No.1. ‘A Frosty Dawn at Rainsborough Camp’
An ancient settlement, made more spectacular by the frost and the dawn.
30th November 2016.
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An ancient settlement, made more spectacular by the frost and the dawn.
30th November 2016.
Crossing the Cherwell Valley near Warkworth.
5th July 2013.
The stone is captivating, but in this location it becomes something more – with the backdrop of a long bend in the Evenlode valley and Wychwood draped over the ridge beyond.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
Following HS2 from Chipping Warden into Brackley.
19th April 2019.
Following ancient lanes around the Rollrights I come across the wonderous place on top of the wild, open ridge.
14th March 2019.
Following the route of HS2 in Banburyshire.
9th March 2018.
On the first day of a cross-country backpack through an ancient landscape.
30th April 2019.
Out for a day of fun in subzero temperatures.
7th December 2010.
Walking the north tip of The Cotswold Escarpment.
9th April 2016.
Out in the cold mists of a Winter’s dawn.
16th January 2016.
The megalith in the trees shines in iridescent greens.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
A late Summer walk through the Irondowns.
12th September 2014.
Walking the divide between the Severn and the Thames.
7th March 2015.
Climbing the Edgehill to take in the views.
12th September 2014.
An evening excursion out over Overthorpe Hill.
15th February 2019.
A day following the strands of The Jurassic Way.
18th April 2019.
Following the route of The Jurassic Way between two local high points.
19th July 2016.
A quick evening’s walk around the block rewarded with the lingering colours of a Winter’s sunset.
21st January 2020.
Finding views on a trail to find West Oxfordshire’s standing stones.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
A trip to the historic Quaker Meeting House in Adderbury.
20th March 2016.
They are a strange pair: A large megalith protruding from a retaining wall; and a weathered, battered old stepped stone cross in the middle of the road.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
The setting sun urges me on as I have to camp on the other side of that hill before dark.
30th April 2018.
Rain subsiding, I head to The Ridgeway to camp.
Beltane (1st May) 2019.
Stopping for lunch at ‘The Devil's Den’ to try and fix my failing backpack.
2nd May 2019.
The Beltane morning getting hot and humid I decide to stop for ‘second breakfast’ in Longstone Cove.
Beltane (1st May) 2019.
The location is beautiful, but get up close to the stone itself and you can see the ‘deep time’ etched into its surface.
20th March 2019.
An older way, missed by the modern hard roads network, linking together the ancient routes across the downs.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
Down through the village of Hellidon and onto the old gated road, the sun shown down on my back and the land all around – while over the rise, in the direction I was heading, the sky turned black.
29th April 2016.
A grey day, walking around Madmarston Hill to pick-up Salt Way back into town; turning to take one look behind before plodding over the hill down into Broughton the sun broke the clouds, illuminating the valley beyond.
2nd January 2012.
As I sit, munching food and brewing tea with my storm kettle, storm clouds gather over The Hawk Stone.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
The understorey is glowing green as the mid-Spring light streams in from above; and as far as you can see through the thicket the woodland floor is tinged with the purple-blue of newly sprouted bluebells. The coming of HS2 will change all that, though.
11th May 2018.
‘Ridgeway Lane’ is an absolute gem of a walking route, a three mile long green lane from Hunningham Hill crossing the broad valley to Upton – shown here just approaching the bridge over the Grand Union Canal (and the route of HS2).
5th May 2018.
Along the southern flank of the Misbourne valley beyond Missenden, the long ridge rises steadily for five miles through the beechwoods past Dunsmore to Coombe Hill – with, unfortunately, a grandstand view of the HS2 excavations, and the much-famed Jones’ Hill Wood.
18th May 2018.
Looking north from the high bank of the River Leam in Offchurch the valley opens out, with Cubbington Woods on the horizon – which will be spanned by HS2’s proposed 10-metre high Leam Viaduct and embankment, diving into a cutting in the hillside just below the woods.
17th February 2019.
The bird song is deafening, all across the scrubby wet wood – looking south down the line of HS2’s cutting that will flatten half of the wood.
5th May 2018
Viewed from Bretch Hill, Crouch Hill nestles in a sea of fog as the sun rises behind it one Winter’s morning.
20th January 2016.
The raised bank of the old Roman road, ‘the agger’, is still visible hereabouts, as Akeman Street crosses the open landscape between Kirtlington and Stonesfield.
19th February 2013.
Arbury Hill is the Central England watershed – with rivers draining to The Thames, The Severn, and The Wash from opposite sides of the large rounded hilltop.
29st April 2016.
The name ‘Bridge Street’ in Banbury does not refer to the railway bridge; it refers to the stone Medieval bridge which carried ‘Banbury Lane’ over the River Cherwell.
