Day p02: 08 Mar 2014; Radnage to Weston on the Green

Walk descriptor	Banbury trial		Day	02
Date	Sat 08 Mar 2014		Start to end time	10h 11m
Start point	Radnage		End point	Weston on the Green
Miles today	29.90		Cu miles	49.84
Ft today	1,282		Cu ft	3,434
Route miles left	20.53		Route ft left	676
Today’s weather	Misty and drizzle at first, cleared by early morning to leave bright sunny day. Dry. Light southwesterly wind. About 13C

Today’s location (the red cross in a circle shows where I am at the moment)		GPX based track of today’s walk (click here to access to access downloadable file)

Commentary

“Second day of the 3 day LEJOG practice hike. A bit of a slog, to be honest. At 29.9 miles, the longest walk I’ve done for some time and one of the longest I’ve ever done while carrying a full (36 lb / 17kg) pack.

Although the walk itself was pretty level, and the weather was kind, the going underfoot wasn’t . As soon as I hit the Oxford plain, I ran into mile upon mile of thick, viscous and, in many places, foul smelling mud. Although the floods are receding a bit and I didn’t have to adopt my fallback route today, the going was hard work. I do hope the mud clears up a bit along the LEJOG route, because slogging through it, or diverting around it, takes time and lots of effort.

To make matters worsse, some of the paths were in poor condition. Obviously not used for years, they were overgrown with aggressive impenetrable brambles and in places, blocked with barbed wire. Once I joined the Oxfordshire Way, though, the gpoing was somewhat easier.

The gear is holding up fine, though body is suffering a bit. Sore shoulders from heavy pack, and blisters for the first time in ages. Partly exacerbatedf by the fact that I brought the wrong sort of Compeed plasters with me on the walk. Another great reason for doing a practice hike before the real thing!

Scenery along the way was very rural – pleasant but not outstanding. Highlight was lunch at Waterperry gardens – probably the best teashop in Oxfordshire. Overnight in a field at Godwins ice Cream Farm(!) in Weston on the Green. Fairly basic but absolutely fine!”

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Mist on the woods near Stokenchurch, highest point of the walk (800ft)	idn’t see any snakes, though

Chapel at Ryecote Park	Floods near Waterstock (aptly named!). The path was a little higher and remained dry

More floods. Actually the only point where I goty really wet feet	Coltsfoot – another sign of Spring

Bizarre notice stating the blindingly obvious!