Oxfordshire Way Circular Routes

Back in June 2008 me and Denise spent five days walking the Ridgeway Long Distance Path. Walking a long distance trail all in one go is a fantastic experience. The Ridgeway provided a range of camping experiences from a well run Camping and Caravan site to a wild camp by the River Thames. However, completing a long distance path in one go also poses several challenges. Not least is finding the time. With all the other demands on our time (most of which are admittedly self imposed) we found that it was difficult to find the time to dedicate to completing another path. We therefore decided to tackle the next path in circular stages. Between September 2008 and July 2012 we completed the D’Arcy Dalton Way. Our route is outlined here.

Having enjoyed the D’Arcy Dalton Way so much we looked for another route to complete. After a couple of false starts we settled on the Oxfordshire Way. The Way links Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds to Henley on Thames in the Chilterns and is 108km (67miles) long. I seem to have a thing for wanting to walk away from London and head into the country side. I therefore decided that we would do the Oxfordshire Way in reverse, starting from Henley and finishing in Bourton.

This series of blog posts will describe the circular walks we complete as we work our way along the route. There are no hard and fast rules for doing this sort of thing, only those that we impose on ourselves and these are liable to change at a moments notice. In general though I will try to stick to the following when planning each section.

• The Oxfordshire Way will be completed in a logical, continuous manner. That is to say we will only do one section of the Way once we have done the preceding section. We will not jump back and forwards.
• For each section of the Way we will complete that section from start to finish. That is we will not join the Way, walk to the end of that section and then walk back to the beginning of the section.
• We will not walk the same section of the Way more than once
• We will not walk any section of the Way in the reverse direction. However, walking along other footpaths in order to join the way, whether in the same direction or the reverse direction is acceptable.
• We will aim to walk the entire length of the way, except where this would entail us breaking one of the preceding guidelines.