Seven Shires Way - Stage 10
Ludgershall to Horton-cum-Studley, Saturday 17 August 2013
Yet again apologies for the delay in writing this post. For
a change we were walking on a Saturday as pressure of work, family and domestic
duties meant we couldn’t do one of our usual Fridays. Oh well train fares are
lower. The day was in fact quite pleasant not too hot and a bit breezy. Rain
was forecast for later but by then we had reached our modest goal of getting to
Horton-cum-Studley. Saying bye-bye to Bicester we took a taxi (friendly lady
driver with wide local knowledge) to Ludgershall and set off at 10:20 in fine
spirits.
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| Nosey, noisy, pigs |
Heading across some fields towards the Banbury to Marylebone
railway we came across an enclosure of very noisy pigs and piglets (SP 6553
1730), crossed the railway with care and carried on across grazing fields to
the foot of Muswell Hill. Cattle seemed very disinterested so T was at ease.
(By the way his knee seemed much better.)
The path then headed south slowly climbing up Muswell Hill
(not the one in London). Rewarded with views across Bicester and the Vale of
Aylesbury. The Hill isn’t that high (198m) but after the previous two walks and
the flat clay land it was good to get a view and some breeze. We crossed from
Bucks into Oxfordshire and back to Bucks and noticed again how the quality of
stiles in Buckinghamshire is poor compared to Oxfordshire and its high
proportion of kissing gates.
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| An Oxfordshire kissing gate |
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| View from Muswell Hill |
Nearly went wrong at the top of the hill. “We shouldn’t be
seeing Brill, chaps!”. A quick course correction had us crossing a minor road
near the top of the hill and following the county boundary down the western
side of Muswell Hill carefully skirting a herd of long-horn cattle.
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| Lunchtime view towards Boarstall Duck Decoy |
Took our small lunch with a view to the west at (SP 6338
1502) and then continued on down to the B4011. Dilemma do we continue with the
recommended route round the famous Boarstall Duck Decoy or shortcut it along
the surprisingly busy road, into the village of Boarstall. N identified the
motor bike that was thrashing around as a Norton.The later won (mainly because
we needed to catch the infrequent bus back from Horton).
Boarstall was less interesting than we had hoped. The
National Trust “Boarstall Tower” is only open on Wednesdays though it looked
quite interesting behind its moat. A convenient information board told us that
Boarstall had been all but levelled during the English Civil War and that the
tower is the only example of a fortified tower in Buckinghamshire.
As we left
the village we spotted a couple of local dummies waiting at a phone box (see
picture at SP 6244 14413).
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| Boarstall dummies |
Followed the road past several golf clubs and crossed over
our old friend the M40. Carried on until Warren farm and then headed across
recently cultivated fields into Horton-cum-Studley with a view of Otmoor towards
the North-West. Memories of our final day on the Roman Way last year (July
2012).
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| Otmoor is over there somewhere |
Arrived in Horton at 13:45. This is one of the “Seven Towns
of Otmoor”. The pub that once was in Horton is no more so as it was starting to
rain we had a look at St Barnabas’ church. Rather small with some colourful and
interesting brickwork.
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| St Barnabas' Church |
The Heyfordian 118 bus arrived on time and whisked us back
to Oxford. Where we went for a drink in the Royal Blenheim pub on the corner of
St Ebbes and Pembroke streets. Did we rate it? Possibly a 6 out of 10, good
range of beer.
