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Three energetic walkers gathered at the station and took a very punctual bus to Thame on a mostly sunny and warm day, with gentle breeze, and only a short spell of rain at the end.

We passed through the pleasant town of Thame with cafes bursting with local residents and their (fancy) dogs. Soon we were in the fields and forests, on mostly well marked route. We picked and mixed various shortcuts and extensions, with the goal of doing a shorter version of the walk but with more picturesque options. We first passed through a golf course, with two lovely lake, and then Rycote Estate where multiple ‘private land’ signs kept us on a straight and narrow, through a lovely forest full of free ranging pheasants. Lovely church on the way but not open on Sundays until 13:30.

We stopped for lunch at The Old Fisherman. It’s a chain pub but quite pleasant. Service was quick and prices acceptable (whatever that means nowadays). Worth noting that child portions are available for adult walkers of smaller appetites or statures. Still, a child portion was enough to power your rapporteur through the rest of the walk.

And energy you need as after a short pleasant spell you have to go through freshly plows fields, on a badly marked route (will be muddy after rain), on a path punctuated by numerous wobbly stiles, overgrown with brambles. There is also a newly marked right-of-way path not mentioned in written instructions. GPS directions proved very useful.

Shortly before Thame the group split, with one of the walkers returning to Thame in search of a mythical chocolate shop. The other two decided to walk back to the train station, through an industrial estate, corn fields, a grassy hill, and a busy road. A few minutes before 16:14 train they were reunited with the chocolate lover who recommends the shop, but found the selection of dark chocolate options disappointing.

Plenty of sheep and cows on the walk, with buzzards circling overhead and many a pheasants darting through the forest. A few friendly dogs with a large and furry malamute winning the day.

9.32 (Birmingham-bound) train from Marylebone for newbies perhaps?

Thanks. Corrected

9 on this walk. There was allegedly a tenth who got to Marylebone and was told by the ticket office that the ticket would cost £50 and went home. So much for ticket offices. The fare (from boundary zone six) was £14.70.

The “awkward wait for the bus” at Haddenham & Thame Parkway was even more awkward because live bus information said the bus was 22 minutes late. Actually, it was pretty much on time. Maybe that was an earlier bus that was also late? Whatever, we started the walk on schedule.

It was a lovely day, sun and cloud . The early buttercup meadows were perhaps a little less intense than I remembered, but I needn’t have worried. We had acres and acres and ACRES of them during the walk. I think we will all have yellow-hued nightmares tonight. I certainly couldn’t be had up under the Trades Description Act.

Towards the end of the afternoon the succession of meadows - and some large arable fields with knee-high wheat - got rather wearisome to tell the truth. Some walkers at this point said they would not do the walk again. I would certainly say that without the buttercups - or, perish the thought, in winter mud - it could be a bit of a slog. But at this lovely time of year, in my judgment, it passed muster.

One walker decided to do the Ickford shortcut and we did not see him again. We also lost another one somewhere. So seven of us carried on to the Clifden Arms and ate in its very nice garden. I remember this pub as rather eccentric and bohemian, with chicken pecking around. It is now an efficient gastro pub. The staff were friendly but some of the portion sizes disappointing. There were not many other customers (maybe three to four tables occupied in total), so maybe they need to look at their value for money.

In the afternoon we intended to do a refreshment stop at the Shabbington pub, but failed to notice until too late that the main route bypasses it. So we got to Thame at about 5pm. After playing “Staying Alive” over the BeeGee guy’s grave (he obviously didn’t…), we went to a pub called Thatch, or somesuch, which had a nice back patio. There we had tea, puddings, gin and tonics, a sharing plate of fancy cheeses, a bottle of red wine, and three pea, mint and watercress soups.

Waiting for the 18.45 bus, I was charmed to see swifts overhead (I was beginning to think they were extinct in the south east). Earlier I had twice seen swallows and once mayflies, which restored my faith in our nation’s biodiversity a bit.

The bus was late, but the 19.06 train lingered in the platform so we caught it by a whisker (or rather, by sprinting like mad over the footbridge and down the ramp). We had bought rather over-generous “supplies” for the train, given that it was just a 40 minute journey. Four of us ended up finishing them standing against the railings (no benches!) in Dorset Square, and then sat in a bus stop (at which, mysteriously, no bus ever stopped..)

Just 1 on this walk today. Reader, I was that Billy NoMates. (I thought I'd kept it quiet I was going on this one but word must have got out).

Weather was blowy overcast mostly but some sun no rain Did the shortcut so dinner was a quick half in the Old Fisherman. I was at the front of the group today. But also at the back.

As I'm sure you'll agree, I’m a cheery chappy, not given to grumbling … but I have to say that I agree with earlier comments about the second half of this walk.

At first, this involves crossing a stretch of land festooned with multiple electric fences that require unhooking to get through. Some of the many gates had two such hooks on each side, four in all – what for? – Was the only inhabitant (a disinterested horse) a master of escape? Were the velociraptors in hiding? Or was it, implausible as it may sound, to discourage walkers?

This was followed by an endless succession of similar not very interesting fields. This induced an attack of RFS (repetitive field syndrome) in me - where you lose track of which field you do something different in and it’s always the next one anyway. The only excitement in this series was a large field where you can’t see the gap at the other side. It’s been recently planted with no sign of the path so there might be a few less cabbages this winter.

