Cross-Cotswold Pathway: Stage 7

Cirencester to Kemble Station – Friday 21 April 2017

If you are keeping note you will know that it is five months since we were last this way. Sorry about that. On the positive side, our group has increased by 25% with the A joining us at the beginning of the year. Our activities have been limited though by the usual work commitments, family duties, bouts of colds and other infections and poor weather. As reported in a recent post we have been trying to keep the joints flexed by our “training walks” with the result that we were confident that we could do this trip out to Cirencester to push on down the Cross-Cotswold Pathway.

We agreed in November that we would skip the North Cerney to Cirencester section and would start in the old Roman town of Corinivm. We joined the train at Didcot and we were speeding to Swindon when A pointed out that further down the deserted standard class carriage was Jeremy Corbyn (at the time of writing Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party) and his team of two female advisors. No sooner had A mentioned this than the said C came up the carriage to go to the loo stopping to chat to us about where we were heading, how he had been taken around all the Roman sites when a child, etc, etc. C believed he had met A before but that might have been an ice breaker. We didn’t discuss politics nor did we seek a selfie but we were left with a good impression of a reasonable chap. As P said “he seemed like a bloke you might see down the allotments who you would lend your watering can to”. Like us C and his party got off at Swindon, us to catch the bus to Cirencester and him and his mobile-phoning assistants to be ferried off to a meeting in south Swindon.

Royal Agricultural University

That excitement over we caught the 10:20 bus to Cirencester and about an hour later set off walking from the centre of this town, Grid Ref: SP0244 0188. Cirencester was busy with market-day pedestrians including one chap who walked past us wearing jodhpurs presumably he had left his horse at the saloon. The route was a bit of a drag out along the traffic-noisy  A419 and then the A429 (Fosse Way). After about 25 minutes from town we were able to turn off and head through the grounds of the Royal Agricultural College (now University), (SP0046 0122) following the Monarch’s Way again. It was much quieter and we were able to catch up on the news and find out what N had been up to, work-wise in the Caribbean.

The weather wasn’t sunny, but not too cold, perfect for walking and we made good progress westwards, accompanied by spring bird-song and new lambs bleating, towards the line of the disused Thames and Severn Canal south of the village of Coates. Way back in 2011 we had walked along this same canal as it joined the upper Thames near Cricklade (Roman Way).

How did this get here?

We eventually joined the canal at SO9790 0004 and walked along the old tow path.

There has been much talk over the years of using the route of the canal as a way of transferring water from the relatively water rich Severn catchment into the Thames catchment with its higher water demand. The canal bed is in a pretty poor state with large trees, agricultural debris (see photo of old plough) and waste dumped into it with more than likely high seepage rates. It seems unlikely that the canal would be reinstated with that objective in mind, more likely the course could be the route of a pipeline (?)

It was the railway that did for the canal

At the GWR railway P & T were interested to see a South-West train using the line. Was this the Southampton to Cheltenham service? We will investigate the timetable when we get home.

18th Century Gothic round house

Shortly after the railway crossing of the canal we came across a “ruined 18^th century Gothick (sic) canal round house”, (SO9701 0011) the purpose of which we couldn’t ascertain. There was a nearby “useful” bench so it was time for our respective picnics.

Further on the canal has been restored and is water-filled up to the eastern portal of the canal tunnel. According to the nearby information board this tunnel under the Cotswolds to the valley of the River Frome and hence the Severn. When it was built it was the longest canal tunnel in Britain, and remains the fourth longest. In the winter, when there is sufficient water depth the local conservation society offers boat trips into the first section of the canal tunnel.

Eastern portal, Thames-Severn Canal

The adjacent Tunnel House Inn (SO9656 0061) beckoned so we went and sampled the Butcombe Ale, though A had Carlsberg. The pub was rather warm inside with a large log fire so we opted to sit outside. After a while we thought it was a bit chilly and therefore time to be heading off. We rated it 6/10 though P conceded that it had nice toilets.

Thames Path starts here

To make use of public transport we needed to divert to Kemble station and retraced our route for 1.5km and then turned south on the Wysis Way (a link between Monmouth and Kemble) to join the Thames Path, in fact to the beginning of the Thames Path, (184 miles to London etc).

The source of the Thames (ST9805 9952) is marked by a large granite stone bearing poorly decipherable writing (it doesn’t come out on the photo). T remarked that granite was hardly a local stone and this large lump of igneous rock certainly intruded into the landscape (this is a geological joke.) The spring was all dried up and looked more like the site of a camper’s barbecue. We wondered how the water could flow from there to create the water course as there was no discernible channel. We plodded on across the field to Thames Head where we could imagine a better defined channel.

