This page lists my ‘recent’ rambles. Due to space constraints only the last four to five seasons of walks are kept on-line.
A misty sunrise on the road between Bourton and Hanwell, 12th July 2020
These pages originated from a challenge – my claim that you did not need to travel 50 or 100 miles from Banbury to find beautiful countryside, to the Chilterns, Peak District or Wales; and that, in fact, Banbury is at the heart of its own geographically unique landscape.
It's also about my long-standing belief that developing an attachment to our own ‘place’ can be a route to making sense of the wider world, and the events taking place within it.
Each blog posts has a map of the route and a short description. Below this can be found an animated slideshow showing images from the walk.
For the more ‘distinguished’ walks and other information that I keep on-line, see the ‘permanent collection’ page. Note that I also produce videos of some local walks for my YouTube channel(note: if possible please like and subscribe to the channel as it helps promote the work).
The ‘Current’ Collection
The walks from the Banburyshire Rambles Photo-Journal currently on-line (in reverse chronological order/most recent first):
Saturday 16th April 2022: I want to add a couple more locations to my ‘Ancient Sites’ collection. It’s also the full moon, which Americans call the ‘Pink Moon’ and Europeans call ‘The Awakening Moon’. Either way, this evening the moon will rise almost the same moment as the sun sets, and that sounds like a perfectly good excuse to sit in a field and make some tea.
Route: Banbury Cross, Weeping Cross, Lower Grove Mill, Milton Meadows, Bloxham Grove, Bodicote, Banbury.
Sunday 27th February 2022: Wednesday is the new ‘Sap Moon’, and right now Venus is the ‘Morning Star’. I decide to get out early as the two should be close together, sitting on the dawn horizon. Leaving the road at Weeping Cross I find the ground crunches beneath my feet – there’s a good frost just to add a little spice to what will be a clear, bright dawn!
Wednesday 22nd December 2021: I saw the sunrise yesterday morning, but was detained by events later that day and couldn’t go out to greet it. Out well before dawn this morning, the scene was immeasurably better as I was greeted with clear skies and a good frost.
Route: Banbury, Giant’s Caves, Broughton Park, Broughton, Crouch Hill, Banbury.
Can't sleep. It's 6am. It's frosty outside. Only one thing to do: Go for a walk. I pound through the town centre and head east towards Nethercote and Overthorpe, to catch the frosty sunrise across Warkworth and Astrop.
This is what I like to call ‘a quick around the block’ walk. I realised that being near Solstice, the sun would set roughly down the line of Canal Lane between Warkworth and Bodicote. I headed out not expecting much, but the gathering cloud provided quite a spectacular scene illiminated by the sunset and dusk.
Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 17th April 2022:
Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 1st March 2022:
Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 1th January 2022:
Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 19th December 2021:
Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 8th December 2021: