Walking: Tiddington to Lewknor

[white_hart]

I had today off work as well, so we walked the fifth (and penultimate) stage of the Oxfordshire Way; ten and a half miles from where we left off in Tiddington to the junction with the Ridgeway near Watlington, plus another two and a bit miles down the Ridgeway to Lewknor Turn to pick up the Oxford Tube back to Thornhill park and ride where we'd left the car to save having to travel into Oxford and out again both ways.



It was a glorious sunny day, but still much cooler than last week with temperatures in the mid-20s and a bit of a breeze. This section was much more interesting than the last couple; although we stopped just short of climbing up into the Chilterns proper, for most of the day we were walking through a gently undulating landscape that seemed to have a clear kinship with the hills ahead. After climbing out of Tiddington through fields (including one with a sign warning of the presence of a bull, though the only animal visible was a black and white cat) we walked through the woods of the Rycote estate and crossed a golf course before descending to the village of Tetsworth and crossing under the M40, then crossing more fields and following a long tree-lined lane into Pyrton. About a mile and half south of Pyrton we turned on to the Ridgeway, which at this point actually turned out to run along the bottom of the Chiltern escarpment, rather than the top. It was a particularly pleasant section, mostly through beech woods (whose shade was very welcome by that point), emerging into open fields as it neared the motorway where we turned downhill again to reach the bus stop.

Unlike the last section, this is one I'd happily walk again, and in fact the public transport links make it very easy (in particular, the trip from Lewknor back to Thornhill is incredibly quick). I'm also looking forward to the next and final section through the Chilterns to reach the Thames at Henley, although the public transport back from that is less good (changes at Twyford and Reading).

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Would you recommend the Oxfordshire Way enough that it might be worth my while recommending it to the Swan Whisperer? He thoroughly enjoyed walking the London Ring and the London Loop, but I don't know whether this would be worth the train fares (even with a Senior Railcard). What do you think?

[white_hart]

We're enjoying it, but a big part of the attraction is that it's very local and only the Bourton-on-the-Water to Charlbury leg actually required an overnight stay. (We then stayed in Charlbury and carried on the next day, but we could have got the train back to Oxford from Charlbury.) I don't know that it would be worth a special journey - it's mostly pleasant countryside, but nothing spectacular.