The Ridgeway

More varied than the Berkshire Downs behind it, and it holds both the worst and the best walking on the trail. Within two kilometres the track ends at Fox Hill and the route is on tarmac: roughly 700 m of narrow verge beside a fast B road, crossing the M4 on a road bridge. Then back onto the ridge over Liddington Castle, the highest ground on the route, and a long stretch of furrowed downland track. The trail then leaves the ridge altogether, dropping on rough tree-lined tracks and lanes into the Og valley at Ogbourne St George before climbing back onto Smeathe's Ridge, a narrow grass crest that is the softest and finest walking on the whole route. Past Barbury Castle and Hackpen Hill it is broad chalk track again, and the last few kilometres over Overton Down are deeply rutted byway.

Logistics: About 700 m of the official line at Fox Hill runs on a narrow verge beside a fast B road and over the M4 bridge. It is short and unavoidable, and it is the one place on the trail where traffic rather than terrain is the problem.

Navigation: Well signed, with two places that need attention. The first is where the trail leaves the ridge for Ogbourne St George and climbs back out again: in the valley it uses lanes, a rough vehicle track and a dismantled railway bridge, and the line is much less obvious than it is on the tops. The second is the open downland either side of Liddington and again over Overton Down, where vehicle ruts have created several parallel lines and none of them is more official than the others, so pick the one that is walkable and rejoin the waymarked line at the gates.

More varied than the Berkshire Downs behind it, and it holds both the worst and the best walking on the trail. Within two kilometres the track ends at Fox Hill and the route is on tarmac: roughly 700 m of narrow verge beside a fast B road, crossing the M4 on a road bridge. Then back onto the ridge over Liddington Castle, the highest ground on the route, and a long stretch of furrowed downland track. The trail then leaves the ridge altogether, dropping on rough tree-lined tracks and lanes into the Og valley at Ogbourne St George before climbing back onto Smeathe's Ridge, a narrow grass crest that is the softest and finest walking on the whole route. Past Barbury Castle and Hackpen Hill it is broad chalk track again, and the last few kilometres over Overton Down are deeply rutted byway.

Logistics: About 700 m of the official line at Fox Hill runs on a narrow verge beside a fast B road and over the M4 bridge. It is short and unavoidable, and it is the one place on the trail where traffic rather than terrain is the problem.

Navigation: Well signed, with two places that need attention. The first is where the trail leaves the ridge for Ogbourne St George and climbs back out again: in the valley it uses lanes, a rough vehicle track and a dismantled railway bridge, and the line is much less obvious than it is on the tops. The second is the open downland either side of Liddington and again over Overton Down, where vehicle ruts have created several parallel lines and none of them is more official than the others, so pick the one that is walkable and rejoin the waymarked line at the gates.

The section the trail exists for, and the longest. It climbs out of Streatley on quiet lanes that peter out into a track, and once up on the Berkshire Downs it simply stays up for the next 35 km: a broad, mostly unsurfaced chalk and flint track with few hedges, almost nothing built, and scale instead of incident. Underfoot the chalk is flinty and lumpy for long stretches and where the route is byway it carries wheel ruts, so the grass verge beside the track is usually the better line where there is room. This is racehorse country and managed gallops run alongside the trail. Two road crossings and the tunnel under the A34 are the only things that interrupt it.

Logistics: Thirty-nine kilometres along the top with essentially nothing on the line itself. Every stop, every bed and every bail-out means dropping off the ridge and climbing back onto it, which is a different proposition from a trail where the villages are on the path.

Navigation: The easiest navigation on the trail in clear conditions, because for long stretches there is only one track and it is unmistakable. The risk here is different: the gallops beside the route are private, signed and inviting to walk on, and the correct line is the stony track rather than the mown grass. In mist the track still holds, but the road crossings are the only fixed landmarks for kilometres at a time and it is easy to lose all sense of how far along you are.

The only genuinely flat part of the trail, and its hinge. Where Grim's Ditch reaches the Thames the route turns south and follows the river through North Stoke, South Stoke and Moulsford to Goring, on a mixture of riverbank, field-edge path, back lanes and paths threaded behind large riverside gardens, hemmed between the water and the Great Western main line. It is soft, quick, shaded walking with almost no climbing, and it feels nothing like the rest of the route. Then you cross the bridge at Goring into Streatley and the character flips: the wooded Chilterns finish here and the open Berkshire Downs start with a climb that begins immediately.

Logistics: Thirty-nine kilometres along the top with essentially nothing on the line itself. Every stop, every bed and every bail-out means dropping off the ridge and climbing back onto it, which is a different proposition from a trail where the villages are on the path.

Navigation: Easy, with one catch. The route is not continuously on the bank: it uses back lanes and paths behind houses in several places, and the Thames Path is signed on the same ground, so read the acorn rather than assuming the riverside line is yours. Gates through the flood meadow are inconsistently maintained and the trodden line is not always the obvious one.

The most wooded stretch of the whole trail, and the one that least resembles the ancient track further west. It opens with about two miles of springy open turf over Steps Hill and Pitstone Hill, then drops into beech woodland and spends most of the next 15 km either inside woods or running along their edges, on leaf litter, roots and holloway tracks with occasional lanes. The middle of it is frankly suburban: a footbridge over the A41, the Grand Union Canal and the railway at Tring all inside a kilometre. After Wigginton the beeches close in again and the walking is soft, sheltered and easy, finishing on a gentle descent into Wendover. Nothing here is remote and nothing is hard.

Logistics: About 700 m of the official line at Fox Hill runs on a narrow verge beside a fast B road and over the M4 bridge. It is short and unavoidable, and it is the one place on the trail where traffic rather than terrain is the problem.

Navigation: Waymarking with the acorn is reliable, but the woods on either side of Wigginton carry a dense mesh of crossing paths and forestry tracks, and the widest track is often not the trail. Check the acorn at junctions rather than following the obvious line. The other awkward part is the built-up crossing at Tring, where the route threads a station approach, a trunk-road footbridge and a canal towpath in under a kilometre and the waymarks compete with street furniture.

The most wooded stretch of the whole trail, and the one that least resembles the ancient track further west. It opens with about two miles of springy open turf over Steps Hill and Pitstone Hill, then drops into beech woodland and spends most of the next 15 km either inside woods or running along their edges, on leaf litter, roots and holloway tracks with occasional lanes. The middle of it is frankly suburban: a footbridge over the A41, the Grand Union Canal and the railway at Tring all inside a kilometre. After Wigginton the beeches close in again and the walking is soft, sheltered and easy, finishing on a gentle descent into Wendover. Nothing here is remote and nothing is hard.

Logistics: About 700 m of the official line at Fox Hill runs on a narrow verge beside a fast B road and over the M4 bridge. It is short and unavoidable, and it is the one place on the trail where traffic rather than terrain is the problem.

Navigation: Waymarking with the acorn is reliable, but the woods on either side of Wigginton carry a dense mesh of crossing paths and forestry tracks, and the widest track is often not the trail. Check the acorn at junctions rather than following the obvious line. The other awkward part is the built-up crossing at Tring, where the route threads a station approach, a trunk-road footbridge and a canal towpath in under a kilometre and the waymarks compete with street furniture.