March 5, 1982: Tring Station to Tring Station (via Ivinghoe Beacon) 

Having reached the end of the Ridgeway at last, I stand atop Beacon Hill.

I had no intention of letting almost four months pass before completing the Ridgeway, but a very hard winter now intervened. Spring had to come and then it was not so easy to find a suitable day ­– the demands of the shop and the American School, where I had started supply teaching in January, leaving little time for recreation. On my last weekday of freedom before beginning a full time stint in the eighth grade I found my chance. Only a short walk was needed to complete the Ridgeway and this permitted a late decision. The day, as promised, was a beautiful sunny solo after chorus of gray.

I tried to get up-to-date train information from Euston Station but no one was interested in answering the phone. I did a last minute dash around the neighborhood, securing snacks and film. At 9:45 I marched to the Ladbroke Grove tube stop and traveled to Euston Square. I was able to buy an inexpensive day return at Euston and an egg and tomato sandwich. My train was waiting at Platform 8 and I had time to load my film and eat my sandwich before departure.

The ride to Tring was the usual unedifying portrait of clotheslines and allotment patches. The train was late and this caused a worried Oriental gentleman to inquire, just as I stepped from our compartment, “Excuse me, please, is this Bletchley?” It was 11:40.

The countryside was just ready to come alive with spring hues but even much of the grass was still winter gray and the buds were still unopened. A thorn bush along the first muddy lane to Aldbury Nowers clawed at my neck in the first five minutes of the walk. An old man on a cane snarled a greeting as I charged up the hill but I got a much more gracious greeting from a descending lady hiker – who plunged through the woods above Northfield Grange.

Route finding was relatively uncomplicated and I seem to have guessed right at the ambiguous places. It was warm in the sun, an amazing warmth for this early in the year, and at the top of Pitstone Hill I took off my blue coat. Visibility was good, though I suspect it had been even better: the view hereabouts was dominated by the huge cement works and its turquoise lake.

There was a bit of wind atop this summit and for five minutes I wore the hood of my gray University of Michigan sweatshirt – an event that greatly perplexed a field of heifers, one of whom (clearly a Spartan fan) friskily charged after me. I descended to the Aldbury Road and began the mucky descent of Steps Hill, speeding along to escape the odor of a manure pile. I should have brought my binoculars – since there were some very interesting birds about.

The path over Steps Hill was itself a quagmire at times, but I made it through without too much damage. As the descent began I could see my final goal only a few minutes ahead of me. Another series of short rises and I was atop Ivinghoe Beacon, the Ridgeway’s eastern terminus. What a wonderful place for a walk to end! There were views in almost every direction and one could really feel on top of the world at last. Some distance from the summit some men were preparing to launch radio-controlled model airplanes. I asked another walker to take a snap of me at the completion of my second long-distance footpath. For fifteen minutes or so I sat next to a short pylon, drinking a one-calorie lemon soda and eating some KP peanuts and raisins. I had arrived at 1:10, utilizing a very fast pace, one that I now had to repeat over the same ground in order to catch the 2:48 back to London.

The sun was strong in my face as I began the four-mile return, slogging over Steps Hill and down to the Aldbury Road. On Pitstone I gave directions to a gentleman with a walking stick and an Ordnance Survey map. It was soon easy to see that I would certainly have to take a pointed stick to my grime-encrusted boots when I finally reached the platform at Tring. In complete happiness I passed into the forest again, taking deep breaths of the winey air. I had conquered the Ridgeway.

Footpath Index:

England: A Chilterns Hundred | The Chiltern Way | The Cleveland Way | The Coast-to-Coast Path | The Coleridge Way | The Cotswold Way | The Cumberland Way | The Cumbria Way | The Dales Way | The Furness Way | The Green London Way | The Greensand Way | The Isle of Wight Coast Path | The London Countryway | The London Outer Orbital Path | The Norfolk Coast Path | The North Downs Way | The Northumberland Coast Path | The Peddars Way | The Pennine Way | The Ridgeway Path | The Roman Way | The Saxon Shore Way | The South Downs Way | The South West Coast Path | The Thames Path | The Two Moors Way | The Vanguard Way | The Wealdway | The Westmorland Way | The White Peak Way | The Yorkshire Wolds Way