T=1.38 Book 1 Walk 38: Hanborough to Charlbury – Blenheim Palace; the
Evenlode River and Cornbury Park
Length: 12.7 miles (20.5 kilometers for those
metrically inclined)
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Train: Take the 9:21
Great Western Worcester train from London
Paddington to Hanborough,
arriving at 10:34. Return
trains from Charlbury are hourly at 17:03; 18:02; 19:03; 20:03; 21:07. Buy a
day return to Charlbury.
This
walk makes a peaceful stroll through the Cotswold, passing through the
impressive grounds of Blenheim Palace en route.
It then passes along the River Evenlode near some old slate quarries and
through a few typically Cotswold stone villages before arriving in Charlbury. More information and the instructions for the
walk can be found here.
The
lunch stop is at the White Horse in Stonesfield (tel 01993-891063). It serves food until 2:00 – a booking
has been made for 1:00. In Charlbury, tea can be had at the Bell Hotel. Alternatively, for those seeking something
stronger, there are apparently 4 pubs in Charlbury (3 on Sheep street and 1 on
Market Street) – perhaps some research is required......
Enjoy
the walk!
1 comment:
n=12 on this walk on a day of w=sunshine-and-heavy-showers Actually we were not doing badly on the showers for most of the walk, with just one as we approached lunch. But then near the end of the walk, where we had a proper drenching: a good test for the waterproofs!
This turned out to be a lovely walk at this time of year. There was lush grass everywhere and lots of flowers (in particular pretty blue meadow cranesbill that one doesn't see much in the south east proper). There were ringlet and marbled white butterflies. The sun and dark clouds made for some wonderful lighting effects and when the sun was shining it felt steamy hot. Even an afternoon section (just before the downpour) where we walked for about a kilometre up a valley through chest high grass and other vegetation was rather entrancing - like exploring in some remote part of Africa. The directions had their problems. We should have taken notes and made some changes really, but I am afraid this idea occurred to us too late...
It was of course nice to see Blenheim Palace and walk up its processional way to the monument. The lunch pub was very friendly and had a nice garden, though due to the threat of showers we sat inside. The publican was friendly but his pub was totally empty apart from us, so one wonders how long it will stay open. We had a long and interesting debate over lunch about certain events dominating the news.
Close to Charlbury it sounded like a rock concert was in progress. This turned out to be a beer festival in a field by the station - apparently an annual event. Some popped into this for tea while waiting for the train: Four of us went fordrinks in one of the very busy pubs in the village and then spent an hour at the festival before getting the 8.02 train.
All in all a great day out and a bit different from the normal SWC walk.
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