The Oxfordshire Way: The northern section: Bourton-on-the-Water to Islip, 33.9 miles

28th – 30th May 2011

Day1. It had been raining during the night and it was still raining first thing that morning. Liz Adams and Emerita Pilgrim had organized the car shuffling like a military operation and we were parked in Bourton–on–the–Water ready to start our walk by 10am. By now it had stopped raining, although from time to time it was extremely windy.

Setting out Setting out Photo: Eme Pilgrim

We set off at a brisk pace, all 16 walkers, and soon passed through Wyck Rissington, a very pretty unspoilt village then through Gawcombe and on to Bledington. We were walking through idyllic meadows of wild flowers, including exquisite orchids, and, climbing steadily, we were greeted by panoramic views at the top. We had a short coffee break where Judith and I found a convenient tree trunk on which to sit; Trudi joined us but promptly moved as she had sat next to a very active wasps' nest.

And we were off again. We passed through woods and wheat fields and some road walking. We went via Bruern and on to Shipton-under-Wychwood. We'd accomplished about 8 miles when we stopped for lunch at about 1pm. We sat just outside a wood with fine drizzle coming down but this certainly didn't dampen our spirits. We set off again and were still keeping up a good pace, this was certainly helped by the fact there were no stiles. We arrived back at our cars in Ascott-under-Wychwood at 3pm.

Day 2. The day started dry and bright and once again Liz and Eme had the car shuffling organized and we started walking from Ascott-under-Wychwood at 9.40am. Today there were 13 of us and again we went at a good pace.

We were looking down onto the Evenlode valley and walking through vast fields of wheat, broad beans and bamboo which are used for bio fuel. We saw a hare run into a corn field and the pastures were full of ragged robin, ox eye daisies and buttercups. We marched through the beautiful Cotswold stone village of Charlbury and more huge fields of crops until we came to some very stony fields which heralded our arrival at Stonesfield. Here we stopped for lunch by the river Evenlode.

Lunch at Stonesfield Lunch at Stonesfield Photo: Kazie Wischnewski

We sat watching people paddling in the river and a family throwing in jars and catching crayfish. Setting off again, we followed the route of Akeman Street which took us through Blenheim Park. We crossed the A44 and were back at our cars at approximately 3pm again.

Day 3. Again the car shuffling was expertly planned and we set off from Wootton at 9.30am with 13 walkers. The rain started and it rained and it kept on raining. We were continuing to walk along Akeman Street; Margaret, Adam and David had brought along secateurs to clear obstructing branches.

The terrain was much flatter than the first two days. We had a short break, taking shelter from the persistent rain under a railway bridge. We walked through sodden jungles of rapeseed and more, even soggier, wheat fields. We turned off Akeman Street and on past Pigeon Lock, through Kirtlington and into Kirtlington Park.

We had a lot of extremely slippery stiles to climb but everyone was cheerful despite the downpour. We eventually arrived at Weston-on-the-Green for lunch in the churchyard with people huddling in the church porch or sitting on grave stones under dripping trees.

After lunch we plodded on over the A34, with its traffic backed up to the M40 junction, and through hay fields battered down by the weather. We were now onto Otmoor and after tramping through water-logged wheat and rapeseed fields, gaining height and weight from the amount of mud clinging to out boots! We arrived back at Islip car park at about 3pm, bedraggled, soaked but still smiling.

Before the pub Before the pub Photo: Kazie Wischnewski

We went to the Red Lion where Eme wanted to buy the drinks with Liz, but Michael insisted that he should and we sat in the conservatory with the rain falling even heavier. We all agreed that it had been a great three days walking and three cheers to Liz and Eme for organizing it. We are looking forward to doing the second half of the Oxfordshire Way whatever the weather.

Val Forsdyke