23/07/17 - Wye to the Thames - Walk 12 - Hanborough to Oxford

Distance - 11.5 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Previous Walks - Walk 1, Walk 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6, Walk 7, Walk 8, Walk 9, Walk 10, Walk 11
Pubs - The Trout Inn, Godstow and the Perch Inn, Binsey

So the journey ends.

I found an old book that detailed 12 walks between the stations of the Cotswold Line Railway.  The plan is you start at a station, have a lovely bimble and catch the train back to your starting position.

I set off on 7/05/16 from Hereford, completed a stage roughly once a month and find myself arriving in Oxford at the end of the line, just over a year later.

As is custom with the end of a project, a celebratory night out is planned.

So this means the first challenge is to get from our hotel (don't do this on a Saturday kids, Oxford hotels are about three times more expensive than on a Sunday) to Hanborough to start the walk.   A combination of bus (conversation to amuse Mrs M with the bus driver - so I can use an all day ticket all day?  As many times as I want?) and the first train out of Oxford on a Sunday means we are heading out into the countryside at about 11:30am.

A post walk nap is in jeopardy.

Hanborough Station has a handy reminder of the journey that has been completed.

I've walked that

Early stages of the walk are what we have come to expect from Oxfordshire.  Fine views, woodland, pretty little villages.   The first up is Church Hanborough, containing a potential refreshment point in the Hand and Shears pub.   Too early for us and too many miles left to do.

Woodland Welcome - Straight through Pinsley Wood

Oxfordshire Countryside Views

Mrs M at Church Hanborough

About an hours walking on overgrown paths, disturbing the tiny Muntjac deer that Mrs M mistakes for "Ginger Dogs" and we are in the deeply weird place of Eynsham.

The approach is down a bridleway which has around 10 decreipt caravans - all flat tyres, broken windows, covered in green moss and inhabited by a community.  A community of what, I am unsure - all young to middle aged men, tending makeshift fires and looking at ramblers encroaching on their manor.

The town itself appears to have something of identity crisis.  The housing estate is a mixture of council houses, with rather posh new builds with names like "Orchard Cottage".   The architecture of the place is summed up in the town centre - a turreted church next to a terrible 1970's style shop.

Eynsham Main Street

We took advantage of the benches opposite the Re Lion (d had fallen off) to take lunch.

Not much walking until we reach the Thames, crossing the Toll Bridge at Swinford where a man in a hut must question his own existence at having to collect 5p from passing cars.  Ramblers go free.

Is it Worth It?

Over the Thames

It's the Thames Path most of the way now, but the route saves us a mile by taking us inland past Wytham Great Wood.   Its about 9 miles in and we vow to stop at the next pub.

This is provided by the Trout Inn at Godstow Lock.  Like the wasps that attacked everyone in the beer garden, the punters really swarm to this place on a warm summers day.   The finer points of queuing at bars needed to be pointed out to a couple of impatient pensioners, who really should know better.

Mrs M wondered how much change I got back from my two pints.  A not unreasonable £2 from a tenner is the answer, although the Old Hooky was not in great condition.

Like Wasps to a Honeypot

Old Hooky looks worse than I remember it

Godstow provided some unexpected history, with an Abbey one side of the river and a nunnery the other side.

Godstow Nunnery

For thirsty ramblers, the next pub stop is not too far downstream.  About another mile on in Binsey is the Perch Inn.  Its slightly off the Thames Path but their signage and dramatic entrance through a series of fairy light lit arches on a sunken path make it impossible to ignore.

Cannot be ignored

The Outside Bar

Another Old Hooky here - gravity fed from a barrel but much clearer than in the Trout, even if it did lose all life within three sips.

Refreshment stops over, its all riverbank walking into Oxford, where we meet the 500 bus at the train station to whisk us back to the Hotel.  Its 5pm.   Mrs M insists she can get an hour in before we head out to celebrate properly.

Oxford Captured in a Picture - The Thames, a boat and a bike riding student

As with all adventures, a summary blog is available.