I walked The Ridgeway national trail from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon over eight days in September 2023.  These are my top ten takeaways from the experience.

1. Compeed plasters are second to none.
2. Chalk paths are very slippery when wet.
3. Don’t judge a walk by its start (or finish).  The official start/end of The Ridgeway is Overton Hill, which is nothing more than an uninspiring carpark, and which looks more suitable for doggers than walkers.  The end/start of The Ridgeway is Ivinghoe Beacon, which has glorious views but, at the precise moment that I completed my walk, was being hogged by two of the most unaware, loud-mouthed, arrogant cyclists I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
4. If you have zips on your rucksack, make sure they are zipped up together at the side, not at the top of the bag.  I discovered this simple lesson when I found my rucksack gaping open whilst walking through the Aston Rowant Nature Reserve and had to retrace my steps for a mile in order to recover a jacket, which had fallen out.
5. Toilet paper makes a good page divider when your guidebook has got soaking wet.  Another lesson learned through bitter experience when a month’s rain fell on Smeathe’s Ridge in one hour.
6. Book accommodation as close to the trail as possible.  Although the official trail length is 87 miles, I estimated that I walked a further 26 miles getting to my overnight stops.
7. Cheese sandwiches and a Mars bar make a perfectly nutritious lunch every day for a week.
8. Flints can feel very hard underfoot even when wearing the sturdiest walking boots.
9. Waterproof doesn’t mean storm-proof.  See 5.
10. Despite depressing (and accurate) warnings concerning the loss of Britain’s biodiversity, England remains a very green and pleasant land.

© E. C. Glendenny

E. C. Glendenny is momentarily all walked-out.