Walking over the Hill

Distance and kit:

While distance is a measure of how long the days' walk will be in miles, it doesn't always reflect how hard the day will really be! When the wind is against you and the ups & downs  are steep, this can turn what seems on the face of it, a short walking day, into a hard one. How you feel in yourself can also make a difference as well as how comfortable your body feels. Developing blisters, suffering aches and strains can all take their toll on your enjoyment and can considerably slow the pace down. The Ridgeway is by no means a difficult walk so with our particular journey we found it was just the longer distances on some days that made it feel harder and also few ups slowed the pace , however, on reflection, they were always manageable. Thankfully we avoided foot issues and our body ache problems were just no more than the usual day-to-day stuff we seem to encounter most of the time now! 

We cannot stress enough, have you not already done so, the choice of good practical, seasonal clothing, are a given, of course so are good quality foot-ware that is well walked-in with adequate  clearance around your toes for the seasonal walking socks to allow for some swelling of the feet, occurring naturally after being a few hours inside the boots! The ground is more stony than grassy so choose ankle supporting boots rather than low trail boots. Walking poles? We love them, some say they are unnecessary or even a nuisance, so you take-your-choice, but where we really appreciate them is the extra stability going down steep sections, extra pull going up and in fending off nettles, branches, brambles, nosy dogs etc! The makers claim that poles take pressure off knees and we have heard professional walkers say it gives them many more years walking capability into later life.