a guess. We'll do some test walks first to see the sort of pace we can manage fully loaded.

RiotGibbon Aug 7, 2003 14:19:55

Replying to Rhiannon

the fact that there's no water up there is the whole point - in the days before bridges were common, you really didn't want to be crossing rivers very often, especially if you were droving a load of moody cattle

something we take for granted now

the the whole Aylesbury-Avebury run is 84 miles - that's 12 miles a day over a 7 days, which could be a sod if you're carrying all your own gear. If you get the "Ridgeway Companion" (4 quid on Amazon), it lists all the b&bs, many of which will take your stuff to your next drop

otherwise, you could get the train to Goring/Streatley, and walk the 42 miles to Avebury - that's what we were going to do this week (sniff, sniff)

RiotGibbon Aug 7, 2003 14:25:14

Replying to Rhiannon

oh, and the track *could* have been at the bottom of the ridge - it was only the 1812 Enclosures Act which defined what we now know as "The Ridgeway" (between Avebury and Streatley) - before that it was a general free-for-all, going anywhere you fancied in that general direction - the "Ridgeway" was the sw/ne route that avoided having to cross any major rivers

what you would call "The Ridgeway Path" now is even more recent, only going back about 40 years or so. The Goring-Aylesbury section sort of follows the Icknield Way though the Chilterns, but you needn't take "The Actual Route Taken By Our Ancestors" schtick too seriously ....

I was *really* looking forward to doing the Ridgeway this week - been really reading up. Might get a couple of days in just before the school holidays end, but I think we might have missed our opportunity this year ...