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London Blind Walking Club
The club are visiting our group on Sunday, 22 August 2010.  The walk starts at 11:00 from Bill and Muriel Millar's, Wayland, South Row, Chilton. Help is needed to ferry their members from Didcot station at about 10:30. The walk is followed by tea at Bill and Muriel's. Please bring a packed lunch. The walk is 7 miles at a leisurely pace.

Get Walking Day, 23 May 2010, Abingdon
The Abingdon walk for this event was cribbed from one of the regular second Thursday Stroll walks. The bad news was the lack of stiles in the field leading up to Oday Hill, so it was decided to divert the walk along Peep-O-Day Lane. There were 19 on the walk with about half being non-members. As usual, we stopped by the duck pond in Sutton Wick, but having got there by a more unusual route than usual
as suggested by Michael Bloom, bringing us out right opposite the pond. We then ploughed on past New Cut Mill, along the River Ock past the Chauntrell Way play area and hence along the Ock Valley Walk, all the time keeping on eye out for Himalayan Balsam. It was decided to frequent the Kings Head and Bell as there was plenty of room in the yard. Altogether a very pleasant day, with the sunny weather being a bonus.

Wantage inaugural third Thursday walk, 15 April 2010
Six ramblers from Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage met at The Bear for a circular walk via Letcombe Regis & Letcombe Bassett back to Wantage. It was a bright cool morning, and we set off at a comfortable pace for Letcombe Regis via a very pleasant footpath of about a mile. In Letcombe Regis we passed many old thatched cottages, one dated 1698. The last reading of the Riot Act took place on the steps of the Greyhound Pub in the early 20th C. We proceeded to open fields with fine views of the Downs, towards Letcombe Bassett, which lies at the bottom of the Downs. At this point a swallow was seen! In the village we admired Arabella's cottage which featured in T. Hardy's novel 'Jude the Obscure'. The springs feeding Letcombe Brook rise near this cottage. We then took the path above the cressbeds, where watercress was farmed until the 1970s. After half a mile we reached Letcombe Regis Nature Trail which BBOWT recently took over, and they have exciting plans to restore the eco-system after several years of neglect. The footpath continues on through the newly opened Richmond Retirement Village, passing a lake fed by the Letcombe Brook. The walk returned via the footpath into Wantage. The men decided on a pub lunch and the ladies took refreshment at the local museum. Some of the group who had not visited the area were very impressed with the beautiful countryside, and the noticeable lack of litter on the paths - a pat on the back to the Letcombe Litter Pickers!
Another successful 'Stroll In' walk, 24 September 2009
Alan Bryden led one of the regular Thursday walks from outside Stroll In in Abingdon through Drayton and Sutton Courtenay. We breaked at the Millennium sun dial between Sutton Wick and Drayton. That's Alan with his hands in his pockets. We lunched at The George public house with a reasonable choice of real ales. Most took the opportunity to visit George Orwell's grave ( Eric Arthur Blair) and were also shown the outflow of the Ginge Brook in to the Thames near the weir, the way one does. Alan had recce'd quite an intricate set of paths through the village. Thanks to Mike at the front of the second photo for it's provision.





Michael's Marcham-linear, 9 July - What did you miss?
This was one in the series of 2nd and 4th Thursday walks from Abingdon, Stroll In. These photos show some of what you missed! The buzzard was too far away to photograph. It does not show the amount of Himalayan Balsam which we encountered, particularly along the banks of the River Ock. Shame. Shame about its presence, not that we did not photo it!


This was a Wednesday evening walk led by Michael Bloom which took in half of the permissive route round the meadow between Culham Cut and the weir at Sutton Courtenay. That's Michael  in the middle. Photo taken by Pat Lonergan.





The Vale walks programme is published as part of the Oxfordshire Programme (see sidebar - look for the V at the end of a walk's title line). We usually have a mixture of long and short, midweek and weekend walks, mainly in or near the Vale with a sprinkling farther afield.
To give Vale members a regular walk to look forward to we always try to organise a walk every Thursday and in particular the second and fourth Thursday of each month from Abingdon Market Place.

Group members are also involved with local Health Walks in Abingdon, Didcot and Grove.


Every year the group hosts the London Blind Walkers Club on a Sunday of August. More helpers are always welcome; witness a volunteer leading two blind people! The group counts this among its social events because the walk starts with a cup of tea and ends with a tea in the afternoon.

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