Cricket, Beer and The Ridgeway

A couple of weeks ago I spent a rather enjoyable bank holiday weekend in Oxford. On the Saturday afternoon along with a friend we headed out to The Ridgeway for a circular two hour walk in the late summer sunshine. Our start and unsurprisingly the end point of the walk was the fine village of West Ilsley and The Harrow. For a village so close to the A34 it is a beautifully peaceful spot in Berkshire. The pub overlooks the village cricket ground and we spent an hour pre walk with a couple of pints watching the visitor's female opening bowler bowling a scrogeful spell. The local ale was fresh clear pint; the food was good if a little slow to arrive. The only dampener on proceedings being the wasp that attacked my hand in search for a stray piece of mango chutney from lunch.

A two hour walk followed with extensive views north towards the spires of Oxford. We then dropped down off the Ridgeway back towards West Ilsley and The Harrow, a thoroughly recommended walk and pub if you are in the area.

Image - © Copyright Pam Brophy and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.