Geocaches - 8
Walk from - Country Walking Magazine - Feb 2015
Pubs - Maytime Inn, Asthall (4XT) and Royal Oak, Burford (Wadworth Horizon)
Encouraged by countless Daily Mail Articles and Channel 5 documentaries, I answer the question "what would I like to do for my birthday" with "go and investigate the graves of Nazi Sympathisers".
A man has to have a hobby.
Truth is, I have driven through Burford on the way back from the Ridgeway and identified it as a good place to walk. It has a long high street packed with pubs and plenty of time to look at the architecture, when stuck in the traffic that snarls up at its single file bridge.
But the only way to explore is on foot. A danger of starting at a tourist hot spot is that Sonia wants an ice cream before we have made any progress. I donate £2 to the keep the walking partner happy trust and make a find of the first cache of the day, cheekily hidden in plain view.
Through the tourist hordes, across the bridge and we are out in glorious countryside.
I never tire of a broad path through a wheatfield.
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| Into the Country |
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| Simply Superb |
We are sharing the paths with two other couples. This is unfortunate, as all the Geocaches are along this part of the route. And Oxfordshire Cache Owners like to have a large degree of sneakiness on their hides. We play a game of cat and mouse, with us overtaking them - stopping for a hunt - and them overtaking us.
The hide and seek stops at Bocketts Corner.
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| Bockett's Corner |
Decision time coming up. Its not a hard decision but one that needs to be carefully taken. "Where shall we stop for our first drink of the day?"
There's a couple of options but we go for the first big blue cup on the OS map - Ashall. It would appear that entering in anything bigger than a mini is an impossibility.
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| Unsure whether my X5 would get through there. |
The pub is the Maytime Inn in a hamlet dominated by the Family home of the Mitfords. More on them later. I have a lesson in psychology to take first.
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| Never a truer word spoken |
Refreshed, we pick up the River Windrush, following the Oxfordshire Under 21 ladies rambling squad.
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| Views to Chez Mitford |
The Mitfords still get column inches on slow news days. An aristocratic family with 7 children, the one with the most notoriety was Unity. Makes you wonder whether your future is preordained. If you are born in a town called Swastika and have a middle name of Valkyrie, is it any wonder that you grow up in thrall of the Nazi Party?
She moved to Germany in the 1930s and had fortnightly meetings with Adolf. Her passion was confirmed when she attempted suicide on the outbreak of WWII but failed to shoot herself in the head properly, although she did die of her wounds in 1948.
She is now buried between two of her sisters in Swinebrook Churchyard.
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| Swinebrook Church |
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| Inscribed with "Say not the struggle naught availeth" |
History lesson over - its a pleasant walk along the Windrush back to Burford. I counted at least 6 decent looking boozers in the town, so there's nothing else for it. We are going to have to go back and stay the night for a full explore.
We took the advice of our landlord and tried the Royal Oak.
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| Royal Oak |
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| Wadworth Horizon. And lunch. |
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