Publisher's Synopsis
Are you thinking of backpacking along The Ridgeway National Trail? Most trips along this 85 mile trail from Avebury in Wiltshire, through Oxfordshire and Berkshire, to end up at the the triangulation point on Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire, are easy and pleasant. However, when I undertook this trek in May 1994 with a friend, neither of us being in 'the first flush of youth', it was far from easy, and certainly unpleasant most of the time. The main thing you have to be aware of is the weather. Even if you choose the best and most reliable month, like May, you have to be ready to accept whatever it throws at you. Our walk took 11 days in almost continual rain and bad visibility, and we ended up actually walking nearly twice as far. But even though we were near exhaustion every day, and had we possessed a return railway ticket we would have used it, the joy of completing the trek successfully and raising £1,500 for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) was worth all the trials and tribulations we endured. If you intend to walk this beautiful trail, my advice is the kingpin of the Scouts and Guides - BE PREPARED!
