EVENTS & NEWS

Ridgeway National Trail Weekend - November 2009

As this was my first AOAC weekend as organiser I wanted to do something a bit different…….to go somewhere we hadn’t been to before as a club, somewhere that wasn’t too far away to travel to after a hectic week of work and somewhere where a variety of activities could be offered. After a few days of mulling things over I opted for The Ridgeway National trail near Wantage, Oxfordshire which ticked many of the boxes.

The plan was hatched back in the summer when we had absolutely no idea that we’d be in the middle of enduring 40 days and 40 nights of rain at the end of November.

The weather forecast was on everyone’s mind and on the Wednesday of the week before the trip the forecast for Saturday was “heavy rain”….oh dear!!

A quick bit of internet research for places to stay in the area stumbled on The Court Hill Centre, Wantage (the former YHA Ridgeway). Their rooms were in a lovely spacious converted barn set on top of a hill over-looking the glorious Oxfordshire countryside. There was also the added bonus of an on-site tea room!!

After choosing rooms (which were not pre-booked) based on identifying who snored or made any other strange noises in the dead of night……and trying at all costs to avoid sharing a room with them……we headed down the hill to The Greyhound Inn in the nearby village of Letcombe Regis.

The Greyhound Inn was a very friendly traditional village pub run by Frank Mahon a retired jockey who clearly loved an odd drink or ten! Many of the group took the opportunity for the £5 Friday night special of fish n chips……all washed down with a selection of excellent ales.

By sheer coincidence it was also “folk music night” at The Greyhound…..local musicians turned up throughout the evening with a variety of weird and wonderful instruments and performed a variety of songs…..it was very atmospheric and we felt very privileged to be spectators to this local gathering.

Frank came over and chatted to our group and took a particular shine to Rebecca commenting he hadn’t been out with a taller woman before…..within earshot of his wife who was the landlady!! Frank then went on to explain that he had ridden in 9 Grand Nationals and had never fallen of his horse in any of them. Rebecca was then taken away by Frank to have a private viewing of his medals and trophies….thankfully Rebecca was returned to us safely!! As the evening wore on, the music continued and the ale still flowed as our numbers dwindled until we stumbled out shortly after midnight.

As most people had arrived at Court Hill after sunset, they had not seen what the surrounding countryside looked like during the day. When we awoke on Saturday morning we were amazed by the beautiful views from the hostel…..and were even more amazed that the “heavy rain” forecast was nowhere to be seen…..in fact we had clear blue skies and sunshine!!

After breakfast, most of the group proceeded on what Aj optimistically called the “10 mile walk”. 6 of the group had pre-booked horse-riding at a nearby equestrian centre (see Kathleen’s report below) so they had a good lie-in as it wasn’t due to start until later in the afternoon. A couple of others decided to head for a day trip to Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill’s ancestral home) near Woodstock.

The hostel was about 300m from The Ridgeway National Trail and our plan was to head westwards along it until we reached Uffington Castle and the famous White Horse chalk cutting. At that point we’d leave the Ridgeway and head back through a number of little villages back to the hostel. The round trip ended up being nearer 14 miles rather than 10 but hey, what’s 4 miles between friends?

The scenery was magnificent. We had clear views for many miles across the Oxfordshire countryside. Although it was sunny it was also very cold and it took a while for us to warm up. As the Ridgeway was quite exposed the wind chill certainly cooled things down a bit.

But what a day……with perfect winter walking conditions! The “Explore the Ridgeway” book that I had bought on Amazon for 1p (plus £2.50 post and packing) proved very useful to formulate a plan. We identified the Britchcombe Farm Tea Rooms as a good place for refreshments shortly after reaching White Horse Hill.

Parts of the path were a bit muddy (not surprisingly) but the walk wasn’t too hard….the hills were low and undulating so proved quite easy for seasoned walkers like us. When we finally got to Uffington Castle we headed down to the head of the White Horse.

Aj seemed to remember (from a school trip many years ago) that if we walked down White Horse Hill to the top of Dragon Hill (where St.George was supposed to have slayed the dragon) we’d get a good view of the whole horse. Imagine everyone’s disappointment when we got there to see that we could only see the horse’s rear end due to the angle of the cutting!!

The wind was particularly biting atop Dragon Hill and Jane was heard muttering that she’d kill Aj if the tea rooms weren’t open. With the pressure now on we proceed to the tea rooms…..gulp!!