Did this walk solo next day to avoid the rain. Fine and interesting as far as Ickford when the large fields began. Lovely thatched lunch pub (Clifden Arms) closed for refurbishment after being bought by three of its regulars, due to reopen in October. Return leg is almost all large fields many with large herds of spooky looking cows. Next time I’d reverse the morning shortcut at The Old Fisherman, Shabbington and then re walk the morning route. Bus is £4.10 return.

11 sunny cloudy light shower sunny cloudy etc Buttercups a-plenty. Cow parsley, too. Most went for the short walk. Directions could do with at least one tweak, if only for my sake. I spent a good half-hour near Old Paddock wood, backwards and forwards, thinking I was lost when I wasn’t. The Old Fisherman was friendly (it's a pub, not a wierdo!) Can’t comment on the food – I didn’t have any. And the pint of Abbot I galumphed down hardly touched the sides. A field near the end had small coppers flitting around in it (butterflies ,not diminutive policemen). Got to Thame just too late for the xx:18. It started raining heavily, but, luckily, there was a Sainsbury’s, a bus shelter, and H&T has a large waiting room on the London bound platform .

Sainsbury's??? Rumsey's! Chocolate cake!!

I wasnt in cake tea or chocolate mode, I was in "get yourself home" mode

Also saw the small coppers. Very exciting to see one, let alone so many.

Yes very colourful if small, Thought they were some sort of day-flying moth at first.

any reason why this walk starts so early? Any options for a later start?

It is 7 or8 miles to the lunch pub and the bus connection at the start is quite tight. If one misses that one is delayed by 20 minutes.

If you plan to do the optional 3.6km extension you'd need to get the 9.05 train. Otherwise the 10:05 train would probably be fine for brisk walkers, especially if you take the short cut to the Rising Sun in Ickford and cut out the stretch to Worminghall and back. On a recent Sunday we started from Thame after 11:00am and reached Ickford before 2:00pm.

OK, just 3 on this walk, but the rest of you missed a treat. The weather was hot and sunny with just a bit of white cloud in the early afternoon. And there was field after field after field intensely carpeted with buttercups, great white drifts of cow parsley lining every path and lane, and huge dollops of hawthorn blossom on every hedgerow. In short, the perfect late May walk. (I will post some photos on Flickr and our Facebook page.)

The tight bus connection to Thame worked fine as the bus stop is in the station forecourt, so we started walking at about 10am. But we still did not get to lunch before 1pm, so the early train seemed justified. If anyone decided to get a train an hour later we never saw them (if you did, put up a separate report).

We thought the morning half of the walk was the more interesting bit: despite few contours on the map it managed to display a variety of pleasant scenery. By contrast in the afternoon there were a lot of large flat fields, and the end of the afternoon the charm of wading through enormous knee-high meadows began to wear off a bit.

For lunch we skipped the recommended lunch pub in Worminghall and took the shortcut to the second pub in Ickford (this was mainly my doing: I had a cold and fancied a slightly shorter walk: my companions would have done the main walk had I not swayed them). This pub turned out to be EMPTY, a nice change after the fully booked pubs of recent weeks, but a bit worrying from a business point of view. Their food was perfectly nice so I don't know why they did not have more punters.

We went to Treacles in pretty Thame for a "proper" tea, glad to avoid the dreaded Costa and got the 17.15 bus, again with swift train connections.

All in all a lovely walk....but I am not sure I would want to do it in winter.

9.05 train, long version, Clifden Arms (really nice pub, from memory) for me

I plan to go and will do the shorter option.

10:05 Oxford Parkway train arrives at Haddenham & Thame Parkway at 10:39, thus connecting with the 10:53 bus into Thame. So there's no advantage in getting the 09:43 train. Sorry I didn't spot that earlier.

8 on this walk but between us we did about 4 different versions: 2 started earlier to do the extended walk; 2 arrived on different trains to do the main walk; 3 did the short walk and 1 (me the contrarion) did the short walk but did not catch any buses and walked from and back to the station taking a bespoke route through fields - so a special tick for me (;>) - and ended up doing about 13 miles anyway. (I caught up with the short walkers at the end of the golf course section.)

The weather was fine and sunny throughout the day and all enjoyed this attractive ramble through a gentle rolling landscape with many fields packed with buttercups and dandelions. The Old Fisherman pub was packed and service was inevitably slow but decent quality food. Thame has an interesting High Street with loads of pubs but the independent cafes close so early so I ended up having refreshments at a Costas before walking back to the station. A terrific day out in a much under-rated area for good walking.

8 cloudy then wet then sunny

7 on the train, 4 of whom decided to start walking from the station, 3 got the bus and an 8th met up in Thame High St.

The 4’s cunning plan was to start walking early before the 3 o’clock rain came. Their plan wasn’t cunning enough, however. The 3 o’clock rain came at about 11:30. It was heavy and prompted a switch to the Shabbington shortcut for all except one. The pub there, The Old Fisherman, seemed fine but only one ate. The rest just drank.

The rain cleared after lunch and we made our way first to a church with enormous buttresses. Then on, through a hunting estate, and across countless fields with stiles. A herd of young cattle followed us through one large field. They were more inquisitive than dangerous but did seem to be practising their stampede manoeuvres. I was volunteered to walk at the back and wave my arms about from time to time, which, of course, I was very happy to do. :(

Later, approaching Thame, the majority of the walk opted to walk back to the station. They had a map so they could do things like that. 2 of us continued on the proper walk, almost tripping over a Bee Gee’s grave on the way in. (Bee Gee Robin is buried in the churchyard within sight of his house).

We continued into Thame passing a few open teashops, driven by a hunger for Rumseys chocolate cake (with a raspberry coulis) and coffee. A hunger that was eventually sated.