In this issue we celebrate the official opening in October of the Great Chalk Way (GCW), the long and winding sequence of trails, established after the last Ice Age, that follows chalk ridges from the North Sea coast to the English Channel. Tim Lewis, Friends trustee and a prime mover of the GCW, tells us of the birth pangs of the modern route.
Volunteers have started to clear brush from around some of the ancient monuments along the North Wessex Downs section of the Ridgeway, under the auspices of new Historic Ridgeway officer Hayley Gray. Another new figure is Sophie Aziz, recently appointed the Ridgeway and Thames Path Volunteer Coordinator. At the other end of the spectrum, Hugh Potter, head of Oxfordshire County Council’s Countryside Access & Tree Service, has retired. Hugh contributed most valuably to the formation and subsequent functioning of the Ridgeway Partnership.
We look forward to the 9th annual Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize, the exhibition of which in 2025 will be on 26 and 27 April. The theme is Colours and Hues of the Ridgeway.
We ask if recreational motor vehicles might be banned from the Ridgeway and other byways by the new Government. The Green Lanes Environmental Action Movement has revealed the sky-high cost of repairing them. Repair of a different nature is the subject of the University of Oxford’s continuing botanical study along the Ridgeway, to find out how to encourage chalk download flowers to flourish once more.
Lastly, we look at the book The Lost Paths, by Jack Cornish, Head of Paths at the Ramblers. The nature of this engrossing book is revealed by its subtitle: a history of how we walk from here to there.
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