Intend going.

Surprisingly just 3 of us on this overcast Sunday walk; 2 others whom I had not seen since pre c19. A good day out with lunch at the Blackbird PH, Croughton.

SWC, what's going on? 27 on the urban walk today, 12 on this, the country walk (the joint highest attendance in its history), so 39 in total. On a Sunday! Without sunny weather! New Year's resolutions kicking in? Keep it going...

We lost 1 of the 12 within minutes as one of her boots disintegrated in the first serious mud, and with more mud and some standing water to come, retreat to the station was the sensible option (not one of us had duct tape on them, quite an amateur error really!). The usual noise from the nearby motorway stayed with us a bit longer than hoped for, all the way to Souldern really (leafless trees the culprits? wind direction?) and the starting stretch to Aynho also had plenty of mud, some of the sticky variety, but none too deep thankfully.

We considered lunching in Souldern, but preferred a pub further along beyond halfway, so after a phone call ensuring space was available, we marched on to Croughton and The Blackbird Inn. Our table for 8 was set, the (all female) staff were amazingly friendly, the food quick and tasty, all in: a basic pub, but a very good place.

The picnickers (and the lagging SWC Photographer) had joined us, and we moved on together, reaching KS in good time for the 15.57 train.

4 though chose to sit out that train at The White Horse for a convivial bottle of bubbly by the fireplace, later joined by the lagging SWC Photographer. 16.50 train for us 5.

The sun never broke through, so 12 overcast but dry

...which, incidentally, makes it exactly 100 walkers across the 5 weekend walks. a record?

Good to see a rare outing to my native county!

The slow guy did the Banbury circular, which despite its eccentric walk directions, was rather nice. Pity about the now closed Black Boy, which the ex landlord told me was put out of business by the council closing the road outside his premises for six months.

Some well meaning locals then got it declared a community asset, preventing him from selling it as anything other than a pub for five years.

So he’s sitting put with a notice outside saying it will not (underlined) reopen. Said locals are unwilling to buy it themselves, however.

Broken Britain,eh?

I, in contrast, travelled via Reading and waited 40 mins for the official train, which of course contained no walkers! I made good progress to Aynho and Souldern but I couldn't find the path to Croughton and the local fisher folk were no help. I ended up scaling a high iron security fence and dropping down on to the B4100, a few metres North of where I'd crossed it earlier, so I gave up and returned to Aynho, where I encountered the first of the outgoing walkers! Long Buckby is another Northants village with a station.

Reposted to correct the walk number (now 4 )The day didn’t get off to a good start when our train couldn’t leave Marylebone because another was parked in front. :( This and further delays meant we missed our connection at Banbury and, with the next not due for two hours, the 3 of us started the walk from there, an extra 4 miles along the canal :( We were walking at different speeds, one faster than me and, get this, one slower. I last saw “fast guy” as we left the canal, racing to get to the Fox before they stopped serving. By now, “slow guy” had completely disappeared.

It took me a few minutes to get my bearings in Kings Sutton, marrying up the reverse canal directions to the official start. I was not best pleased to realise that I was passing the station at the same time as the two-hours-later train was due :( Did you know .... Kings Sutton is one of only two Northants villages to have a station? My mood lightened when the magic words “Short Cut” appeared in the directions, glowing like a beacon. Readers, I took that short cut. It took me to Charlton where I stopped for a little refreshment. That knocked 4 and a bit miles off. But I still did about 10, right? The pub was friendly but the beer was pale. Cider for me.

A pretty section followed, with rolling hills, mowed fields and before long I was back in Kings Sutton, nursing a pint in the White Horse. It’s a pretty walk, what I saw of it, with a very Cotswold feel to it, stone walls, stone houses, archetypal fields and hedgerows, friendly villagers (well the ones in the White Horse were,anyway). overcast with several light showers

Intend going.

Banbury Circular, Sat 8 April 2017

The posting for this walk didn't conform with every detail of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, billing the distance as 12.5 miles rather than 14.5. Four completed it, with one more doing a longer variant, so 5 altogether. Bright warm and dry with spring making a very definite step forward compared with just a week ago.

The Rose and Crown in Charlton made for a very satisfactory lunch stop, not at all crowded. Banbury's renown for attractive tea places has yet to spread very far: three of us wound up in BB's Coffee and Muffin shop in Castle Quay shopping centre near the Town Hall, which provided sophistication and charm in the quantities you would expect.

12 walkers on this and the weather was bloomin awful with cloud rain teeny weeny sunshine

6 did the full walk and 6 did the Kings Sutton short version but we all met up at the Fox where lunch was had by 5 of us - the others opted for sandwhiches.

The fish was excellent as was the soup but the bread and butter that came with the soup left a bit to desired. The Fox was very quiet which is a great shame as they look and are a nice pub but I can't imagine them surviving on such low numbers for long.

Lovely walk and most got a train away from Kings Sutton around 5 pm whilst three of us finished with an excellent meal at the White Horse in Kings Sutton which was very good.

Wellfed 3 snoozing on the train

To add to Anonymous’s report: After a sultry, muggy morning – which included an interesting lesson from a thatcher on how to thatch a roof - the skies darkened, the heavens opened and thunder, lightning and torrential rain dogged us on exposed ground all afternoon. (I, who had overheated in the morning, welcomed this refreshing, if dramatic, change in the weather with, literally, open arms.) The long wait for the 2-hourly train ¬- next time it might be worth investigating whether tickets are valid via Oxford - was enlivened by some of us removing various sodden items of clothing, an aerobics class to warm up and the passing, at full throttle, of a glorious steam train.

I plan to go

Me too.

Forecast's dry - I'm coming too.

4 , sunny and warm all day . All agreed this is an exceptional rural walk in the border of Oxfordshire, with gentle rolling hills, woods and beautiful landscape. Villages are cotswolds like with pretty stone cottages. The previous walker's description did not do this walk a complete fair justice. And we also found the direction, although in slightly different style from usual SWC format, it was largely clear and easy to follow. Some M40 traffic noises could be heard in the morning as mentioned in the post but the scenery more than compensated. We stayed together in the morning, had lunch at Fox Pub in Souldern (very pretty village with an interesting church). Pub food was good and reasonably priced. Orange juice only cost 80p. After lunch, one went ahead, three of us stayed together. Had tea in Rose & Crown Pub in Charlton - another cotswolds like pretty village before catching 6:28pm train back to London. Will definitely do this walk again.

The person who allegedly requested this walk did not show or vanished into the thin air. We do not know if anyone did the long version from Banbury. All 4 did the standard 10.7 miles.