Jurassic Way, Part 1: Banbury to Chacombe, September 2014

The first section completed during a lovely, warm day. The rain held off just giving a threatening sprinkle a couple of times. We parked at the end of our walk and shared transport to get to the start, to avoid walking through Banbury twice. Starting in Spice Ball Country Park, we followed the canal through Banbury to find the very insignificant start of the walk opposite the bus station.

The start of the Jurassic Way.

We followed the towpath until we had left Banbury then turned left to head North. Crossing over the River Cherwell, under the M40, over the mainline to London and along an unforgiving stony track to Warkworth. This was an interesting hamlet with no remains left of the once dominant castle. The isolated medieval church, approached only by field paths or a small track, provided suitable benches and tree stumps for our picnic stop. We explored the church and read up on the history. An unusual tombstone with a skull and crossbones grabbed our attention.

Returning to the field, we were soon at the back of Overthorpe, but opted to walk in front of their houses rather than between the newly erected high, wooden fences that dominated the footpaths and made us feel as if we were being herded along in a required direction. 

Middleton Cheney felt like a major city compared to the peaceful hamlets that seemed to be fast asleep. I am still not quite sure why a young girl was leaving the Sports Club driving a tank, but it was causing a lot of entertainment as we passed.

We were within one mile of our finishing point when a lack of concentration on the map and a total lack of signs caused us to miss a sharp left hand turn in the middle of a field, but team work sorted it and Chacombe was soon in sight, with a refreshing pint awaiting my attention, once we had reunited all cars with the right drivers. 

Thanks to my fellow Spicers for another great day out.