Vale of White Horse Walks
& Events
Vale of White Horse Group AGM, November 2011
The Annual General Meeting was held on the afternoon of the 19th November at Buckland Memorial Hall. Members enjoyed a walk in the Buckland/ Hinton Waldrist area in the morning, followed by an excellent buffet lunch. There were a few changes to the committee membership, which is now as follows:
Chairman: John Gordon.
General Secretary: Pat Lonergan.
Treasurer: Lorraine Oates.
Membership Secretary: Rona Bingham.
Footpath Secretary: John Orchard.
Walks Organiser: Stuart Hughes.
Publicity Officer: Jim Parke.
Countryside Secretary: None.
Other members: David Cavanagh and Peter Skuse.
White Horse Group meets the White Horse!
The last walk in the 2011 Summer Programme was the Vale of White Horse Group's circular walk from Uffington Castle car park, which was led by Peter Skuse. A number of members from other groups joined us for this walk. The first photograph shows the whole group near the start of the walk by the "eye" of the White Horse chalk monument. We stopped to rest and take a good look at Wayland's Smithy, before setting off down the hill to the villages of Compton Beauchamp and Woolstone.
That was the week we had the nice sunny weather, which enhanced this very pleasant walk and gave us some splendid long-distance views. However, the high temperature made the return climb up Dragonhill Road rather warm work and made our pub stop in Uffington at the end of the walk more welcome than usual !
Abingdon/West Oxford walk, 22 September 2011
This was a new variation on a regular route from La Baguette in Abingdon to "north west or west Oxford via Boars
Hill". On this occasion, the leader decided to cut down to Chilswell Farm and hence down the Happy Valley, over the
A34, through South Hinksey to eventually end up in the Heads of the River public house by Folly Bridge.
It was a very good turnout on a sunny day. Below you can see the party resting at the top of the hill north west of
Sunningwell village hall, known to stalwarts as Sunningwell Footpath 3, but also part of the Oxford Green Belt Way.
London Blind Walkers visit, 21 August 2011
The club visit went well, as usual, especially due to the excellent hosting by Bill and Muriel Millar who unfortunately
won't be doing so in the future, but many thanks to them for all kindness and hospitality over the years. This is a photo
from the longer walk, albeit 'only' 6.5 miles. Both Dave Clarke from the club and Pat Lonergan, the group secretary
thanked Bill and Muriel publicly.
New La Baguette route
Thursday 28 July 2011 heralded the advent of a new "4th Thursday", longer, moderate route when Stuart Hughes led the group
on a linear route to East Hanney using as much as possible of the line of the Wilts Berks canal. We managed a quick bite to
eat and drink in the Black Horse before returning to Abingdon on the #31. The irony of the photo is that the track behind
the sign was deeply rutted and muddy, hence the thumbs down!
Area Picnic 2011
More details and photos
here, but the first photo shows the Vale group walkers stopping to admire
two swans with their cygnets. The location was the Abingdon end of the weir, near the finish of the walk. The other
photos are, obviously during the picnic. The other report refers to Heather Brown. Well, that's her on your right and
thanks again to Choose Abingdon Partnership for the loan of the gazebo.
Sunningwell circular, 9 June 2011
Actually, this turned out to be a figure of eight, at the leader's discretion. However, this turned out
to be interesting because at the garage at the top of Lodge Hill there was this replica of a Spitfire
sitting on the top. For more details, see
www.abingdonblog.co.uk,
where you will see a story about 'lassies' who flew planes during the Second World War.
Get Walking Day, 15 May 2011
Spring Meeting, 2 April 2011
'Last' Stroll In walk, 24 March 2011
A muddy February in Sutton Courtenay
Undaunted in the snow, 23 December 2011
Vale group 75th anniversary baton walk
Five intrepid walkers from the Vale group walked our stage of the Oxfordshire Way from Tetsworth to
Pyrton on Saturday 20th November as part of Oxfordshire's celebration of the 75th anniversary of the
Ramblers. To make a circular walk of it we started from Pyrton in the morning and
walked to Tetsworth by the alternative route of the Oxfordshire Way.
The day was clear and dry, well the air was anyway, the ground was muddy from previous rain.
At Tetsworth we met the Thame & Wheatley group who had walked that morning from Tiddington.
After a good lunch in The Old Red Lion
they passed the baton to us and we walked back to Pyrton by the regular
Oxfordshire Way.
While one would normally carry a baton by hand in a relay race, this was not a race and the 5.5
miles of the return path called for an alternative method.
Car Free Day, 22 September 2010, Oxford Jubilee Walk
Pat Lonergan led this circular walk clockwise, in the opposite way to that described in Circular Walks around
Cumnor. On this occasion, the group picked up the route at Folly Bridge. He did
alter the route keeping it more off-road, for example, walking through the
little park alongside Lake Street, rather than walking along that street.
The second photo is on Berkeley Road, where there is a description of the
Oxford Preservation Trust field we had just climbed and which is the traditional 'Dreaming Spires' view of Oxford.
Place your cursor on the photo to see what Pat read out.
The 'climax' of the walk was the top of Cumnor Hill, albeit not as high as the nearby Hurst Hill or even Boars Hill itself.
The weather was wonderful and most of the group had to
take off layers - unlike the next day!
London Blind Walking Club, August 2010
The club visited our group on Sunday,
22 August 2010. The walk started in the morning from Bill and Muriel Millar's, Wayland, South Row,
Chilton. There was a shorter and longer walk. The walks were followed by tea at Bill and Muriel's which we all
thoroughly enjoyed. Particular thanks go to Bill and Muriel with help from some of their friends.
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.
Back to Vale home page
Michael's Marcham-linear, 9 July - What did you miss?