Archive for the ‘Length: 5 -10 miles’ Category
Bloxham – Broughton – Wykham Mill Circular
- Start: within Bloxham – Courtington Lane
- Length of walk: 4.3 miles (6.9km)
- Steep hill- Can avoid by starting along Ells lane instead of up Hobb Hill.
- Dog hostile – stiles from Ells Lane to Broughton impossible for large dogs.
Introduction
Hobb Hill offers a panoramic view of Bloxham. In the snow it is a mass of slithering humanity utilising gravity assisted motion on sleds, trays and polythene bags!
Broughton is the site of Broughton Castle but this is not directly on the route.
There are historical references to Robert de Wykeham, mill owner, around 1218. The Mill would have been powered by the waters of the Sor Brook.
More recently the Wykham Mill Buildings has been the site of manufacture of the Jaguar XJ220 and then subsequently the Aston Martin DB7 from 1994 – 2004.
GPS Data and Route
| Waypoint | N | E | Route |
| WM01 | 52.022078 | -1.377325 |
Walk down the alley at the footpath next to the playing fields in Courtington Lane. |
| WM02 | 52.023716 | -1.37857 | Head straight up Hobb Hill alongside the hedge on the right. Enjoy the view of Bloxham from the top! |
| WM03 | 52.026779 | -1.381788 | Basically just keep going alongside the hedge until you find yourself near the left of a new field. Follow this to Ells lane opposite Ells farm |
| WM04 | 52.028522 | -1.38299 | Turn left and walk along Ells lane until you see a footpath sign on the right heading North- take this. |
| WM05 | 52.031505 | -1.383548 | After a short time the footpath bends NW across some tricky stiles. |
| WM06 | 52.03235 | -1.385994 | Take the right edge of the field when you get near Castle farm and carry on to meet the main road through Broughton village. |
| WM07 | 52.035914 | -1.387968 | Turn right and head into the village until you reach Wykham Lane where you again turn right. |
| WM08 | 52.039161 | -1.390929 | Head up the lane and out of the village. |
| WM09 | 52.0432 | -1.387496 | At Rectory Farm – just outside the village go along the driveway immediately before the farm to pick up a footpath heading SE to Broughton Grange. |
| WM10 | 52.042936 | -1.380672 | Follow the path around Broughton Grange and on past Wykham Mill onto the A361. |
| WM11 | 52.040138 | -1.377926 | Turn right and head up the A316 |
| WM12 | 52.038053 | -1.374321 | |
| WM13 | 52.03433 | -1.364965 | |
| WM14 | 52.022158 | -1.377153 | Arrive back at the start in Courtington Lane. |
Google Map
Click here for a Google satellite view of this walk.
Ordnance survey maps
You need OS Map 191
You can get an online OS map here.
Bloxham Broughton, Salt Way, Grove Road – Circular
- Start of walk: within Bloxham
- Length of walk: 7.3 miles (11.7 km)
- Some quite steep gradients but rewarding views!
- Dog hostile – especially Ells Lane to Broughton.
Introduction
This walk starts by heading up over Hobb Hill and across fields to Broughton.
Broughton has Broughton Castle a country house dating to the 14-16C of Baron Saye and Sele of the Fiennes family but this is not directly on the route.
From Broughton we head to Salt Way , an ancient road pre-dating Roman times hat used to run from Droitwich to London primarily for the transportation of salt.
We then cut back across fields to Wykham Lane. There is a good farm shop at Wykham Farm that may provide an interesting aside. From here the route passes a lake as we trek on to Bloxham Grove and then back to the starting point.
