The Ridgeway

The Ridgeway
The Ridgeway
	The Ridgeway National Trail on Grim's Ditch near Mongewell
Length	87 miles (139km)
Location	southern England, United Kingdom
Designation	UK National Trail
Trailheads	Overton Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire and Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire
Use	Hiking
Elevation change	3,881 feet (1,183 m)
Season	All year
Trail map
	Map of the Ridgeway National Trail in the south of England

The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road.^[2] The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ridge of the Berkshire Downs to the River Thames at the Goring Gap, part of the Icknield Way which ran, not always on the ridge, from Salisbury Plain to East Anglia.^[3] The route was adapted and extended as a National Trail, created in 1972. The Ridgeway National Trail follows the ancient Ridgeway from Overton Hill, near Avebury, to Streatley, then follows footpaths and parts of the ancient Icknield Way through the Chiltern Hills to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. The National Trail is 87 miles (140 km) long.

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^ Darvill, Timothy (2002). Oxford Archaeological Guides: England. pp. 297–298. ISBN 0-19-284101-7.