Alone on the Ridgeway

Holly Worton

Description

Alone on the Ridgeway is the inner journey of the author's solo 87 mile walking adventure along one of England's National Trails in 2016. This book is ideal for walkers who are new to doing a long distance trail, as it includes practical information and how to prepare for such a journey. The main focus, however, is the inner journey of the author as she reconnects with herself on the trail. This is not a guidebook or a book full of cultural and historical details. It's designed to help you decide whether the Ridgeway is the right trail for you, and if so, how to start planning for it.More than just a walking travelogue or memoirs of a walking holiday, this book contains Holly's reflections on walking the Ridgeway, including lessons learned and practical information to help you plan your Ridgeway hiking adventure. It includes a suggested packing list, gear recommendations, and other useful tips, such as when to walk the Ridgeway, where to stay, and how much you'll need to budget.

Informations

• Publié par: Tribal Publishing
• Date de parution: 08 août 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781911161196
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Alone on the Ridgeway
Alone on the Ridgeway
One Woman s Solo Journey
from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon
Holly Worton
Tribal Publishing
Copyright 2017 by Holly Worton
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-1-911161-18-9 (Mobi) ISBN 978-1-911161-19-6 (Epub)
Cover design by The Killion Group, Inc . Ebook formatting by Ebook Partnership
Disclaimer
Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.
The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace, proper walking and hiking training. Like any sport involving physical exertion, equipment, balance, and environmental factors, long distance walking poses some inherent risk. The author and publisher advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and to know their limits. Before practicing the skills described in this book, be sure that your equipment is well maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and comfort level.
Ultimately, only you are responsible for your own safety. Keep this in mind, especially when walking alone. Enjoy!
Contents
Prologue
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Epilogue
What to Expect
Lessons Learned
Packing List
Gear
When to Walk
Where to Stay
Budget
Staying Connected
Safety
The Countryside Code
Resources
About the Author
Also By This Author
A Request
Prologue
It s been almost a year since I walked The Ridgeway, my second National Trail and third walking adventure. Long distance walking has now become a regular part of my life: it s something I plan into my annual calendar so I can make sure it happens. Being alone out on a trail for days at a time is a deeply transformational experience for me. It s a time of relaxation and reconnection with myself, and I value it greatly.
Alone on the Ridgeway is the latest installment in my long distance walking books, and I m so excited to finally release it. If you ve read both of my previous walking books, Alone on the South Downs Way and Walking the Downs Link , you ll have an idea of how much things have changed for me since I walked my first long distance trail, the South Downs Way. In the epilogue for my first book, I said: My experience on the Way was wonderful and horrible and also magical. It was anything but easy; in fact, I was surprised by how challenging it actually was.
While walking the Way, I seriously wondered on more than one occasion whether walking long distance trails was actually for me. On one hand, I loved the experience, but on the other hand, it was just so painful. Fortunately, I decided to give long distance walking another go by doing the Downs Link, a short 37-mile trail that stretches from the North Downs Way in the north, to the South Downs Way and beyond, ending at Shoreham-by-Sea in the south.
The Downs Link was such a different experience, and I loved it. I was able to make changes to how I approached the walk, taking into consideration some of what I d learned while walking the South Downs Way, and this made for a much more enjoyable experience. In fact, I enjoyed the Downs Link so much that I walked it not just once in 2016, but twice. It rekindled my interest in long distance trails, and it got me excited to walk the Ridgeway in August 2016.
One of the things that I relished about the South Downs Way was the experience of feeling like I was in another world, somehow separate from normal reality yet so close to home. The Ridgeway, a less popular National Trail than the South Downs Way, gave an even more intense feeling of remoteness: it was a particularly quiet year on the trail, and on one day I walked for six hours and saw only four other people on the trail. The sense of peaceful solitude and secluded passage through nature was delicious.
This quiet, remote feeling only serves to amplify the sensation of mobile meditation that I get when I m out walking on my own: my mind goes blank as I put one foot in front of the other, advancing toward my final destination. I find it deeply relaxing, and deeply cleansing for my mind. My thoughts fade into the background and are replaced with a deep stillness that is not usually present in my daily life.
In my first walking book, I shared the good and the bad, the beauty and the challenges of walking 100 miles. Most readers of Alone on the South Downs Way have told me that they actually enjoyed reading both the ups and downs of my walk, as it showed the full gamut emotions that I experienced along my journey. It was heartening to receive that feedback, because when I was reviewing one of my first drafts of the book, I was concerned that it was too negative, that it went too much into the painful details of each stage of the walk, but in the end I opted to include everything I had written about my challenges: the good and the bad. After all, that was the truth of my experience.
Most readers understood that the book was my attempt to express the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with walking a long distance trail for the first time. However, at least one reader found the book to be anti social, whinging and unfit, as one Amazon review warned. I mention this now, in the prologue, because this book is very much like Alone on the South Downs Way , in that I wrote the bulk of it in the evenings of my journey, off the trail. That means that you ll be hearing the full range of ups and downs that I experienced on the Ridgeway...though thankfully, there were more ups than downs on this National Trail.
This book will give you a good idea of how I ve grown and evolved as both a walker and as a writer since my journey along the South Downs Way. Having walked 100 miles once before, the 87-mile Ridgeway felt much more doable. I was a more confident walker on this trail, and I m a more confident writer in sharing my experience.
I ve also had the pleasure of meeting some of my readers as they join me on my Meetup walks for my She Walks in Nature Meetup group. Actually meeting women who have read my books and then taking them on walks with me is so much fun, and if you live in southeast England, I d love for you to join me on my monthly Meetup walks. Meeting my readers also helps me to have you in mind when I m sharing my experience: I m no longer writing to a faceless audience. It s much more personal, which I absolutely love.
Another thing that I was concerned about when writing my first walking book was the slight woo factor in Alone on the South Downs Way : I pulled oracle cards for each day of the walk, and I shared messages from my Akashic Records readings. I was terrified of putting those details into print and sharing them with the world, but one reader told me that it was precisely those details that separated my book from other walking books out there, and that gave me a bit of confidence.
And that s why I ve decided to unleash a little bit more of my woo in this book: I ll be sharing the story of how I channeled a new set of spirit guides as I walked the Ridgeway. This isn t a major part of the book, so if you re not used to hanging out with nonphysical beings, that s fine...just be aware that the Richards (yes, that s what they call themselves) do make an appearance on each day of my journey.
I truly hope you enjoy your adventure along the Ridgeway with me: both the emotional, the practical, and the woo. It was a glorious experience, and it s a very, very special trail. It s my wish that it inspires you to get outdoors and into nature a little bit more...whether for a day hike, or for a long distance trail.
Let s get started!

