There is a news story on this item on the home page, with a click-link to the BBC site, and including other Ridgeway news items. The LDPs pages on this LDWA site also cover the Wessex Ridgeway: click the linked path from the Ridgeway page or find these pages directly from a search in the members Area LDPs tab. The Wessex Ridgeway is part of the 363-mile 'Greater Ridgeway' stretching from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton, an ancient trail of which the Ridgeway National Trail is but a part. In the 1950s the Ramblers aimed to get the whole route upgraded and declared as a national trail, and the Peddars Way, the final leg to the Wash, is now also part of another recognised National Trail, while the final constituent, the Icknield Way, joining this and the Ridgeway, is also a recognised route regionally. There is a Cicerone guidebook for the Greater Ridgeway and this can be bought online on the Ridgeway LDPs pages, as can many other guides and maps for these routes.

Thanks for the "ridgeway on TV" comment... but you're mistaken about the presenter being on Central South. She (Geraldine Peers) did indeed have that job... now she's at the BBC! Not a keen walker as far as I know.

I'm feeling my ignorance re the Wessex Ridgeway - presumably the one that runs along the top of Dorset. I went to school in Lyme Regis and did lots of walking, but never thought of it as having a ridgeway.

The issues with the video quality is being addressed.

great little post - doing the walk starting on Sunday. look out for several yorkshire puddings in bright red jackets!! thanks for the pre match insight

Simon,
I have an ongoing interest in the trail but I had no luck with viewing these videos. I do not usually have any problem with that software so it may have been the server side.

I have done some research on the Wessex Ridgeway end from Lyme Regis,which I was hoping to do, until the call from London/Lambeth to Rome became rather stronger.

The purpose in doing both the Ridgeway AND the Rome route, is to further my knowledge and get a better feel for the life and journeys of Hywell dda (Howell the good) the only king of the whole of Wales 928AD.

He is known to have used both routes, Ridgeway little changed, Via Francigena unrecogniseable for any great distance.

Hi Norman (Good old Manx Surname)
Initially moved to Ramsey but now living in Onchan. I am originally from Bucks but as my wife is Manx (nee Corlett) we moved over here in 2002. I have not heard of the Castle to Castle walk and neither has the wife so I will make some enquiries, in the last couple of years the popularity of walking has grown so if it is an old walk then maybe I can find out about it and 'Do it'. The nearest to that is the Parish Walk, in July I think, which has to be completed in 24 hrs (Midnight to Midnight) and visits all the Parish Churches on the Island.
Brian

Brian, which part of the Island do you live in? My grandparents came from there many years ago to Liverpool. My parents ashes are scattered in Arbory churchyard and I have relatives over there in Ballabeg and Peel.
Whatever happened to the Castle to Castle walk on Easter Monday? That was a lovely event.

First Posting on here since joining.

Simon,

Until 5 years ago I lived in Oxfordshire and then moved to the Isle of Man. Later this year, September or October, I am planning on coming over and walking the Ridgeway so to find these clips on here are a very useful insight to the walk and a nice reminder of the 'Central South' Programme still with the same presenter.

Brian

BBC journalist Nikki Mitchell recently made four short pieces for the BBC South Today programme on her walk along the Ridgeway. They tell the stories by some of the features on the walk... including shin-kicking contests at Uffington (an idea for challenge events on the route, perhaps). The video is pretty jerky on my "media PC" but the audio is fine. You need RealPlayer to watch/listen and there should be instructions on downloading it for free if you haven't got it. The pieces are here: http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/oxford/content/articles/2007/04/25/ridgeway.shtml