Stu's Camino

Braunston to Welford

We set of from Braunston just before 1100h with another overcast sky keeping the temperature down. From the Admiral Nelson, the route follows the Grand Union canal to the bottom lock, where it crosses it and up into the village.

There was plenty of activity on the locks this morning, seemingly the holiday season for narrow boats is in full swing.

The way leaves Braunston along a bridle path and across fields to the little picturesque village of Ashby St. Ledger.

The path leads past the church following a cattle farm track. Either side there are electric fences. We lost sight of the markers and too busy chatting forgetting to check the map, resulting in us unknowingly deviating from the route.

As I carefully unhooked an electric wired gate, the farmer came over and kindly pointed us in the right direction.

Back on the path, we went under the railway line and over the A5 briefly rejoining the Grand Union canal. Spying a picnic bench, we stopped for our lunches.

From here you follow a quick succession of locks before cutting across a field and under the M1 motorway.

Eventually you pass through the little village of Watford, over more fields, under another railway line and through a freshly harvested field with towering wind turbines whirring overhead.

The route then follows a corn field (we have now passed through all the common crop fields on this journey) and up into West Haddon, our halfway point of the day.

We stopped at the ‘Pytchley Inn’ for a cold drink giving our legs a little rest. I checked over the map to see we would be shortly ascending the first, fairly steep hill of the day, ‘Honey Hill’.

There is an alternative route that bypasses it, so I gave Hannah the option, but she thought it would be cheating. We downed our drinks and continued on.

The route from West Haddon crosses fields behind the church into the little hamlet of Winwick. As we left, we caught our first glimpse of Honey Hill, which looked daunting to Hannah, prompting the response “are those, those f@£#ing hills?!” (This had me giggling)

As we got closer and began climbing, taking it one step at a time, we found it really wasn’t that bad. Before we knew it, we were on top. Here there is a stone with a plaque commemorating the opening of Honey Hill on the Jurassic Way.

Descending the hill was causing Hannah’s knees to bother her. It was now I taught her the technique of using walking poles. She soon got the hang of the coordination, easing her discomfort.

We descended into Elkington rejoining the Grand Union canal once again. The route follows this for a couple of kilometres before the last hill of the day, ‘Hamplow Hill’

This hill is wooded which thankfully gave shade from the sun as we ascended. Hannah’s energy was running low now, we had already done the distance covered in our last stage; this now is the furtherest she has walked in one session!

Once over the top, we passed through a field of sheep, with one brave enough to approach us to have its head scratched! The route then joins a single track road for 2km into Welford, our stage end.

Much to Hannah’s delight we reached the car and popped to the ‘Wharf Inn’ for a much needed and well deserved pint; After all we did cover over 30km!

It will now be a few weeks before we can tackle the next stage (I think Hannah would be thankful). Likely September will be the next date, due to holidays and myself walking the Camino Portuguese.

Chipping Warden to Braunston

It had been 18 days since we did the first stage of the Jurassic Way, as the 21st of July was the next available date, we were both free. Two days prior to this, the UK had experienced the hottest day since records began! But you wouldn’t have thought it as we arrived at Chipping Warden midmorning.

The weather was overcast and a cool breeze made it perfect walking conditions. To our delight, the forecast stated it would remain like that for the remainder of the day. Just after 1030h we set off from where we stopped on the 3rd of July.

The route follows Culworth Road, Eastwards from the village before turning off on to a farm track. We hadn’t walked 5 minutes before hitting our first hurdle of the day. This portion of the route was closed while the HS2 is being built around Chipping Warden. (High Speed 2 – a railway connecting London to Birmingham and the North West).

A diversion had been put in place, however it would not bring us back to the Jurassic Way. Consulting my map, there was another footpath further down Culworth Road, that would rejoin the official Jurassic Way.

Once back on the path we tackled our first hill of the day, where from the top, looking behind, you could see the on going works in the distance. I can’t imagine the residents of Chipping Warden were pleased when planning permission was granted for this to be railway in their backyard.

The recent heatwave had left it’s mark on the scenery and farmland. The grasses were yellow and brown, the earth beneath the farmers fields were cracked and parched. A lot of the route passes through the middle of the crop fields and the ground had shallow fissures snaking through it; deep enough to snag our feet resulting in us straddle them and waddle like ducks!

