The
place where the journey starts may be amazing. It may be mundane. It
may be glamorous. It may be dour. It may be exciting and adventurous. Or
it may be besides a road a few miles away from Swindon.
The
Ridgeway goes for the Swindon based option to start its journey; a
National Trail that follows the part of the absolutely ancient former
"green" road known as The Ridge Way.
The modern route is just a
bit shorter the original 400 mile one. The National Trail was opened in
1973 and provides a route for walkers connecting Overton Hill in
Wiltshire with Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire; an 87 mile route with
ancient forts, barrows, white horses, monuments and more. Or, if you're
Rambling Man, you get rural pubs playing trance music and revelations
about 1980s television programme Button Moon, that shake you to the
core.
Andrew Bowden was born and raised in Manchester and spent much of his early years being dragged around Etherow Country Park a few miles from his parents house. After abandoning hiking in his teenage years in favour of spending far too much time in front of computer games, he returned to the hills after settling in London.
He has walked far more trails than he'd like to admit to.