Day 1 - Overton to Ogbourne

First day's walking completed and we are obviously a bit out of practise. We are both suffering from tired feet and legs tonight after completing the first ten miles of the walk. As expected, the Ridgeway is proving a little tougher than the Thames Path was last year. No really steep hills to contend with but plenty of ups and downs.

The rewards for the walking were the fabulous views we were presented with. Today's walk climbed steadily at first giving us views across to Cherill and Avebury. Later on we we able to see Broad Hinton and further afield. By the time we reached Barbury Castle we were able to see across the wide flat valley to the ridge we will be walking along tomorrow towards Liddington Hill (and beyond). 

We were lucky to have dry weather and a mixture of cloudy conditions and sunny intervals. The path was fairly quiet - mostly just other walkers, runners and cyclists. We did meet up with some motorbikes. We stepped to the side so they could pass and they drove straight towards us slowly and then stopped. The lead motorcyclist switched off his engine and asked why we were giving him such an angry look. "Because you drove straight at us of course!" we replied. At which point he claimed some of his party were struggling with the conditions and needed to keep to the flat path ie. the part we were walking on. He then decided to lecture us about how the Ridgeway had been a path for thousands of years and used by drivers .. If we didn't like them sharing the Ridgeway perhaps we should go and walk along the M25. I couldn't help thinking what an arsehole he was! In the event we just turned our backs on him and walked away.

On the plus side, we enjoyed listening to the skylarks and watching the swallows darting to and fro. And no stiles to contend with either. Plenty of sheep in fields all around us and on occasions, racehorses and gallops on either side. And just the one field of cows - who to be honest, we're more interested in the nearby water trough and lush grass around it.

Tomorrow we have a long 13mile stretch to cover from Ogbourne St George to Woolstone. I know after a steady climb up onto the ridge to Liddington Hill it will be flat .. It's the ups and downs after that before we get near the Uffington White Horse that I am not looking forward to quite as much.