Along the way we met a group of “beaters” who were scaring birds so that they’d fly into the direction of the bird shooters (we kept hearing the sound of gun fire throughout the

afternoon). One of the beaters approached our group and said “Where are you lot going?” We already knew that we were walking across somewhere that wasn’t a public right of way so felt a bit guilty…..thankfully we soon re-joined the official path. It was shortly after this that we bumped into another beater who informed us that the tea rooms were closed….oh dear!! A plan was formulated to head to The Blowingstone Inn in the next village of Kingston Lisle.

Thankfully the pub was open and provided a lovely refreshment stop after 9.5 miles of brisk walking. Bubbling pints of tasty ale were ordered and some of the group were tempted by the delicious home made Scotch eggs on display on the bar…..yummy!!

At this point about a third of the group (no names mentioned – but you know who you are!!) decided that they’d done enough walking for the day and organised some taxis to get back to the hostel. The remains of the group decided to march onwards to the villages of Westcot, Sparsholt, Childrey and finally back to Letcombe Regis and the walk back up the hill to the hostel. As we only had a few hours of daylight left at this stage a brisk pace was set.
When we arrived back at Court Hill to the lovely warmth of the wood burning stove we all felt really good about ourselves for enjoying a wonderful winters walk through some stunningly beautiful countryside.

The unexpected news when we got back was that the boiler had packed in so there were no hot showers available…..not news we wanted to hear! However, a spare electric shower in one of the outhouses was made available for anyone who wanted a hot shower so it wasn’t a total disaster.

Pre-dinner drinks and nibbles were consumed around the stove and stories were exchanged about the days activities. Ali Hobbs has very kindly offered to be head chef for the evenings communal meal…..and what a magnificent meal the 2 Ali’s (Hobbs and Davies) prepared with their little army of helpers!! 26 of us sat down to a huge meal of chilli & rice, veggie curry, garlic bread.…all washed down with lots of beer and wine. The food was excellent (to quote Ms. Hobbs “standards darling, standards”). Nothing quite like a 14 mile winter walk to get the appetite going!! Drinking carried on until late but not as late as usual as everyone was feeling a little tired.

Sunday morning was wet. No-one was really bothered as we’d enjoyed such a great day on Saturday. After breakfast some had to head home but for the remaining 14 the plan was to check out of the hostel and drive to the village of Woolstone near the White Horse and park up in the car park of The White Horse Inn in the village. We then headed for a 5 mile walk back up to the Ridgeway to see Waylands Smithy Long Barrow before heading back to the pub for Sunday lunch.

The rain fell fairly hard for a while during the walk…....it started and stopped throughout the morning. We arrived nicely hungry at the White Horse Inn and sat down to what everyone agreed was the best Sunday roast lunch they had had in recent memory……and that is no exaggeration!! After the wonderful meal, the real fire, a nice pint of ale and the Sunday papers beckoned…..the prefect end to a top weekend…..and it was only an hour drive back home to Bristol!!

Thanks to Aj Vesudevan for the article and photos

A Horseman Riding By 

As we were in the home of horse-riding and the White Horse, Aj very kindly arranged for a few of us to go on a trek taking in a local pub on the Saturday. It was a beautiful crisp winter's day when Andrew, Liz, Clare, Fiona, Alison and I (after a quick shout of "Yah yah" from Andrew (!)) headed off. Our range of experience ranged from very good (cowboy style riding every weekend - Andrew) to the odd lesson here and there when on holiday (Alison and me). I had been warned that you have to understand horses and how they work, how true that is - more on that later....
 
We'd been booked for an incredibly cheap £20 each for 3 hours with Ambitions Equestrian stables. The horses were beautiful although pretty big. The views were incredible especially being so much higher up. We saw deer, many pheasants, a kestrel and a kite so we were very lucky. There was a bit of trotting and a slight canter here and there (not always intended by the rider but Alison ably managed to hold on). After about an hour or so as my legs began to get used to various new muscles being used we ended up at a lovely country pub.
 
It was like something out of an old hunting scene with us all sat on our horses quaffing a cheeky sherry. The lurid yellow high-vis vests slightly spoilt the look though. We were putting the glasses back when my trusty steed took a bit of a fright at the clinking of the glasses and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I don't remember a great deal (luckily) other than having a v bruised ego as well as other parts as a result. I did manage to get back on the horse (as they say you should) and we completed the day with a trek back through the countryside. It was definitely a reminder that horses have a mind of their own! The trek back was lovely.
 
We were greeted with mulled wine and muffins by the stables which certainly took the edge off my sore areas. A great time was had by all and I would horoughly recommend it...What can I say chaps? Tally ho!

Thanks to Kathleen O’Reilly for the article and photos