Thames source

Across the pastures to just to the north of the village of Kemble and then we saw the train departing for Swindon, it was 16:05; T thought the train was at 16:25! Never mind. The next train was in about an hour so we found the imaginatively named “The Tavern” pub, (ST9846 9746). We swelled the customer count by 400% and surprised the landlady by asking for four teas. Actually it was a most welcome cuppa. The bar started to fill up and it became clear that this was a favourite “watering hole” for commuters. Arkle’s ales were on offer and because of the friendly nature we rated it 7/10.

Back to the station to fiddle about getting tickets to Swindon from the machine and then the HST, that was on time. T carried on directly to Reading and A, P & N changed at Swindon for the following train to Didcot.

We will need to plan the next stage carefully, should we stick to the recommended route and the Macmillan Way and end up near Stroud or be rebellious and keep on the Monarch’s Way to Tetbury? (The later would mean a Pulham’s bus and you know what we think of them!) 

Good walking, we managed 7.7 miles. Dry and not too hot, nor too cold “Goldilocks weather”. Good to be out in the Cotswold countryside again.  Perhaps it has to be C-day, Cotswolds, Cirencester, canal tunnel and Corbyn.

Training walks (various – Spring 2017)

Sulham Woods

It has been very quiet on the Walking Middle England blog since the end of November 2016. As the festive season was approaching and the short days were impacting on the viability of getting to and from the Cross-Cotswold pathway we decided to call off the long excursions until the spring of 2017. In the meantime we decided to meet up and undertake what we have termed “Training Walks” through the winter and early spring. These are summarised below with what memories and photographs we have, (sorry no photographs in Oxford).

Industrial Oxford – Friday 30 December 2016

 Post-Christmas is always an awkward time and it is great to get out to do something other than watch old films and repeats of TV shows. Somewhere on the internet we found a suggested walk around “Industrial Oxford” this tickled our collective curiosity as an antidote to the Oxford of “dreaming spires”. Therefore on a reasonable day in late December, T, N & P met up at Oxford Station. As it turned out P had to return to Didcot and joined us later. T & N carried on and headed to the site of the Old Electric Power Station in Arthur Street, Osney. (N used to live near here when he first moved to Oxford). The 32 page guide to the walk (!) describes in some detail how coal was brought up the river to the large brick building (still there) and how local kids used to dive into the water to collect lumps of coal for the home grates. The discharge of cooling water was warm enough to allow household laundry and bathing in the river. "The station was in action for 77 years, from 1892 to 1969". We can only imagine that smoke must have drifted all across Oxford when the plant was in operation.

Osney_Mill (Wikipedia)

The route then headed down river to Osney Lock which now sports a new hydro power station (reverse Archimedean Screw). Across the river was the site of Osney Mill which had been used for a variety of milling activities over the centuries including gunpowder milling during the civil war. (More info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osney_Mill)

We walked on along the River Thames under the railway and under the old gas works bridge. Yes Oxford had a gas works on a large 17 acre site. Here again it must have really had a detrimental impact on the quality of the air in Oxford. Both the power station and the gas works were within one mile of Carfax (centre of Oxford) and upwind of the City.

View of Oxford, from the meadows near the gas works

Before crossing the river at the old gas pipe bridge we visited the site of another of N's old addresses in a road near where Oxford Town FC used to play. The gas pipe bridge links into the 1960s development of St Ebbes that replaced the old back-to-back terraces that clustered between the gas works and the University. Part of this site is now being redeveloped again as the Westgate Centre.

Up Littlegate Street, past the Modern Art gallery, the site of one of Oxford's four breweries in Oxford and into Queen Street. One can still see the relics of an old department store and the HQ of Halls Brewery (now Top Shop).

Rejoined by P so we decided to call it a day and head to our usual “headquarters” in Broad Street only to find that it was closed for the holidays. So a few steps down the road to the junction of Broad Street and Holywell and into the Kings Arms for lunch and a few drinks, not too bad but rather busy so we were glad to leave and wish each other a Happy New Year before heading home.

Not so far, just a gentle ramble around less fashionable Oxford, 2.6 miles. Agreed we would do the rest of the walk another day!

Besselsleigh to Kingston Bagpuize  (Route 66) – 27 January 2017

As we start 2017, the news is that A, another retired colleague, has joined our band. All four of us were going to attempt the long journey out to Cirencester but illness in 50% of the party meant a change of plan was necessary. A and T met up at Oxford station and caught a Wantage bus out to Besselsleigh (Greyhound), Grid Ref: SP4600 0176. The idea was to continue our own route to Faringdon from Thame via Oxford what we fondly call “Route 66”.