GPS Data
| Waypoint | N | E | N degrees | N Minutes | W degrees | W Minutes |
| SW01 | 52.021445 | -1.377068 | 52 | 1.2867 | 1 | 22.62408 |
| SW02 | 52.027267 | -1.382282 | 52 | 1.63602 | 1 | 22.93692 |
| SW03 | 52.031532 | -1.383462 | 52 | 1.89192 | 1 | 23.00772 |
| SW04 | 52.032377 | -1.386037 | 52 | 1.94262 | 1 | 23.16222 |
| SW05 | 52.036416 | -1.387196 | 52 | 2.18496 | 1 | 23.23176 |
| SW06 | 52.039109 | -1.391015 | 52 | 2.34654 | 1 | 23.4609 |
| SW07 | 52.043358 | -1.387239 | 52 | 2.60148 | 1 | 23.23434 |
| SW08 | 52.041828 | -1.374278 | 52 | 2.50968 | 1 | 22.45668 |
| SW09 | 52.04584 | -1.372261 | 52 | 2.7504 | 1 | 22.33566 |
| SW10 | 52.045523 | -1.365652 | 52 | 2.73138 | 1 | 21.93912 |
| SW11 | 52.048611 | -1.362648 | 52 | 2.91666 | 1 | 21.75888 |
| SW12 | 52.048637 | -1.353765 | 52 | 2.91822 | 1 | 21.2259 |
| SW13 | 52.045417 | -1.339302 | 52 | 2.72502 | 1 | 20.35812 |
| SW14 | 52.039795 | -1.340933 | 52 | 2.3877 | 1 | 20.45598 |
| SW15 | 52.03998 | -1.341877 | 52 | 2.3988 | 1 | 20.51262 |
| SW16 | 52.036706 | -1.339817 | 52 | 2.20236 | 1 | 20.38902 |
| SW17 | 52.031637 | -1.340933 | 52 | 1.89822 | 1 | 20.45598 |
| SW18 | 52.028073 | -1.34177 | 52 | 1.68438 | 1 | 20.5062 |
| SW19 | 52.026066 | -1.349816 | 52 | 1.56396 | 1 | 20.98896 |
| SW20 | 52.025591 | -1.356425 | 52 | 1.53546 | 1 | 21.3855 |
| SW21 | 52.024019 | -1.359386 | 52 | 1.44114 | 1 | 21.56316 |
| SW22 | 52.024006 | -1.367025 | 52 | 1.44036 | 1 | 22.0215 |
| SW23 | 52.023874 | -1.372454 | 52 | 1.43244 | 1 | 22.34724 |
Google Map
Click here for a Google satellite view of this walk.
Ordnance survey maps
You need OS Map 191
You can get an online OS map here.
Deddington Circular – East Loop
- Start – 4.6 miles from Bloxham
- Length of walk – 6.5 miles (10 km)
- Gently undulating
- Dog – friendly – but take a lead
Introduction
Deddington is a pretty village with an attractive market place. Deddington Parish Church first appears in historical records in 1254. The massive west tower once had a tall spire that collapsed in 1634, damaging the rest of the church. Rebuilding had to await the end of the Civil War during which King Charles I had the church bells melted down for artillery.
There was also a Deddington Castle dating mostly to the 11th-14th centuries but this is now just a grass mound.
The walk starts in the MarketPlace, heads south-east and then loops north to Clifton. From here it goes north-west towards PaperMill cottages before looping back south-west to Deddington. The walk is signposted but when we walked this at least two signs were totally overgrown.
Deddington is about 6 miles (10 km) south of Banbury and 7 miles (11 km) from Junction 10 of the M40 motorway.
GPS Data
| Waypoint | N | W | Route description |
| D01 | 51 58.674 | 1 19.238 | Walk through to the main Oxford Road and head south until you get to Chapmans Lane on the outskirts of the village. |
| D02 | 51 58.627 | 1 19.144 | Head up Chapman Lane |
| D03 | 51 58.374 | 1 18.489 | Left at the Farm and right at the T- junction past an aviary and farmhouse to a T-junction by a pond. (Look out for herons!) |
| D04 | 51 58.197 | 1 18.101 | Right and continue to end of hedged lane. |
| D05 | 51 58.078 | 1 17.901 | Left. Follow hedge and pass through 1st gate |
| D06 | 51 58.078 | 1 17.901 | Through a further gate and diagonally right across a field. (Sheep!) |
| D07 | 51 58.074 | 1 17.575 | Down the hill to South Brook. Left through 1st gate with hedge on your right alongside 2 fields |
| D08 | 51 58.276 | 1 17.289 | At the end of 2nd field turn left and in 100m right through a gate along a field edge. |
| D09 | 51 58.419 | 1 17.201 | Continue to a gate and along a hedged lane to Clifton |
| D10 | 51 58.948 | 1 17.265 | Turn left at the Duke of Cumberland pub down the main road. |
| D11 | 51 58.935 | 1 17.397 | Right opposite manor Farm up Tithe Lane. |
| D12 | 51 59.317 | 1 17.740 | Pass a house after about 800m. |
| D13 | 51 59.683 | 1 17.842 | There should be a waymark post about 600m further – before the track swings right. Turn left along the edge of a field – hedge on your right. |
| D14 | 51 59.650 | 1 18.061 | At the end of the field turn left again to the end of the field. |
| D15 | 51 59.501 | 1 18.096 | Right onto a track that goes left then right. |
| D16 | 51 59.438 | 1 18.113 | Follow the track past houses and offices in the distance where it turns into a concrete road.NW |
| D17 | 51 59.201 | 1 18.702 | Fork right diagonally across a field with Deddington church to your right. |
| D18 | 51 58.977 | 1 18.92 | Arrive back in Deddington and bear right back to the villager centre along Earl Street |
Download Garmin Waypoints
Google Maps
Click here for a google map of the walk. (Coming soon!)
