Walking the Ridgeway, by Anthony Burton

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Ogbourne St. George to Sparsholt Firs (16 miles, 26 km)

The path doesn’t actually go into the village - though it’s only a short way off route – but instead follows the wandering river round to the lovely little hamlet of Southend. The route continues, crossing the busy main road, under the remains of a bridge that once carried the railway from Swindon to Marlborough and across the typical straight line of a former Roman road. This is a steady climb, up a deep, sunken lane, overhung by trees that eventually leads back at the ridge, but now surrounded by arable farmland. This section of the ridge ends at another hill fort, Liddington Castle. There is a steep descent, down to a road that crosses over the M4 to arrive at Fox Hill and the Shepherds Rest pub – as this is the only pub right next to the route in the first half of the walk, it often turns out to be a walkers’ rest as well.

The route leaves the road to climb up Fox Hill, back to the top of the ridge. For a lot of the way, the track runs between hedgerows near the escarpment edge, but where there are breaks, more fine views appear, down to the villages in the Vale. The Ridgeway now enters one of its most dramatic and historic sections. The first site is just off the main route, Wayland’s Smithy. This is a Neolithic long barrow, begun nearly 5000 years ago, a huge mound covering stone burial chambers, with immense sarsen stones set all round it. Just up ahead is Uffington Castle, one of the grandest of all the Iron Age forts and near that on the hillside is another White Horse. This time, it really is the horse that gave the Vale of the White Horse its name. For a long time there was doubt about its age, but recent scientific research has shown that it was first carved right back in the Bronze Age, a remarkable monument. Such a wealth of prehistoric remains would be quite enough on their own to make this part of the walk special, but the superb scenery makes it simply magnificent.

This is also an area where white horses created out of chalk are not the only equine inhabitants: the downs are used as gallops for the racing stables that cluster at the foot of Lambourne Down. There is one more climb to the top of Sparsholt Down, the highest point on this section of the Ridgeway. It was an area loved by a boy called Peter Wren and when he died at the age of 14 an engraved stone was placed here and a very practical tribute, a water tap for thirsty walkers and a trough for horses. From here, there are more gentle undulations, but this section ends at the road by the coppice of Sparsholt Firs.

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Photographs: View of Ogbourne St George and View from White Horse Hill. © Bonza TV Ltd