Ridgeway: Day 2

• Start: Inn with the Well, Ogbourne St George
• End: Royal Oak, Bishopstone
• Walking Distance: 19km
• Total Time: 6.5 hours

The day began at the Inn with the (impressively deep) Well.

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We both had some delicious Eggs Benedict Royale for breakfast which unfortunately didn’t stay around long enough to be photographed!😋 😋

Day 2 was the second shortest of the Tour, which was just as well as we both had some sore places after Day 1 and there was quite a lot of faffing in the first few kilometers, adjusting straps and boots to try to be more comfortable. I am confident however, that we will get more used to bearing the weight as the week goes on.

We shared the first few kilometres with a Macmillan Charity Mountain Bike Ride, which seemed quite fitting. From the cheery faces and lack of mud splattered legs, I think we must have caught them at the beginning of their ride. It was definitely not flat and even with the granny gears on a mountain bike, I’m not sure I would want to attempt some of the ascents or descents!

After an hour or so, we reached Round Hill Downs, where an information board showed us the progress we were making on the Wiltshire section of the walk – we will be leaving Wiltshire tomorrow for Oxfordshire.

For lunch, we took a detour to visit Liddington Castle, another fine example of an Iron Age Fort, not quite as large as Barbury Castle yesterday but still impressive.

The hotel had provided us with a lovely packed lunch, with the tasty sandwiches wrapped in paper and tied with string – which made us feel very Famous Five.

We ate propped up against the triangulation point, which at 276 m is the highest point on the Ridgeway, Craig whimsically suggested that as a result it will be all downhill to Hertfordshire! My map-reading skills may be a little rusty, but sadly I suspect this is not the case!

After lunch we returned to the Ridgeway and continued the walk, buoyed by stunning views of Swindon and the M4 🙂

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Heading over the last section of todays walk, we noticed Charlbury Hill to the left, we are convinced that it is another iron age hill fort, (obviously we are now experts!) The OS map doesn’t appear to agree, but what do you think?

Finally, we reached the attractive village of Bishopstone with what looks like a lovely villagey duck-pond, but stinks to high heaven!

We are staying at Helen Browning’s Royal Oak. Helen Browning runs a large organic farm here, as well as running a hotel, pub and farm shop, I have definitely seen some of her stuff in Waitrose.

Her menu is pretty much all pork based as that is what she farms. Which is not great for me as I am not a massive fan of pork. Despite the muttering’s of the landlord of the Inn with the Well, this morning, about it being overpriced because it is organic, we didn’t find it so.

We had the charcuterie platter for starters, which was really lovely, as well as an excellent terrine, some great chorizo and ham, there was some lovely buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke, just down the road from home!

The pork secretos I found too dry, though the chips, salad and piri piri sauce were all spot on.

It has the reputation of being the best restaurant in Swindon (as that is only a couple of miles away). I think that although there were flaws it still probably deserves a better reputation than that 😀

Day 3 here we come!