To say the Ridgeway is old is underselling it. It’s one of England’s oldest pathways, and has been in use for at least 5000 years. On its path you’ll find enormous historic chalk horses, no less then three iron age hill forts and the neolithic burial mound Wayland Smithy (older than nearby Stonehenge). And of course, the fabulously named Iron Age round barrow the Scutchamer Knob.

The Ridgeway is now one of the 16 National trails in England and Wales. It’s officially 85 miles but worth the short extra walk to start instead in the village of Avebury (encircled by its own Neolithic stone henge) as this start takes you past Silbury Hill (yes, another neolithic site) and, dependent on the time of day and your inclination, allows you to start the walk with a half pint at the thatched pub in the centre of the stone circle, the Red Lion.

The western end of the Ridgeway was my first long distance walk and it was terrible (lashings of rain, completely the wrong gear, curtains of fog at all the viewpoints and a plethora of motorbikes bombing up your backside with a roar as the regulations had not yet tightened up on mechanized traffic on bridleways.) However, I somehow managed to fall in love with both the Ridgeway and long distance walking regardless. |It was one of the last places we went leaving the UK in 2014. In 2017, when back in the UK to visit family, I took time out to spend three days on it again - 13 years after that first drenched trip.

The colours I’ve picked for this jumper are ones that bring to mind the Ridgeway in the spring. Bluebells, teh thousands on thousands cowslips at Segsbury Castle, and of course the white on green of the chalk horses marked into the hillside.

NOTES ON GAUGE
The pattern recommends 22 stitches to 4 inches on 4.5 mm needles. However, Védís Jónsdóttir, in her book Knitting with Icelandic Wool, suggests achieving a gauge of 18 stitches per 4 inches using the same wool and 4.5 mm needles on a similar pattern. I ultimately found that the yarn behaved best, and had the nicer drape, by changing planned gauge more in line with looser number of stitches and staying with 4.5 mm needles. What this meant in practice was that I knit the size 2 to achieve size 5.

Changes to the pattern
The only significant change was the neckline, as shown in the photo. I carried on the ribbing for 17 rows total before using a stretchy bindoff.

However, I’m not crazy about the length and will likely shorten it by ripping back and knitting down (accepting the small half stitch jog on the carryover row.)

the matching legwarmers
I know, they are ridiculous. However I need legwarmers for walking to work, and I had spare wool. I don’t think I’d wear the two together walking down the street, but it cracked me up too much as a skating outfit not to wear it. The pattern is Védís Jónsdóttir’s leggur, adapted to use the final repeat of the yoke pattern.

British Banter challenge
I’m counting this for challenge 2 - this length is definitely out of my comfort zone.

final note on the Ridgeway:
If you are thinking of walking the Ridgeway, then bear in mind some sections are still open to motorbikes between May 1 and September 30 each year. For these reasons, and because it’s glorious in the spring, I think mid to late April is the best time of year to plan a walk on it.