Aldbourne Circular Route
This 12 mile circular route in the north Wiltshire Downs, just 5½ miles (9km) southeast of the centre of Swindon, is suitable for walkers, horse riders and cyclists. The route mainly follows broad tracks through rolling downland countryside rich in history from prehistoric to recent times.
The route is waymarked with ‘Ridgeway Circular Route’ waymarks. Please keep to the paths and keep dogs under control to prevent them disturbing wildlife or stock.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Ashbury Circulars: a long walk, a shortcut and a shorter walk
The Ashbury Circular Main walk is 7¾ miles (12½ km) with a shortcut reducing it to 6 miles (9½ km) - allow 4 hours (3 hours for shortcut route). The Ashbury Circular Short Walk is 2½ miles (4 km) – allow 1¼ hours
These walks are within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They start on The Ridgeway and take you through classic chalk countryside with wonderful views of rolling downland and the Thames Valley. They include the attractive spring line village of Ashbury at the foot of the scarp and provide some fascinating historical and natural features to explore.
Terrain and conditions
• Tracks, field paths through arable and pasture, and minor village lanes and footpaths.
• The walk is fairly strenuous with one relatively steep hill up and another down.
• One stile only in a temporary fence. 9 gates. The short walk has no stiles.
• Some paths can be muddy and slippery after rain.
• There may be seasonal vegetation on the route.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Aston Rowant Discovery Trail
This walk was developed by Aston Rowant Parish Council. The Trail is stile-free and fully way-marked.
The circular route is 5.3 miles but with the extension to a pub and hotel is 6.2 miles.
The walk begins by Aston Rowant 11th Century Church with its two Romanesque Windows.Church Lane is thought to be part of the London Weye - a route to Oxford used in the Middle Ages. The future Queen Elizabeth 1 passed this way in 1554 when released from the Tower of London and banished to country confinement in Woodstock.The walk then passes along National Trust Juniper Bank and through National Trust Aston Wood. Watch out for Red Kites, Buzzards, Fallow Deer, Muntjac and Bluebells in the Spring; Beech woods planted for the local furniture trade and firewood.
Materials were used for house and roadbuilding from the flint and chalk pits.Natural England Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve with Juniper
Trees, more Red Kites, Buzzards,Nuthatches, Common Spotted Orchid,Chiltern Gentian and many butterflies including the Chalkhill Blue.The extended Trail takes in Lewknor where refreshment may be had at the Leathern Bottle or further along en route back to Aston Rowant, at The Lambert Arms.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Bishopstone Circular Walk
This circular walk is 4½ miles (7¼ km) long - allow 2 hours. The walk is within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and starts from the small, picturesque, spring line village of Bishopstone at the foot of the downs in Wiltshire about 5½ miles (9km) east of Swindon. It takes you through a lovely coombe up onto the downs, and along a stretch of The Ridgeway before descending the scarp slope and returning to the start via the hamlet of Idstone.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Box Wood Walk: Southern Circular Walk
Discover a hill fort, chalk grassland, twisting old box trees on this 3 mile (4.8 kms) circular walk through the largest native box woodland in the country. You'll find beech woodland, boxwood objects and historic routeways and enjoy far-reaching, attractive views of the Chiltern hills and adjacent vales.
For a longer walk you can combine the Souther Circular walk with the Northern Circular walk.
Access information:
- Mainly un-made paths that can be muddy.
- Several steep ascents and descents and several stiles.
- Start/finish: Pulpit Hill, near Monks Risborough.
www.chilternsaonb.org/explore-enjoy
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Box Wood Walks: Northern Circular Walk
This 3.5 miles (5.6 km) circular walk takes you across chalk grassland, past twisting old box trees in the largest native box woodland in the country. You'll see extensive views, village churches, streams and boxwood objects.
For a longer walk you can combine this walk with the Southern Circular walk.
Access information:
- The path surfaces are mainly un-made paths which can be muddy.
- There is one steep ascent and descent, several stiles and steps.
- Start/finish: Great Kimble A4010 parking layby or bus stop.
http://www.chilternsaonb.org/
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Compton Circular route
This 5¾ miles (9¼ km) long route can be enjoyed by walkers, cyclists and horse riders. It is within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and starts from the village of Compton in the heart of the downs in Berkshire, about 5 miles (8km) west of the River Thames at Goring-on-Thames. It follows lovely rolling downland tracks and a stretch of The Ridgeway.
Terrain and conditions
• Mostly on downland tracks.
• This route is moderately strenuous for walkers but with no steep sections.
• No stiles or gates.
• Some paths can be muddy and slippery after rain. The byway heading south from Lowbury Hill is open to vehicles so the surface can be churned up with wheel ruts.