We crossed over disused railway lines with their rusting iron bridges or crumbling brick built ones. It wasn’t long before we reached the village of Woodford Halse.

We passed though the village quickly and out through a new housing estate that had been built across the Jurassic Way; the path marked by red tarmac. The estate is so new it wasn’t on my map!

Soon we were again amongst the fields crossing through wheat, broad beans and barley. By 1pm we’re stopped to eat our lunches on the grounds to the isolated church, of the lost medieval settlement of Church Charwelton.

It was depopulated in the 15th century for sheep farming and the church is all that remains. We tried to look inside, however it was locked and could only view from a grated window in the door.

We ate our sandwiches on a bench in the graveyard, looking out over the fields, only to find were on top of an ants nest; my bright orange water bottle was attracting their attention. Not wanting to become the colony’s lunch, we sharply finished up and moved on to the village of Charwelton, calling at the ‘Fox and Hound’ for a cold drink.

Once refreshed it was through more crop fields (one particularly nasty broad bean field that scratched our shins to shreds) to the little hamlet of Hellidon, then down a gated road, passing Catesby Viaduct and onto Staverton. At this point the Sun had burnt of the cloud cover, bringing the temperature up to an uncomfortable level.

Coming into Staverton we encountered our nemesis, the stinging nettle! This time we had no protection from this devilish plant. With screams at each sting (mostly from me) we painfully made it through, with a our legs barely intact.

By this point our pace had slowed and Hannah’s knees were sore on the declines. We had surpassed the distance of the first stage and quoting Hannah “This is the longest distance I’ve ever walked!”

However before we knew it, we arrived at the Admiral Nelson. A fantastic little pub sitting on the fourth lock from the Braunston tunnel, on the Grand Union Canal. Signaling the end to the second stage of the Jurassic Way.

We celebrated the day’s 15 mile hike with a well deserved beer!

EBC Day 16 to Day 18 – 2nd to 4th November 2009

Leaving Prakding I felt a little gloomy as this would be the last day walking on this most amazing adventure. At 0800hrs we slowly made our way to Lukla, taking in the scenery and enjoying last of the trek.

On approaching Lukla we came across Steve, Neil and Leon sitting on a wall having a break. While chatting with them the ground started to rumble, and looking up, loose rocks were tumbling down from the mountain, dislodged by grazing Yaks above. They rolled over the path in front of us, a close shave!

Not wanting to wait for the next thundering rock fall, we all continued on to our teahouse where we ordered some food. We opted for spicy chicken wings, which were on the hot side, but delicious. Unfortunately my dining companions found them too spicy; fortunately for me they were perfect, so I finished them all off!

The dreaded stomach bug that had been plaguing the group had reached Pete, so he spent the day and evening in bed. I brought up some plain toast and orange juice for him, but he struggled to eat it. I managed to evade this bug completely, the only one who did!

I spent the day in the bar drinking and playing pool with the group until dinner time. The entire group, guides and Sherpas, all had a meal together on us. We presented gifts and tips to our guides and Sherpas.

We all then went back to the bar for happy hour and played killer pool with another walking group. It was my turn to be inebriated! It was a shame Pete wasn’t feeling well enough to join in, however it was good for him that he got the bug on the last day, where there were proper en-suite toilet facilities.

I staggered back to my room around 2300hrs to sort my bag out for tomorrows flight to Kathmandu. In the morning I thought I would treat myself to a shower, however it was the biggest mistake I had made on the entire adventure. I was all now nice, clean and fresh, but I could now smell my clothes.

They absolutely stunk and to think this is what I had smelt like for two weeks! As we were all stinking together we hadn’t noticed it. It was uncomfortable putting back on my walking gear. At breakfast we got the bill from last night’s festivities and it seemed there were a few drinks that were unaccounted for, looked like they had added some extra rounds!

The airport was busy, packed full of walkers. I couldn’t believe how many, as we hardly saw any on the route yesterday heading to Lukla. Getting through security was another experience. I put my bag on the counter, he asked me “Any knives, cigarettes, bombs or guns?” I said “no” at which point he frisked me then waved me through. He didn’t even check my bag!

The flight back to Kathmandu was hairy. There was a lot of turbulence and it felt like the small plane was being blown around like a leaf. At one point I swore we were moving sideways! I was so relieved once the wheels hit the tarmac and on the bus back to our hotel.