Appleton church

P, N & T had started the route from Oxford to Besselsleigh on 6 March 2015 and N & T continued to lay-down the route the other side of Oxford by walking Wheatley to Oxford on 18 March 2016. As you can see from the dates this is a winter activity!

Anyhow, the weather looked reasonable as we crossed the busy A420 and passed the Greyhound pub. We took the path towards Appleton and found plenty to talk about, catching up on global water-related matters and family news. The path came out at Appleton Church and we then walked through the village, past the Plough pub (T’s parents occasionally went to this pub back in the 1950s) and then turned north-west to head slowly downhill towards the River Thames. Before reaching the river the path turned westwards to parallel the river skirting an area known as Appleton Lower Common.

Kingston Bagpuize Millennium Park

At the junction of paths (SP4201 0091) we turned south-west and slowly climbed uphill towards Netherton and then onto Fyfield (SU4222 9872). This small village used to be on the A420 but is now by-passed though traffic is still very evident from the sound of heavy trucks travelling the  Swindon to Oxford route. After carefully crossing the said “A” road we walked into Kingston Bagpuize stopping for sandwiches at their millennium park (the name rather oversells this small nature reserve).

Tree trunk art

Finished the walk at the Hinds Head, had a quiet drink and then caught the #66 bus back to Oxford.

A pleasant winter walk, not too far, 5.9 miles and not too hilly, puts us in a good position to reach Faringdon next time (next year?)

Oxford again - Friday 3 March 2017

Would we manage to complete Route 66 to Faringdon today? No it was raining. All four of us were at Oxford Station again. What to do? We agreed that we would re do the Industrial Oxford walk again for the benefit of A and P and then reassess. This we did and followed the route as described on 30 December 2016.

Oxford gasworks  1960 to 2015 (Oxford Mail)

Coffee in the Ashmolean Museum and then out across the University parks to follow the route taken on 6 November 2015. This brought us back into Broad Street, so time for a fish and chip lunch at the White Horse (HQ) having clocked up 5.3 miles in total. A very pleasant lunch and drinks and we all departed several hours later in a mellow state.

One day we will venture out into the great outdoors, we promise!

Pangbourne – Wednesday 12 April 2017

Sulham woods bluebells

P&T undertook a short training walk starting and finishing at Pangbourne station (easily accessible from their respective homes) on 12 April. This walk was based on one of 25 walks described in “Rambling for Pleasure around Reading” published by The East Berkshire Ramblers' Association.

We started from Pangbourne station walked into town past the Aston Martin/ Bentley/ Lamborghini dealership and out of town on Moors lane to cross the water meadows in the Pang valley (except they were very dry.) It was a lovely sunny day, not too hot, ideal for walking. Loads of people around; walking dogs, going to the allotments or out for a walk as it was still school holidays.  We headed south-east, crossed a small stream and joined the quiet lane to Sulham.

Yet more bluebells

Turned off and headed up hill to go into Sulham Woods. Yet more dog walkers in the woods which were now starting to display bluebells before the leaves were fully out. There were a couple of tractors racing around harrowing recently ploughed fields. More walkers as we approached Little Heath (Tilehurst).

At SU6534 7489 we turned northwards to head towards Purley-on-Thames. Great views across the recently electrified GWR, Pangbourne towards Streatley and the Goring Gap. 

View towards Streatley

As we approached Purley the path went down Beech road and then crossed the main A329 to follow an unadopted road that crossed the main railway at SU 6580 7636. We walked to the north of the railway and then at the next bridge turned north towards Westbury Farm. Impressed by a chap on a mobility scooter successfully negotiating a steep slope up onto the lane.

Hidden Westbury Farm

There was a lot of activity around Westbury Farm. There were contactors building an expensive perimeter fence, large creosoted posts, multiple wire strands, rabbit fencing buried into the ground, interplanted with laurel. As we approached the farm the public footpath was hemmed in with large Cupressus leylandii (at least 10m high). Lots of signs and CCTV cameras. Somebody wants to stay private and hide the new pylons of the railway. The work continued all the way around the farm. We turned away from the railway at SU 6448 7661 and headed towards the river and ended up eating our sandwiches at exactly the same spot , SU6452 7715, that we had a lunch break when on the Seven Shires Way on 20 June 2014.

Boze Down, Alpaca farm

A short walk into Pangbourne and stopped at the George and had an excellent pint of West Berks “Good Old Boy”. Later conversations with Pangbourne residents indicated that the George wasn't the locals choice, however we found the chap behind the bar friendly and the beer good. The word in the town (village?) is that the Jordanian owner of Westbury farm is developing a stud for Polo ponies.

A really good walk, lovely weather and always good to discover new views and perspectives, a gentle 5.7 miles.