• There may be seasonal vegetation on the route.
We hope you'll enjoy this ride. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Devil's Punchbowl and Segsbury Camp
Within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this walk takes you through some classic undulating downland west of Wantage, a wonderful stretch of The Ridgeway, and includes a visit to the ancient Iron Age fort of Segsbury Camp.One of the iconic landforms along The Ridgeway called the Devil’s Punchbowl, near Wantage, can be found along this walk.
There are areas of Open Access Land which allow walkers to enjoy the scenery of this unique place and the landowners have kindly provided permissive access routes in this area too. Changes have been made to the permissive routes at the Devil’s Punchbowl recently, but there is still plenty to discover and notices have been put up on gates to guide walkers.
Approx 7½ miles (12 km) - allow 3½ hours
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Liddington Hill Literary circular walk
Follow in the footsteps of great writers who found inspiration in this landscape …...
Download details from our walks page or buy the full booklet of four walks from 'Walking the North Wessex Downs, through art, history and literature from Wiltshire Museum, Devizes
Liddington Hill circular walk
4.5 miles – allow at least 2.5hours
Terrain: No stiles, can get muddy, one steep descent
Discover Shipley Bottom, a fine example of an enclosed coombe or short valley once described by the writer and poet Edward Thomas (1878-1917) as ‘walled on every side by down and sky’. Thomas is among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a stone in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.His writing has influenced the works of nature writer Robert Macfarlane who wrote ‘The Old Ways’ first published in 2012.
Follow a route used by seemingly forgotten poet Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915). He studied at Marlborough College from 1908 to 1913 and his experiences on the downs inspired poems such as Barbury Castle. (Sorley’s memorial stone lies further west along The Ridgeway, near Ogbourne St George).
Visit Liddington Hill, the site of a memorial to Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) and Alfred Williams (1877-1930), both of whom wrote about the hill. Williams was a self-taught writer who described Swindon railway life and Wiltshire villages. Jefferies wanderings across the Wiltshire downlands are thought to have inspired his mystical rapport with nature, as expressed most fully in his autobiography ‘The Story of My Heart’. When Jefferies stood on the Liddington Hill, he enjoyed a view ‘over broad plain, beautiful with wheat and enclosed by a perfect amphitheatre of green hills’. The view today is different and unfortunately motorway noise can be a feature! See Jefferies’ family memorabilia, archive material and more at the Richard Jefferies Museum in Coate, near Swindon.
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Princes Risborough Chiltern Society Circular Walk
A 7 miles/ 11km circular walk following sections of The Ridgeway National Trail and the Chiltern Way, through beautiful Chilterns scenery including wooded hills and nature reserves. You will pass some great rural pubs, a windmill and some far-reaching views.
Terrain:A moderate walk on easy but sometimes muddy tracks and along quiet lanes. One easy climb. Total ascent 220m / 720ft
Start & finish:Princes Risborough Library, Bell St, Princes Risborough HP27 0AA
Food & drink:The Whip Inn, Lacey Green and Pink and Lily, Pink Road. Cafés and pubs in Princes Risborough
Maps:OS Explorer 181, Chiltern Society 3 and 7
Parking:Horns Lane Pay & Display Car Park, Horns lane, Princes Risborough HP27 0AW
Local transport:There are various bus services to Princes Risborough including Bus 300 which runs between High Wycombe and Aylesbury all week.
Princes Risborough is also served by mainline trains to London Marylebone, the Midlands and Aylesbury.
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Ridgeway Link
Distance: 7.5 mile/12.07 Km
The Ridgeway Link is a linear walking route linking two spectacular landmarks in the Chilterns landscape, the Chilterns Gateway Centre and Ivinghoe Beacon, the start/end point of The Ridgeway National Trail and the Icknield Way long distance path.The route follows the ancient Icknield Way and passes through rolling chalk hills and woodlands, enjoying some of the finest scenery in the Chilterns.
If you have enjoyed this walk there are many other wonderful walks in the Chilterns area.
Visit: www.chilternsaonb.org
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The Phoenix Trail - Thame to Princes Risborough
The Phoenix Trail is a 5 mile shared use path for walkers, cyclists, wheelchair users and horseriders with magnificent views of the nearby Chiltern Hills and chance to observe Red Kites, the impressive birds of prey that thrive in the area. A traffic-free cycle ride between Princes Risborough and Thame, a tranquil path to amble along with your dog on a summer's evening, somewhere safe to teach your child to ride their first bicycle, or a connecting route for horses to get on and off The Ridgeway at Bledlow.
It is flat and surfaced and ideal for wheelchairs and pushchairs and there is seating every 500 metres.The first 2.5 miles out of Thame are surfaced with tarmac and the remainder with compacted limestone dust. Wheelchairs may experience difficulty with the access ramps.
