The Ridgeway: Chinnor

Sunday 1st April 2018

At Easter last year I thought it would be a good idea to return to the Chiltern Hills where I had previously done a little bit of walking along the Ridgeway trail. I had surprised everybody when I said I was going south for my walking as I usually go north, typically to the Lake District or Scotland, but I had first gone to the Chiltern Hills in 2017 for a change and now I was continuing that vein. The weather in March last year was not great and it had not improved much by the time Easter came along, which led to me not being desperate to go walking. I was worried about the weather and what the conditions were going to be like on the ground, so I hadn’t really put the effort into preparation that I usually do. Although I came south on the Saturday, the day before this walk, I was so reluctant to start walking I actually spent the whole day at Bletchley Park, which was the home of the codebreakers during World War Two. Eventually I arrived at my base for the week at the Streatley Youth Hostel in the Thames valley and the following day I headed off to the village of Chinnor in South Oxfordshire and set off up a very muddy track until I reached the course of the Ridgeway National Trail.

Despite the muddy conditions that I would encounter on this walk after the heavy rains of the last winter I was glad that I was not walking in anywhere that is mountainous as these areas were still likely to be sitting under heavy winter snow. Turning left along the Ridgeway the track soon deteriorated into quagmire conditions as I passed around the wooded, northern slopes of Wain Hill. This small section of the walk was not on the Ordnance Survey map that I was using so I had to get the Ridgeway Trail map out of my rucksack to discover how much further I had to go and eventually I reached the point where I had got to on the trail during my previous visit in July 2017. This seemed to take me forever but eventually I came out of the wood and came to the turning that I remembered from my earlier walk. Despite this, I continued on the Ridgeway for a short while heading through some sheep-filled fields before coming off the trail to follow the route of the Chiltern Way. I was tackling the Ridgeway on a series of circular walks using other recreational paths to complete the circle and while in the Chilterns the Chiltern Way was often the path I used, though it was often quite dull.

The path initially passed through predominantly farmer’s fields, which was a little tedious while the weather was also dull, cold and overcast, but fortunately it wasn’t raining and the ground was surprisingly dry underfoot being often very stony with what looked like chalk and flint. After passing through the village of Stokenchurch and under the M40 motorway the paths were particularly muddy which made for a really difficult and tiring time for me as I tried to make my way along the trail. When the Chiltern Way entered a wood it improved dramatically with excellent scenery as I climbed through Hartmoor Wood, which at that early spring point the woodland flowers were just beginning to come through the ground and in another month would fill the wood with tremendous wonders and delight. I could see infant bluebells carpeting the woodland floor, but at this time I was far too early to see their fantastic display in flower. The muddy conditions continued in Commonhill Wood with one memorable spot where the path descends steeply in a deep, narrow rut that was filled with mud and forced me to walk with my feet straddling the mud either side of the deep rut.

Eventually I reached easier walking and as the Chiltern Way veers to the south I continued west through delightful woodland that is helpfully adorned with painted arrows that mark the paths. I followed one such route through Shotridge Wood and by the time I reached the fabulously named Christmas Common I was really tired and desperately in need of some lunch. On restarting I now followed the Oxfordshire Way that took me downhill off the Chiltern escarpment and back onto the Ridgeway. Turning right onto the trail I was now able to effortlessly follow this all the way back to Chinnor while red kites flew overhead and the escarpment accompanied me on my right. This may not have been the best walk I have ever done, though the Chilterns can never compete with the Lake District or the Highlands of Scotland. It is a shame that the wild flowers were not ready as these are what sets this area apart, although there were plenty of daffodils and primroses. The mud made this walk very tiring, but at least it wasn’t raining and it was still good to be out walking as there had been few opportunities during the long, cold, wet winter.