Length:
22.1 km (13.7 mi) or 18.5 km (11.5 mi).
Ascent/Descent:
297/287m
Net Walking Time: ca. 5–5 ½ hours
Toughness:
5 out of 10
Take
the 09.50 Hereford train from Paddington (Reading 10.18,
Oxford 10.45), arrives Hanborough 10.53. From Ealing B’way, journey
planner recommends going via Paddington…
Return
trains: hourly xx.11 or xx.13 (70-72 minutes
journey time). Buy a Charlbury return.
Classic
Cotswold Scenery: The River Evenlode; soft, easy hills and fertile
countryside; Blenheim Palace and its Great Park; Akeman Street (the Old Roman
Road from Alchester to Cirencester); some open farmland; delightful stone villages
& Lord Rotherwick’s deer park, Cornbury Park.
For a shorter walk: stay on the Oxfordshire Way as described at point 49 in the directions (Grid Reference SP 375 179), first along field boundaries, then lanes, into and through Charlbury to the station: 18.5 km/11.5 mi, or take a more direct route into Stonesfield (obvious from the map).
Lunch:
Picnic, best on
that slope by the River Evenlode before passing through Stonesfield.
[The White Horse in
Stonesfield (12.8 km/8.0 mi) is still closed after a failed community
buyout although a new attempt is under way and the The Plough Inn
in Finstock (17.5 km/10.9 mi) comes probably a bit too late for
lunch, but is a very nice place for a break (it’s open all day).]
For
walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. t=1.38
3 comments:
Some were probably put off by the lack of lunch pub and the threat of rain but not this hardy n=4 ( Well, hardy n=3 and Mr Tiger).
The weather was w=sun-and-cloud-am-sun-and-showers-pm “Not as bad as it could have been” said Mr Cheerful, later. None of the promised lightning - except maybe in the feet of the faster 3. Fshoom!
Mr Tiger was less fit than he thought he was and took his orange and lime as well as any available shortcut. He was so tired at the end he couldn’t be bothered going the extra few yards to find a pub. Imagine! He did the whole walk on his battered cod.
Without a sit down, without any cider.Two others joined him on the platform, having made that leap and drunk that drink.
The 16:11 was 30 m late. We think the other made the 15:11
Loads of flowers on the way round. What’s that, reader? You want a list? Oh dear. Poppy, chicory, scabious, little yellow not-dandelions, big yellow not-dandelions, knapweed, buttercup,, bryony, umbellifera, the works. And butterflies (no list available).
@mr m tiger. Was the long blackberry hedge near the start still there?
There is still a long hedge near the the start, yes, but I didn’t assess it for provender. I was more focussed on how far the others were ahead.
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