You can get an online OS map here.
Kidlington Circular
- Start: 16.7 miles from Bloxham
- Length of walk: 5.1 miles (8.1 km)
- very flat
- dog friendly
The name Kidlington derives from Anglo-Saxon for settlement or farm of Cydela and it appears as Chedelintone in the Domesday Book of 1086. It lies on the River Cherwell,a tributary of the
Thames.
The walk starts at the picturesque St Mary’s Church dating from
c.1220 or earlier. The spire, rising over 50 metres was taken to this hight in the late 15C.
Hampton Gay comes from the Old English meaning the village or farm of the de Gay family. The ruined manor house that you see on the walk 16th century but was destroyed by fire in 1887. According to myth this was the result of a curse put upon the property because the owner refused to offer shelter to survivors of a rail crash on the nearby Great Western Railway on Christmas Eve, 1874!
According to the team that created Hampton Gay website this is an eyecatching story but a totally unjustified slander of Mr Robert Langton Pearson who lived in one half of the manor house and owned the nearby paper mill. Their research indicates that he did in fact go out of his way to assist the injured and dying that day. He stopped production at his mill and he and his men worked tirelessly helping these people even giving survivors most of his clothes. They also point out that such a curse must have been a bit slow-acting as there’s a 13 year gap between the crash and the fire!
Look out for kingfishers along the river bank.
GPS Data
| Waypoint | N | E | N degrees | N Minutes | W degrees | W Minutes |
| Kd01 | 51.830474 | -1.279907 | 51 | 49.82844 | 1 | 16.79442 |
| Kd02 | 51.836626 | -1.277547 | 51 | 50.19756 | 1 | 16.65282 |
| Kd03 | 51.845588 | -1.295829 | 51 | 50.73528 | 1 | 17.74974 |
| Kd04 | 51.84535 | -1.301494 | 51 | 50.721 | 1 | 18.08964 |
| Kd05 | 51.845986 | -1.303811 | 51 | 50.75916 | 1 | 18.22866 |
| Kd06 | 51.840498 | -1.300721 | 51 | 50.42988 | 1 | 18.04326 |
| Kd07 | 51.837263 | -1.291795 | 51 | 50.23578 | 1 | 17.5077 |
Route Description
- From the car park behind St Mary’s Church , Kidlington go through a wooden kissing gate along a footpath through a woodland nature reserve and over footbridge by a pond.
- Turn right after footbridge. Keeping to RHS of fields follow path to River Cherwell and cross white bridge. Bear Left through gates and stiles across fields to road by the Church at Hampton Poyle.
- Cross road by church, ahead into field,over ditch. Cross next field over stile and then over two stiles 25m on the LHS. Diagonally right across next paddock. Across field in same direction to stile and footbridge in top right-hand corner. Straight across the field towards the small spinney. Cross another footbridge. Cross next field and over stile. Over another field and cross stile by large ash tree. Head towards the ruins of the manor house.
- Go through kissing gate just before church. Follow path to river. Continue under railway bridge and through kissing gate. Cross field diagonally left to suspension bridge back over River Cherwell. Walk through next field and over stile by metal gate to canal bridge
- Turn left (c.NW) and head along the canal footpath.
- Left at canal bridge and follow towpath in southerly direction towards Thrupp. Left before swing-bridge at Thrupp through British Waterways yard past cottages. Under railway line and through gate. Straight along the mown path with the River Cherwell on your left.
- Straight along the mown path with the River Cherwell on your left for about 1km until you reach White Bridge. Retrace steps back to the start.
Google Map
Click here to see a Google satellite map of this walk.
Ordnance Survey map
You need OS Map 180
You can get an on-line copy here