We hope you find this information helpful. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Views of the Thames Circular Walks: North Wessex Downs and Chilterns walk
This 4½ mile circular walk takes you from Goring along the River Thames, through wildflower meadows and to the top of the North Wessex Downs. There are amazing views of the Chiltern Hills and Thames Valley. You can enjoy the fresh air and fantastic countryside of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Along the way you may see features of interest and wildlife such as red kites, kingfishers and muntjac deer.
Goring and Streatley are small picturesque villages at the foot of hills separated by the River Thames. There are several pubs serving food, restaurants, cafes, local shops,accommodation and a Youth Hostel. There is a regatta during the summer. Public toilets are located in Goring car park. There are no toilets or refreshments on the walks outside of the villages.
You can combine the North Wessex Downs Walk with The Chilterns walk ( 4 or 5½ miles, allow 1¾ to 2½ hours) to make a long walk.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Views of the Vale walk: Wendover Woods
This 7 mile cicuit shoudl take you between 3 to 4 hours. It takes you through ancient beech woods, carpets of bluebells and wild flowers. You might also see rare birds such as red kites and firecrests and the tiny muntjac deer.
There's Boddington hillfort along the way, an important archaelogical site occupied during 1st century BC, but probably earlier. Situated on top of the hill, the fort would have provided an excellent vantage point and defensive position for its Iron Age inhabitants. In the past the hill was cleared of trees for grazing animals. Finds have included a bronze dagger, pottery and a flint scraper.
Access Information: Just a 45 minute train ride from London Marylebone and a few minutes walk from Wendover station you can enjoy the fresh air and fantastic views of the Chilterns countryside.There are no stiles on this route, but 1 kissing gate (not wheelchair accessible, at the Hale into Wendover Woods). There is a long uphill stretch. From Wendover along The Ridgeway to the Hale the paths are wide and firm (with some loose stones) but there is a considerable uphill slope. There is an All Ability Trail suitable for wheelchairs near Wendover Woods main car park.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Views of the Vale: Coombe Hill walk
This 3 mile walk takes you to the top of the Chiltern Hills, through ancient beech woods, carpets of bluebells and wild flowers. There are amazing views of the Vale of Aylesbury and Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country home. You might also see rare birds such as red kites and firecrests and the tiny muntjac deer. You can finish your walk with a tasty meal, pint of beer or cup of tea in Wendover.
Coombe Hill Monument is a memorial to the men of Buckinghamshire who fell in the Boer War. It was erected in 1904 and has been damaged by lightning on several occasions. The National Trust owns the hill.
Difficulty: Paths may be muddy after rain. Uphill for about 1 mile.
Access Information: This walk has 3 stiles, 3 kissing gates and narrow paths. It also involves a steady uphill climb.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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White Horse Hill Circular Walk
This 4¼ mile (6¾ km) circular walk within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Oxfordshire is 7 miles (11km) west of Wantage. It takes you through open, rolling downland, small pasture fields with some wonderful mixed hedgerows, woodland and a quintessential English village. It includes a classic section of The Ridgeway, with magnificent views of the Vale of White Horse to the north, and passes the unique site of White Horse Hill before descending the steep scarp slope to the small picturesque village of Woolstone in the Vale.
Terrain and conditions
• Tracks, field paths mostly through pasture and minor roads.
• Quite strenuous with a steep downhill and uphill section. 174m (571 feet) ascent and descent.
• There are 9 gates and one set of 5 steps, but no stiles.
• Some paths can be muddy and slippery after rain.
• There may be seasonal vegetation on the route.
We hope you'll enjoy this walk. If you do please consider making a small donation to help us continue to care for the Ridgeway National Trail and provide information about it.
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Whiteleaf Walk
A beautiful Chiltern Society walk along a very scenic stretch of The Ridgeway and through woods blanketed with bluebells in the spring. Fine views over the Prime Minister’s country retreat at Chequers. The route links up with the Brush Hill walk, which can be downloaded from the Society’s website.
START: Whiteleaf Hill car park, Peters Lane near Princes Risborough. Grid ref: SP 823 036. Nearest postcode HP27 0RP
DISTANCE: 5.7 miles, with c900ft of ascent over the length of the walk
TERRAIN: A moderately demanding walk, with one fairly steep descent and two moderate ascents. One stile. Look out for the painted waymarkers on the trees
MAPS: OS Explorer 181 and Chiltern Society 3
REFRESHMENTS: The Plough at Cadsden on the walk. The Red Lion in Whiteleaf village is nearby and worth a visit
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Risborough Area Community Bus Service 4 stops nearby at the top of Kop Hill. It runs on a Tuesday and Saturday from Princes Risborough.
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