A walk in the chalk
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As much as I love the Lakes and the high fells, living as we do for the time being in the South and making the most of the area, I also have a real soft spot for the chalk uplands that characterise great swathes of Oxfordshire and which are fortunately within a 10 mile radius of home in North Berkshire.
The huge sweeping landscapes, big skies, skylarks singing in the summer and lots of ancient hillforts, longbarrows and burial mounds make for some really interesting walks. There are a number of long distance paths and in a walk last weekend in beautiful sunshine, we touched on three of them in a six mile circular route; the Swan's Way, the Icknield Way and the Chiltern Way.
big skies
The Swan's Way is a long distance bridleway (and we did meet lots of riders that day) that runs from Salcey Forsest in Northamptonshire, through Buckinghamshire and ends at Goring on Thames in Oxfordshire - a distance of 65 miles.
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway that starts in Norfolk and includes the Berkshire Downs, the Chilterns and ends in Wiltshire.
The Chiltern Way is a 125 mile circuit taking in the Chilterns from north to south; from Ewelme in the south west to Chorleywood in the south east and the wonderfully named Sharpenhoe Clappers and Great Offley in the north east.
It really is a beautiful, pastoral landscape, with a palpable feeling of antiquity.
long views
golden fields
church of st mary, ewelme
jerome k jerome’s grave in st mary’s churchyard