Day 0
Avebury Surrounding Area
9.3 miles (15 km)
My Ridgeway walk began shortly after I returned from my second Downs Link walk. It felt strange to be packing my backpack for another long distance trail less than a week after I had returned from the Downs Link, but that s how things had worked out in my calendar. In fact, I actually hadn t noticed that I had booked the Downs Link weekend so close to the Ridgeway walk; I had just chosen the first available weekend I had that summer. I was excited to experience that trail again so I could get the book out and share my journey with others.
I had originally wanted to walk the Dales Way in 2016, as I d never walked in the north of England, but after the previous winter s torrential rain and flooding, the trail had been damaged, and I wasn t confident in my ability to navigate the various detours along the trail. I considered Glyndwr s Way, a National Trail in Wales, but after reading Andrew Bowden s book Walking with the Last Prince: Following Owain on the Glyndwr s Way , I realized that the trail was much more challenging than I was looking for. I was still a bit apprehensive about doing another weeklong walk, and I wanted to be sure it was one of the easier trails. I then read Andrew s book Rambling Man Walks The Ridgeway: From Overton Hill to Ivinghoe Beacon , and I immediately decided on the Ridgeway as my National Trail for 2016.
It ticked all the boxes. The Ridgeway was short (at just 87 miles, it met my desired trail length of 100-mile maximum), it was not too challenging in terms of hills, and it was full of historical sites. I had become fascinated with pre-Roman British history after returning to the Devil s Jumps, an archaeological site along the South Downs Way known for its collection of Bronze Age tumuli, or burial mounds. The Ridgeway,