After a shower and changing into the clothes we had left at the hotel two weeks earlier, we went to the Rum Doodle bar for dinner with the group. This is a famous bar in Kathmandu, where everyone who has summited Everest, draws a sketch on a wooden plaque, that are then hung up on the walls. I spotted Hillary’s and Alan Hinkes’.

Rajesh presented us with certificates for reaching EBC and we all made our own plaque. We called our group ‘The Very Dangerous Team’, an ongoing joke we had with the guides from crossing the Ngzumba Glacier and all the silly antics we got up to along the way.

The following day me and Pete just spent the day pottering around Kathmandu, doing a bit of shopping and relaxing at the hotel. We were exhausted and didn’t feel like doing anything else. We sorted our bags out ready for the flight back to blighty.

In the evening we went to a steakhouse we had eaten at on our first night in Kathmandu with the group. Our last meal together, a very poignant moment, saying goodbye to people who were strangers two weeks ago, but are now dear friends.

We have kept touch over Facebook and we all got together to climb Snowdon in the winter a year later. Me and Peter met up with Colin and Linda in Keswick in 2018, as we randomly ended up holidaying in the Lake District at the same time.

I would highly recommend this trip if you ever get the opportunity to undertake it. Don’t put it off or doubt yourself whether you would be able to do it. Don’t let fear of altitude sickness deter you or the cold and the difficult moments I have described in this blog series. The guides are very professional and well trained, they will look after you. Even if you don’t make it to EBC, the experience of the journey will stay with you. Honestly, getting to EBC wasn’t the highlight for me, crossing the Ngzumba Glacier, the Cho La Pass and the friends I met along the way, were the memorable moments for me.

EBC Day 15 – 1st November 2009

We had breakfast at a bakery in the middle of Namche Bazaar before we continued down the valley. Again the weather was perfect and the walking so much easier than two weeks ago. The steep descent out of Namche being the biggest challenge for the day.

We reached the viewing platform where we now get our last look at Everest. It hit home at this point, that my adventure was drawing to a close. Two more nights would remain before catching the plane back to Kathmandu.

The route now had more activity with fellow walkers setting out on their own adventures; all clean and shiny! Yak trains were more frequent and Sherpas carrying their wares on their backs towards Namche.

Criss-crossing the river in the low autumn sunlight was blissful. We passed the tiny single storey buildings with their small veg gardens, that again reminded me of the Shire. The day’s walk was over far too quick as we reached Prakding, the small village we stopped after our first day of walking. This time our rooms were an upgrade from our first visit, it had en-suite toilets!

After dinner and a pub quiz, most of the group retired for the night. Myself, Andre, Brydon and Nigel went to another teahouse in the village for a couple of drinks. The whole group has now wound down from the adventure and are looking forward to returning to the comforts of our hotel back in Kathmandu.

All but me. Passing through the small homesteads, I truly appreciated the slow pace of life here. No electrical gadgets or motor vehicles, no pollution or the hustle and bustle of life back home. I felt so relaxed with the simplicity and basicness of life here. No office politics or annoying bosses on your back. Everyone you meet has a smile on their face.

The Sherpa people are friendly and welcoming, good humoured and laugh a lot. I do miss being amongst them and hope to return one day.

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.

The Jurassic Way

After blogging about my antics in the the Lake District this year, my friend Hannah has been inspired to get outdoors and explore the countryside. She has been working hard to improve her fitness and has challenged herself to climb England’s fourth highest mountain, ‘Skiddaw’.

She has never climbed a mountain in her life, so ‘Skiddaw’ will be her first. She could have picked a small one, but she wants to push herself. She is also taking this opportunity to raise money for the charity ‘Dementia UK’.

Having not ventured out to the Lake District since 2002, let alone not climbed any of the Wainwrights, she has asked me to be the guide to make sure she will get up and down in one piece, which I gladly accepted. (Any excuse to go to my favourite region of the UK!)

To read more about Hannah’s Story and if you would like to donate, click here.

As part of Hannah’s training she has been hitting the gym, but wants to up her game and go for some long distance walks. Knowing I will don my walking boots at the drop of the hat, it was a no brainer to buddy up with me and undertake more challenging treks.

Before deciding on The Cotswold Way for my through hike back in March 2022, a contender was The Jurassic Way. The route starts in Banbury, Oxfordshire and ends in Stamford, Lincolnshire. It follows an ancient limestone ridgeway for 88 miles, mostly through Northamptonshire, our home county; a perfect choice.

