Banbury to Chipping Warden

Hannah and I arrived in Banbury around 1030h, after leaving a car at Chipping Warden. The weather had forecasted rain, however it held off typically until we started our walk. There is no official starting plaque for The Jurassic Way, so we decided to begin the walk at a sculpture of a pirate by the canal side.

The route follows the Oxford Canal south out of Banbury for a mile and a half. It is a while before you first see a Jurassic Way marker; identifiable by a shell. In fact, unless you have a keen eye, it is easily missed. The over hanging trees covering the towpath, thankfully provided shelter from the brief rain showers.

We continued along the canal, waving at the people on the narrowboats until we reached bridge 172. At this point the route leaves the towpath crossing open fields, over a wooden bridge and into a small wooded area. Here the footpath cuts through tall stinging nettles, that seemed to purposely want to inflict pain on us. With our arms raised in the air to avoid these pests, we passed through this stinging jungle as quickly as possible. This wouldn’t be our last nor our worst encounter with these hellish plants today.

We eventually crossed under the M40 and left this behind as we walked through small hamlets. At about 3 miles we reached the hamlet of ‘Overthorpe’, that gave views back towards Banbury; we could roughly see our starting point. It gave Hannah a confidence boost, having been able to see how far we had already traveled.

The route passes by farms and through fields of flax. The blue flowers of this crop were interspersed with bright red poppies, making it picturesque as we reached Middleton Cheney, our halfway point for the day.

We called into ‘The Dolphin Inn’ for a drink, a snack and a quick rest before moving on. Dodging more brief rain showers, crossing fields of wheat and through overgrown hedgerows that resembled the triffids, we made it to another little village called Chacombe.

There were smallholdings with alpacas and fields of cattle that quizzically watched us walk by, probably thinking “what are these pair of idiots are doing walking in the rain?” We Climbed over countless styles to reach the village of Wardington at the 9 mile mark.

As we entered Wardington, the map shows the route veers to the left, over fields that skirt around to the other side of the village and rejoins the road. I had contemplated skipping this little part to continue along the road, but thought that would be cheating!

We followed the route, but soon came to realise that it was a mistake. The markers were a little confusing and when I finally found the correct path, a heavy rain shower hit us. I pulled out my brolly and pushed on ahead, only to reach a narrow path between the boundary to a farm and a house. It was just a sea of stinging nettles. We had no choice, but to pass through them.

Our legs and arms were red and blotchy by the time we came out the other side. We ducked under a bus shelter where I put on my waterproof trousers and waited out the rain. Once it subsided we continued on.

Leading out of Wardington was really our only challenge for the day. We ascended the only hill of the stage, that got our blood pumping. Looking back, we were presented with views over the village below.

From here it was a straight run for about 2 miles into Chipping Warden. Just passing the hamlet of Edgcote, there was a field full of grazing horses that were intrigued by us. They followed us right the way to the end of the field, but were not brave enough to come up to us and say hello, despite us calling them over.

From here, it was a short shallow hill into Chipping Warden. The first stage of The Jurassic Way done. Hannah, pleased to have completed a longer walk and not aching too much was smiling like the Cheshire cat. We called into ‘The Griffin Inn’ for a pint and a bite to eat, before heading back to our respective homes.