SWC 246 - Kingham to Charlbury
Length: 17.6 km (11 miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10 Mostly flat
London Paddington: 10-22 hrs Hereford service Reading 10-53 hrs
Arrive Kingham: 11-51 hrs
Ealing Broadwayers: 09-52 hrs Service from Paddington to Reading
Arrive Reading: 10-39 hrs
Change platforms and connect with Hereford service as above
Charlbury to Paddington: 16-12, 16-43, 17-10, 18-35 and 19-46 hrs
Rail ticket: buy a day return to Kingham
This is an undemanding walk along the Oxfordshire Way, through big fields and passing through two classic Cotswold Villages with their stone cottages. This walk is particularly pleasant in early summer.
Lunch is at the The Swan in Ascott under Wychwood.
At walk-end, the best stop for tea or a libation is the Bell Hotel, but there are two other pubs as well.
T=swc.246
Walk Directions here L=swc.246
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4 comments:
Split ticketing gives you a discount of £1.61 or try yourself: buy two tickets split at Slough. That might also give you the advantage of a BZ6 discount.
£17.90 is the fare to beat. That is BZ6 splitting tickets at Slough!
n=8 off the train but two disappeared almost immediately leaving six to amble along the Oxfordshire Way on this attractive and gentle walk through fields and a little woodland. The countryside was almost eerily silent and looked as if a massive green blanket had been thrown over it. (Chris Packham of Springwatch has some trenchant observations about this.) Still a sharp-eyed walker pointed out a common spotted orchid and we saw red admirals and damsel flies. A swallow and a few swifts were seen over Ascott under Wychwood.
the Swan at Ascott was a bit disappointing and its cuisine was not up to the standard of previous years. (Or perhaps they do not try so hard midweek?) The internal redesign of the pub does not really work for me and the general view was that it would be better if the owners concentrated on doing fewer dishes well rather than the sprawling menu they currently offer. Another case of "over-gastroing" ?
After lunch the group fragmented and 2 of us managed to make the delayed 4.45pm train. I hope the others did not endure any delays of the later trains after their drinks? A fine day out with the weather w= warm-but-increasingly-cloudy.
Anonymous, Thu 14 Jun 18, 11:08
As warned the OW is horridly muddy and on this dry day deep hard ruts of dried mud for the first half. Large group got off train at Kingham Wed 13 June 2018 but they soon zoomed ahead leaving me to enjoy a solitary walk, views, birds, flowers, very few butterflies, a few damsel flies, using excellent directions apart from no compass direction at Point 16 'through a grassy area' . Successfully followed 'indistinct grassy path', but no sight of 'post with white top - may just be visible' At point 17 the path 'through overgrown vegetation was kindly revealed to me, trampled by an earlier passage of walkers. Point 18 - 3 not 2 plank bridge. Extremely fed up with OW by Ascott under Wychwood. Using map, compass and often field boundaries, took 1 mile shortcut, dull and still rutted, up and over small hills, via 'High Street' Ascott with its superb village shop, to Ascott d'Oyley, Chilson, Shorthamtpon, Walcot thankfully to just catch 17.10 at Charlbury, its departure delayed by a few minutes. Pics from today https://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinros/albums/72157696264473481.
SWC38 Hanborough to Charlbury, via Blenheim with a couple of possible shortcuts, was much more interesting and passable, despite being OW. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinros/albums/72157622412437436
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