Leader: Trevor Jones

A walk on the wild side.

Trevor, our walk leader, was waiting for us at the start at Oving. Which was unexpected as Sara and I were at Quainton. A bit of a mix-up on the website about the start point, but after a quick phone call, we relocated and we were able to start the OAR part 3. Thank goodness for mobile phones!

I think the main features of the day can be summarised as: lush grass, high crops and nettles, some boggy and uneven ground, navigating the cattle, stiles in need of repair and climbing over gates, negotiating fallen trees, and burrowing through hedgerows. Tough going, but such fun! Sara was the first to come a cropper, successfully finding a hole underfoot. Then again when an unstable stile was her undoing. Trevor also managed to lose his footing on a slippery slope. I only narrowly avoided a fall into a flooded area.

The trip out to Wing was via less well used paths. We need more feet on the ground to re-establish the paths. Full marks to Trevor for keeping us on the often unmarked route. After about 14 miles, we reached Wing and could start the return journey back to Oving via the OAR itself.

We were approaching Whitchurch on the return leg when a field full of 30 or 40 curious young cattle decided that we should be closely investigated. Wisely we used the adjacent field to pass the cattle, that alternately ran towards us then ran back to the far side of the field and then rushed back towards us. As we were only separated by two strings of wire (which may or may not have been electrified), this was somewhat alarming. As we neared the end of the field boundary, we could see the kissing gate in front of us into the next field. The cows came stampeding towards us and much to our surprise and concern the cattle crossed directly in front of us where the separating wire fence ended. Fortunately, the cows continued straight ahead and we safely passed behind the last thundering hoof. But had the herd decided to make a u-turn as it passed us, you may not be reading this!

On another occasion, we reached a recently ploughed field. The exit was on the diagonal opposite side to where we were standing. Now we could have walked around the field boundary, avoiding all the ruts, although the map said the path crossed directly. Quote of the day from Sara: “We like walking on the edge, in the middle.”

Back at Oving, 21.5 miles later, and at the end of a tiring day, it was time for a small refreshment at the Black Boy pub and then home. Thank you Trevor for another great day on the OAR. Looking forward to the next section.

Jim Blakelock