It passes The Catesby Tunnel, the Welland Viaduct and Rockingham Castle. Follows parts of the Grand Union Canal, the green rolling hills of Northamptonshire, Braunston (an important location for the boatmen living on the narrowboats during the industrial revolution) and the ceremonial county of Rutland.

Unlike my usual through hiking adventures, this one will be done over the summer period, leading up to the Skiddaw challenge on the 1st of October. I will blog our progress, although it will be more of an ad hoc basis, to fit in with our shifts.

EBC Day 14 – 31st October 2009

I was woken in the early hours by a dog constantly barking for a solid 10 minutes, I managed to doze off shortly only to be woken again by a monk banging a gong at the monastery. I looked out the window to see two dogs being chased by a couple of horses around the square. I guess they too were fed up with the barking!

The way to Namche was easy, we descended further into the valley passing the point where I was almost trampled by the Yak train. Crossing rope bridges and passing through the small villages from a week ago. Before long we were back in Namche Bazaar, offloading our packs at the teahouse.

Me and Pete did a bit of souvenir shopping, picking up an authentic Sherpa hat and a prayer wheel. I tried my hand at haggling and managed to get a 100 Rupees of the price! I was well chuffed with myself at getting this big discount, but when I converted into British Pounds, it was 85 pence!

After food, a few of us went to a little bar down a back street, accessed by a narrow staircase. To Pete’s delight, they had the Man Utd game on a small TV behind the bar. We spent the night drinking and swapping stories of our adventures, way in to the early hours. Pete had become quite inebriated after moving from the beer to whiskey and coke.

As we walked back through the now deserted streets lined with sleeping stray dogs, Pete thought he had lost his camera and began frantically searching for it, to my amusement, as it was attached to his belt!

We made it safely back to our rooms where I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Being tired from the walking and the high altitude, made the beer act as a sleeping tonic. I only had 4 small cans of Everest lager and I was falling asleep!

EBC Day 13 – 30th October 2009

The tiredness from the excitement and intensity of the last four days and the Oxygen rich air at 4410m, made me sleep like a log; I was away as soon as my head hit the pillow. I slept right through to 0630hrs, when I decided to treat myself to a fully body baby wipe wash.

We set off late morning as the trek today was a short 4 hour stroll. The sun was out keeping the temperature pleasant, however the path was very dusty. We had to pull our snoods over our mouths to stop the dust getting into our airways.

The further we descended the greener it got. Bushes started to appear and sub 4000m we had trees! The shrines to the side of the path became more elaborate and signs of civilisation were more frequent.

Always in front of us, our destination for the day, Tengboche sat on it’s perch above the forest line, with the snow capped mountains as the backdrop. It was like something out of a fantasy novel.

We soon entered the copper birch and fur tree forest on our approach to the village. The sun shone through the canopy and the air was cool and comfortable. A very relaxed and enjoyable walk into Tengboche.

After a short but fairly steep hill we entered the village. The centre is dominated by the Buddhist monastery and next to this was a bakery! The whole group piled in, to get some food before basking in the sun on the patio outside. I ordered a huge portion of a Dutch apple pie. It was so good not even a crumb was left on my plate! Our lodgings were across the square opposite the monastery.

While we were waiting for our keys to the room, I ordered an egg sandwich as I was still hungry, despite the pie. I sat outside in the sun until it arrived, and when it did, it came with a portion of chips! Best day ever!

Our room was on the corner of the teahouse and had a window looking out at the monastery and another back up the Khumbu Valley, with a view of Ama Dablam. The sun began to set, casting it’s waning light over the giant peaks. The colours were breath taking as they changed the tone of the mountain tops.

I grabbed my camera and raced outside to catch the last rays. I got the picture of the adventure that day, it is one of my all time favourites, from all my travels. The clouds had rolled in giving it a mystical and otherworldly look.

We joined the group for dinner at the teahouse. Turns out the owner is the daughter of Dawa Tensing, who was part of Hillary’s 1953 summit team. There is a scrap book containing pictures and letters of him and Sir Edmund Hillary himself.

Everyone was in high spirits and Irish Neil had even started on the ‘Firewater’ (fermented millet) and whiskey. I even won the jacket for carting my tripod up Kala Patthar and not using it! Everyone was excited about reaching Namche Bazaar, even planning on how to celebrate our achievements from the last two weeks. There was talk of a pool competition!

