Length: circa 9 km (5.5 miles)
Toughness: 1 out of 10 (flat)
London Marylebone: 10-05 hrs Chilterns service to Oxford
arrive Oxford: 11-29 hrs
Return approx 19 & 49 mins past the hour
Travel tip Chilterns trains to Oxford stop at Bicester Village. Far Eastern visitors flock to the village in vast numbers for shopping - and trains tend to be packed. Be in good time at Marylebone station and I suggest you buy your rail ticket beforehand. Be close to the barriers for platform 6 as the service is announced - otherwise it might be standing room only on the train - for 45 minutes !
I post this walk most years 'twixt Christmas Day and New Year's Day as it makes for a pleasant, non demanding leg stretcher, before more exacting walks start in 2025.
Last year the Paddington services were disrupted and I ended up doing the walk by myself. Hopefully this year one or two of you might join me as I walk off some of the Christmas Day excesses. But that said we might stop for a nice pub lunch in Wolvercote - either at The Wolvercote (formerly known as Jacob's Inn) in Lower Wolvercote or at the homely and less expensive the Plough on the other side of Wolvercote Common.
But before lunch we leave Oxford railway station soon to walk beside the River Isis on its tow path which, if we are lucky, will not be flooded today (quite common in winter). We head over fields to Binsey then Godstow Lock before arriving in Wolvercote. After lunch we head for the Oxfordshire Canal and its resurfaced tow path which we stay on all the way back to the city centre outskirts - and the railway station. By all means, if you wish, divert off the tow path to Wolfson College, following the Walk Directions - but the onward route from the college by the River Cherwell is usually under water in winter. So today I suggest we opt for a short, easy walk - a leg stretcher.
Enjoy !
T=1.13
Walk directions are here: L=1.13
1 comment:
n=1
I was a little late getting to Oxford railway station and so it is possible some others showed up and set off ahead of me - if so, please correct the number(s) and add a comment if you wish.
It was a w=mild-still-overcast-dull-day. The fog had lifted by the time I set off. Paths were dry (not flooded) and apart from Wolvercote Common, which was a mudfest, mud levels were low elsewhere. I opted for a picnic outside the Plough Inn before heading for the Oxfordshire Canal for my home 2 plus mile walk on the surfaced tow path back to the railway station. By this time mist was descending and the temperature was dropping. I chatted to several walkers along the way and I thoroughly enjoyed my day.
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