Great Barrington to Kingham station - Friday 26 June 2015
Yet again we are on the S2 bus to Carterton sharing stories
about how we made it (slowly) back to Oxford last time. Pretty sure this will
be the last time we will see Carterton! Ace taxis out to Great Barrington where
we left off at the beginning of June. How time flies we are already past
mid-summer with 180 or so days to Christmas! (Sorry).
Weather looked good for walking and we set off at a fair pace
across fields with great displays of wild flowers (scabious, corn flowers,
poppies, etc) in a generally northerly direction to the accompaniment of
Skylarks and other small brown (unidentified) birds. Picked up the county
boundary at Miletree Clump (Grid ref: SP2146 1578) to then head south
eastwards. The county boundary certainly zig-zags around. Followed the “zig” for half a mile and then
“zagged” NE towards Tangley Hall. As we descended through woods to the
Hazleford Brook (sometime tributary of the River Windrush) we realized it was
quite humid so we were pleased to get
back into a breeze on top of the hill near Tangley Hall (SP2338 1687). This
hamlet was well (and apparently expensively) fenced against all intruders,
human or animal, but we could see the tennis courts through gaps in the fence.
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| Fields of barley |
Stopped for elevenses (first sandwich of the day - N had
missed his meat pie / pasty in Carterton!) Discussed future walks, what are we
going to do when we finish this three year epic? We took a vote on which way to
go. Should we follow the recommended route towards Little Rissington airfield
(disused) or save some time and head straight towards Fifield? We opted
(sensibly as it turned out) for the latter. So pushed on up over the A424 (main
road from Burford to Stow on the Wold) and down through rape and barley fields to
the pretty village of Fifield. We found a convenient bench and had another
sandwich, sushi, coffee, etc and watched a selection of horses and dogs taking
their owners for a walk. The village was quiet and didn't seem to sport a pub
or shop.
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| Large house, Idbury |
Right then chaps the next village is Idbury. Ok, time to put
on the rain gear as clouds had built up and it was starting to spot with rain.
Nothing too bad though. Across several stiles and passed one of the dog walkers
again (walking faster than us on her clockwise sojourn). Didn't see too much of
Idbury, several large houses behind high hedges and walls.
We were now getting back to the area we last saw seven years
ago when starting out on the Oxfordshire Way. Little did we think that we were
at the beginning of a trek across, through and around Oxfordshire all those
years ago.
We often mention following or crossing the county boundary
but this time we thought we would share with you an obvious change of road
surface just outside Nether Westcote (SP2291 2017). Gloucestershire Highways had just re-surfaced
the road and made sure they hadn't strayed into Oxfordshire. We went wrong in
Nether Westcote and turned down the first lane so missed the main part of the
small village. There was a pub marked on the map but it was no longer the New
Inn but now a hotel cum smart (allegedly) dining place ideal for a Cotswold
weekend.
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| Spot the join |
We then descended the scarp slope down onto the clays lands
of the Evenlode valley. The guide book warned that the bridleway towards
Bledington could be very muddy. Well it was right, we hadn't had any
significant rain for several weeks and still there were muddy spots to be
negotiated. After about a mile and a
half of deeply rutted path we came across a strangely mown path which then
headed out towards a deeply ploughed field where we joined the Oxforshire Way.
(Hooray!). On the way we examined the deep plough furrows for erratic
(ex-glacial) stones and N loaded up his pockets with interesting sand stone
pebbles from the Midlands.
We were getting tired and thirsty so were looking forward to
getting to Bledington. Stopped near the churchyard for the final sandwich and
snack and then headed towards the Kings Head pub for a couple of drinks. We are
last here in 2008.
“Not too much”,
cautioned P, “we've still to walk to Kingham Station.”(Just over a mile away
along the busy B4450).
Arrived at Kingham station (SP2564 2276) in time to catch an
HST back to Oxford and Reading along with school children eager to return home
from a variety of private/public schools in the Kingham / Chipping Norton area.
Great - we are back on a train. Next time we won’t need to use the bus!
By the way, T forgot the camera so photos courtesy of N and his phone.
In summary: 10.7 miles
today. With any luck we should be able to complete that whole walk next time. G
day – goodbye Carterton, goodbye S2 bus and a grand-day-out. See you next
month.