EBC Day 12 – 29th October 2009

Although the ascent up Kala Patthar was tiring, it was not on the scale of Gokyo Ri. It was bitterly cold when we left at 0700hrs and two members of the group opted to stay behind, as they had caught a stomach bug that was doing the rounds. It didn’t last long, roughly 24 hours, but almost everyone in the group had contracted it. Thus far me and Pete had escaped it; we were very religious in using alcohol gel before eating or touching our faces.

In fact if you go back to my post from Day 9 and in the picture of me on top of the pass, you can see the dispensing top to the bottle in my side pocket to my trouser leg. I kept it there all the time so it was easily accessible, granted it was a large bottle and was extra weight, but I never came down with the stomach bug; a worthy trade off.

The route up was steep and full of false summits, but we eventually made it. The temperature was low and my hands were in pain again, but nowhere to the extent as Gokyo Ri. I had taken two pairs of gloves, the warm ones that weren’t warm, that I used previously and a thin pair of work gloves. This day I wore both pairs. I didn’t find the climb difficult until around the 5400m point, where I felt the lack of Oxygen. By the time I reached the summit at 5548m, my lungs and legs were burning.

The wind had whipped up something fierce and windchill was uncomfortable and proved difficult to operate my camera. I fired off a few snaps and didn’t bother with the tripod. I had wished I packed my down jacket. The skies were clear and the views of Everest were second to none; looking down the Khumbu Glacier was breath taking.

I didn’t stick around long on account of the windchill and began to make my way back down to Gorak Shep. I raced back to the teahouse for a hot drink of black tea. Once warmed up, we set off to Dingboche, passing Lobuche for some lunch.

The descent was gradual and easy to walk. We came to the Cho La Pass turn off and I shuddered at the direction of Dzonghla, as I recalled our stay there. We came up to a graveyard of cairns, erected to honour those who had died on Everest. The likes of Mallory, Rob Hall and Steve Fischer. There were prayer flags suspended between them. As we entered the graveyard the wind dipped giving a very eerie atmosphere. We spooked ourselves and moved on quickly.

As we descended further, the air was noticeably thicker. The little steep hills on the route that would leave me out of breath only a few days ago, were nothing now as I skipped up them. The sun was getting low, casting long shadows and shrubbery began dotting the surroundings. It felt like a lazy autumn afternoon, adding to the peaceful enjoyment of the walk into Dingboche. Perhaps it was the richer Oxygen levels, but I felt so relaxed and happy. A perfect end to the day.

EBC Day 11 – 28th October 2009

We had a lot of ground to cover today so by 0600hrs we were on the trail. I had slept really well and found I no longer have headaches or difficulty breathing the thin air. I had finally acclimatized to the altitude. Getting to Gorak Shep (5140m) the last stop before EBC, was easy going.

At 0900hrs we had arrived to have a second breakfast and picked up our pack lunches for last stretch to EBC. We stopped for about an hour, before “Djam Djam” was shouted.

The route zigzagged following the moraine to the Khumbu Glacier, until the point where we would drop down and cross to base camp. From here the views of Everest are limited due to Nuptse sitting in front of it. This section wasn’t strenuous; had it not been for the early start I wouldn’t have felt as tired as I did.

Khumbu Ice Fall, Nuptse in front, Everest behind.

By midday we reached EBC. We did it! I felt so elated! The group congratulated each other shaking hands and I gave my brother hug; everyone had a smile like the ‘Cheshire Cat’ beaming across their faces. The sense of accomplishment was powerful, as we had achieved something spectacular; it had been a difficult trek.

We posed for pictures, took in the views and the atmosphere while munching on our packed lunches. After a while the wind and the windchill was making it uncomfortable to remain still, this signaled us to begin our walk back to Gorak Shep.

It seemed to take ages returning, I think the come down from the adrenaline and excitement of reaching EBC had exhausted me. When we finally reached our teahouse I was rained. As soon as I entered my room I flopped down on to my bed to have a siesta; I didn’t even have the energy to take of my boots!

After our naps we spent the remainder of the day in the common room playing ‘Rons Game’ until dinner time. It would be another early start in the morning as we had a 6 hour walk following the summit of Kala Patthar, down to Dingboche.