3rd September 2012.
Besbury Lane Bowl Barrow sits on top of a ridge, the perfect viewpoint over a broad sweeping bend of the Evenlode valley, with Wychwood draped over the ridgeline beyond; for that reason alone it’s worth a visit!
20th March 2019.
Stolen from the past in the Nineteenth Century; the boundary and retaining wall of Churchill’s ‘modern’ church were sourced by dismantling an ancient stone circle reputed to have stood in Sarsgrove Woods.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
Buried in the hedgerow alongside the road, it is sometimes difficult to spot, though no one is sure whether this short stubby stone is an ancient monolith or not.
20th March 2019.
Worn-away by time, this small late-Medieval cross stands beside the road most often in the shade – though occasionally lit when the sun finds a gap in the trees.
10th October 2014.
The portal stone stands seemingly alone in the field; until you realise the large scrub behind is all that remains of the structure that it was once attached to.
20th March 2019.
This fence along Portway Lane was once a battle line – in the Cold War between US military and peace campaigners.
28th March 2016.
Close to where Akeman Street crosses the River Evenlode, the Romans built a large villa which once dominated the landscape – though today, little remains of either.
20th March 2019.
Though chipped away at by Eighteenth Century souvenir hunters, the King Stone remains, enigmatically, trying to see Long Compton.
14th March 2019.
Even on a drab day, The King’s Men still have an air of mystery around them – their original shape and layout lost in the mists of time.
14th March 2019.
Awed by the view, The Knights stand silently watching the scene.
14th March 2019.
Though probably restored from its original form a few centuries ago, it still makes a lovely spot to sit and have a break after the climb up into Sarsden.
Beltane (1st May) 2018.
Though ploughed, quarried, and afforested, traces of this Iron Age settlement still remain to be seen.
20th March 2019.
On the windswept hill, with views for miles across the local landscape, many might miss the large round barrow that sits on top of the hill – or think it part of the trigpoint unceremoniously planted on top.
21st February 2018.
Echoing to Shakespeare’s classic tale of supernatural play in an enchanted place, the three ‘færies’ dance a jig beside The King’s Men.
14th March 2019.
Rooted to the spot, within his circling spikes like a prisoner in the dock, The King stands mute against the oncoming storm.
14th March 2019.
Salt Way can still be seen in the landscape today. The line of dark trees that run across from the left, behind Kings Sutton church, into the village, then right along the line of houses.
28th March 2016.
Viewed from where Welsh Lane enters Thorpe Mandeville, HS2 passes in the middle distance, just below where the rainbow touches the ground, going to the left.
15th November 2020.
The remains of a large, ancient enclosure sit above a large groups of springs in a local hidden valley.
19th November 2021.
When you get up close to ‘The Wroxton Fingerpost’, if you really think about it, it’s telling you a story which – in the modern context – seems to make no sense.
10th December 2021.
On a sunset walk, a storm front moves in from the south as I walk along Ogilby's Buckingham road, and before that the Roman Salt Road, toward Twyford Wharf.
25th September 2021
It was a phrase my Grandad always said to me: “You can go anywhere from Shutford Five-Ways”. The junction where five, possibly Roman roads met west of Banbury. Robert Johnson “went down to the crossroads”; this is 25% worse!
31st August 2013.
Walking along Salt Way I notice that my shadow is surrounded by a reddish hue; I step through a gap in the wide hedge to see the deep red sunset over Bretch Hill.
19th May 2022
The first day of Autumn, though the leaves are still in their Summer greens, and as the sun dips away preceding the dusk the birds are chirping in their roosts, while in the ash tree a blackbird sings ‘lights out’.
21st September 2021.
It’s a wonderul location: A scrubby hilltop; overlooking the source of Sor Brook; and beyond the line of the Edgehill escarpment with Nadbury camp embedded in it.
18th May 2013.
A stone Medieval bridge which carried Banbury Lane over the River Cherwell. Difficult to see, but every now and then the vegetation is cut-back to reveal the full structure.
5th August 2022.
Possibly the best section of Salt Way to walk: on this day, walking from Sibford to Epwell and then following to Roman route back to Banbury, made even more stunning by double-digit negative temperatures!
7th December 2010.
Across the top of Ploughley Hill from Fritwell, the likely line of The Portway curves away to the north (left) towards Croughton and Rainsborough Camp.
22nd September 2018.
Walking off Crouch Hill towards Salt Way and Crouch Farm, the falling snow slackens and begins to blow around in the swirling wind.
11th December 2022.
This was one of my favourite locations in the area; and ancient valley of criss-crossing trackways and two Medieval battlefields.
11th April 2019.