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The Roman Way
The first photo shows the Roman Way walkers from the Oxfordshire Group as we were completing the last day (Day 17) marching on the agger (a linear mound on which Roman roads were built) of Akeman Street on our way to Alchester (a Roman marching camp) near Bicester, Oxfordshire. We had started 174 mile journey in October 2009, and have walked a section (usually about 10 miles) each month since then, with occasional gaps during snow and ice and August holidays. The logo and map are self explanatory, and the last photo shows us walking on Sand Lane north of the village of Beckley. This is a remarkable example since it shows how the Romans carried a road over a steep hill and it also preserves the original dimensions, wide enough for a wagon and wider than some of the streets in Pompeii.
We followed the route as it crosses the limestone of the Cotswold hills to the Roman amphitheatre at Cirencester, then turned south east following the Ermin Way across the Wiltshire downs, to descend and cross the River Kennet as the Romans did. At the Roman walled town of Silchester in Hampshire we struck north through Berkshire to Dorchester on Thames. The way took us beside Oxford and across Otmoor, (see first photograph, author front, second from left), the marsh where Romans built a bridge to reach the fort at Alchester.
We were using the Roman Way guide by Elaine Steane, published by Reardon, available from local bookshops, libraries, the Ramblers Boookshop or www.amazon.co.uk. For more details on the route see http://www.theromanway.co.uk/4.html
and/or click on this small map to enlarge it.