Mrs Three Points of the Compass joins me on another hike- the 87 mile Ridgeway. Following over 5000 years of history from Avebury to Leighton Buzzard.

Much as I like a backpacking trip, there is more than one way of tackling a long distance path. Each summer myself and Mrs Three Points of the Compass enjoy a gentler approach to walking a trail. We pay the money and have one of the many specialist companies handle the logistics of a trail for us, with them arranging the accommodation, transfers etc. Then we just settle down to enjoy the self-guided experience. This has been our fifth time using Contours and as usual, they did a grand job. The Ridgeway runs along the escarpment of the Berkshire and Wiltshire Downs and passes through two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the North Wessex Downs and the Chiltern Hills. It would be the fifth National Trail for Mrs Three Points. I walked it back in 2016, camping on the way, but was looking forward to experiencing it again, perhaps enjoying far better meals than I did the first time round and certainly a softer bed. This was supposed to be our summer holiday after all.

The Ridgeway National Trail doesn’t actually start at Avebury. It commences at a carpark on the A4 a handful of miles away. This made no sense at all to us, as travelling direct to that start point then misses out an exploration of a World Heritage site, that includes the ‘Stone Avenue’ running parallel to the B4003. Also the West Kennett Long Barrow, Silbury Hill and the Avebury henge, a large circle of outer bank and inner ditch, with an incomplete inner circle of large stones. This is one of the largest neolithic stone circles in Europe. It is far larger than the perhaps better known Stonehenge and warrants time prior to walking the trail. We had deliberately left home early morning, to arrive in Avebury with enough time for a few hours wander to take these in prior to our ‘official’ start tomorrow. The two of us somehow got separated on the London Underground and missed our scheduled train out of London as a result. Pouring out our woes to Paddington station ticketing staff, we were promptly rebooked on to the next train out and lost only an hour as a result.

Mrs Three Points of the Compass and I travelled by train from London to Swindon. From there it was a short walk to the bus station and not too long a wait for one of the hourly buses the remaining few miles to the centre of the little village of Avebury, where it deposited us at the bus stop, conveniently located opposite the Red Lion. We were staying at Dorwyn Manor, about quarter of a mile out of the village, but down a fairly busy narrow road with no verge. I had phoned our host Mike in advance and he had agreed to drive to the village to meet us on our arrival. It was a lovely afternoon and we sat outside the pub to enjoy drinks (Golden Nectar, Chef & Brewer, 3.4%) until Mike arrived to pick us and luggage up. He drove us to his lovely residence, checked us in, then drove us back to the village for us to explore. It was a fine afternoon and Avebury had many visitors and families were out in force.

We first walked around half of the large henge that encircles part of the village, before setting off down Stone Avenue, which to my mind, should be the actual start to the national trail. This took us down to West Kennett, where we crossed the road to walk up to the impressively large West Kennett Long Barrow.

Walking back to the village a different way, we passed fairly close to Silbury Hill. Standing on private land, there is no public access and the large dollop sits mostly undisturbed in the centre of crop fields. I do question what harm would come to it if people were permitted to visit. It probably had visitors to Avebury climbing its height for a few thousand years and it is a little curious that lines drawn on a map in the last couple of hundred years have removed this right.

We walked back to our accommodation to shower and change before Mike yet again drove us back to the village (thanks Mike) where we had booked a table at the Red Lion for our evening meal. It was Sunday and we had both been looking forward to a Sunday roast, but were informed these had sold out by two in the afternoon, so I settled for an ‘OK’ pie and veg, Mrs Three Points opted for a curious combination, a bone-on lamb shank in a cheese topped pie. My meal was accompanied by an indifferent pint of Avebury Wellwater, 3.9%, from Green King. I am very much hoping for better beer over the coming days.

The two of us walked off our meal with further exploration of the henge and standing stones. Most visitors had now gone home and sheep grazed undisturbed around the foot of the sarsen stones. Just before our walk back down the road to Dorwyn Manor, we stopped to chat to a couple of Germans also enjoying a peaceful walk around the village. They told us of the aura they were picking up from the stones, different stones emitting different energies… apparently.

• The Ridgeway- National Trail
  • Short film- Grims Ditch
  • 2016- Planning
  • 2016- Food 
  • 2016- Water sources on the Ridgeway
  • 2025- day one- East Kennett to Ogbourne St George
  • 2025- day two- Ogbourne St George to Woolstone
  • 2025- day three- Woolstone to Letcombe Regis
  • 2025- day four- Letcombe Regis to Goring
  • 2025- day five- Goring to Watlington
  • 2025- day six- Watlington to Princes Risborough
  • 2025- day seven- Princes Risborough to Aldbury
  • 2025- day eight- Aldbury to Ivinghoe Beacon and the Bridgewater Monument