Goring to Letcombe

Back to The Ridgeway on the hottest day of the year so far. The temperature was forecast to reach more than 30 degrees Celsius and it was certainly quite warm! We left home early and caught the 7.09 train from Downham Market to Kings Cross which got us to Paddington in plenty of time to catch the 9.27 stopping train to Oxford. This got us to Goring and Streatley Station soon after 10.30. We pottered our way down through Goring to the River Thames, then crossed the river (in several parts and with several weirs and locks etc.) which brought us from Oxfordshire to Berkshire and from Goring to Streatley.

In Streatley we turned right onto the A417 then left onto a minor road signposted to the golf club. We climbed steadily and as we walked along the A417 we were asked if we were 'doing the 100k'. It turned out that the 100 kilometre run in question was the Race to the Stones, from Chinnor to Avebury, and soon afterwards we began to be overtaken by runners. This continued for most of the day, though later on most people were walking not running, and they didn't always overtake us. Large numbers of 'other people' on the path usually annoy me, but these runners were pleasant and polite and they made the day more interesting.

The road past the golf course and beyond was an attractive and, most importantly, a wooded (i.e. shady) lane, and at the top (a ‘pit stop’ for the runners) we turned up a wooded track to the right and continued to climb. We reached the summit of the hill and descended slightly. Unfortunately the trees ended, and it was rather hot.

We stopped for some fruit and a rest in a little copse on Roden Downs, then continued past gallops on Compton Downs. We turned right at a cross roads of byways, but there was never any doubt as to which was our path, especially with the red signs indicating the route for the runners. For most of the day, The Ridgeway was a broad chalk track and we just followed it. The views opened up to our right - Didcot Power Station was in sight for most of the day but the countryside was much prettier than this implies.

When there was no shade the heat was trying, so we walked quite slowly, drank a lot of water and stopped for a rest about once an hour - sometimes slightly off the path, where the trees were, and hidden from the path by long grass.

We passed underneath the A34 and passed the Rutherford Appleton Lab at Harwell. 'Pit Stop 5' for the runners was in a car park on Bury Downs and we also stopped at the next car park, in an attractive wooded area near Cuckhamsley Hill, and somewhere in the Ridgeway Reservoir (not visible)/Midsummer Wood area - half expecting to see Barnaby and Jones, or a body!

At around 4.30pm, we stopped for a proper rest and to eat the salad we had brought with us, sitting on the steps of the Wantage Monument. We crossed another road then the Ridgeway diverted slightly from its 'straight ahead' path, with a dog-leg left and then right onto a broad path bringing us out onto the A338 south of Wantage.

We turned right at the road then left onto a track which took us almost past Letcombe Castle (also known as Segsbury Camp) though we would not have noticed the ancient hill fort had we not known it was there. We turned right off the Ridgeway on a track to Letcombe Regis though the middle of the fort, and climbed a stile into the fort itself, a huge place. We walked on the grass by the side of the track and emerged at the other end and the track became a pretty road, which descended steeply to the pretty little village of Letcombe Regis.