A Project and an Adventure

Our social activity projects started when our son was 3 or 4 years old and we set out to complete the Ridgeway in sections. Our first outings covered 3-4 miles and by the time we had finished Joe was 7 or eight and we were doing 9-10 miles at a time. Friends and family joined us when they could (or when they couldn't come up with a good enough excuse for why not!) and our adventures now have a reputation to uphold. 

As a family, we have walked The Ridgeway, cycled the Grand Union Canal (London to Birmingham), walked across London using a 'green space' route, logged 'several' of the 1001 walks in an AA publication Christmas present that one day we might complete and (so far) we have walked the Welsh Coastal Footpath from Cardigan to Borth.

I have kept 'logs' of previous adventures and this time I have decided to blog as a) it's easier and b) I can share our experience with anyone who might be interested. 

This is the first post and I will do two more in quick succession as we have already completed 2 legs of this long distance walk following what were once major Roman roads. The walk follows a triangular route through Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire using public rights of way. It covers 174 miles starting in Chesterton, near Bicester, Oxfordshire to follow Akeman Street in the direction of Cirencester, Gloucestershire. It then turns South West onto Ermin Street, another Roman road, heading for Silchester, Hampshire before turning again to re-join Akeman Street to travel back to Alchester (the Roman town by Bicester.) 

I'm local to Bicester and stumbled on the route when a local pub name was changed to 'The Akeman Inn' and I wondered 'why?'. I had no idea Akeman Street passed so close to us and that I drove along it most days. Putting 'Akeman' into Google turned up a book by an Elaine Steane and it detailed this route in 17 'bitesize' chunks. I bought the book and the rest will perhaps become history (though probably not quite as ancient!)

The book is great, it provides really accurate details of the route and is nicely written. On each page Elaine shares pieces of route related 'trivia'. It is all the walker needs to navigate by, including a copywritten overview of the route that I would have loved to have shared here - however it's just a click away at: http://www.theromanway.co.uk/5.html 

I'll share our mini adventures and challenges as we march our way across Roman routes in the hope that we manage to inspire more families, and their friends, to try a walk on one of the many long distance footpaths we all have at our disposal. 

Off we go......