Hooded one

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I completed this walk yesterday travelling east from Hook Norton. A great walk with lots of Cotswold flavour. Very muddy and boggy in places, warnings of closed bridges which were easily passable, and no warnings of missing bridges but it doesn't stop me giving it a full five stars as all easily overcome challenges. No shortage of pubs on the route if you need refreshments.

Leaving Hook Norton you pass by the route of the old Banbury to Cheltenham railway, and the pillar remains of a viaduct which are apparently known as 'Oxfordshire's Pyramids'. Once away from the village, the route to Wigginton opens up to fine views of the surrounding countryside. Once at Wigginton, you turn right at the White Swan Inn - the first pub on the route.

At the church in Wigginton, we were met with a 'Bridge Closed' sign (photo 6) which warns that a footbridge closer to South Newington was in disrepair and should not be attempted. Not one to be easily put off, I decided to investigate the severity of the closed bridge for myself. I thought to myself that if the bridge was that bad, then at the worst i'd have to retrace my steps and take the alternative longer route that involved a road - which I didn't want to do. I'm happy to say that I was pleased I did not heed the signs, as when we got to the bridge, we found it was very passable (photo 7). Yes, there were some slats missing, but my thoughts the council were going overboard in covering themselves in case anyone injured themselves turned out to be correct. Of course I can't condone you do the same as me, but I really didn't find it as big an issue as another bridge (or lack of it) further on in the walk.

Once at South Newington, you have another pub; the 'Duck On The Pond', and then a selection of rather quirky street names to amuse yourself with as you leave the village. Did I mention it was wet and boggy in places? Yes, this seemed to increasingly be the case from here, especially on the route to Barford St Michael. On this section of the walk, we got to a ditch which should have had a footbridge (photo 11). After getting over the confusion as to why Oxfordshire County Council felt the need to close a bridge with a couple of missing slats, but had had not warned of this glaring omission, we attempted crossing the ditch and found that despite the muddy nature it really wasn't that hard an obstacle.

At Barford St Michael, The George Inn - yet another pub on the route is the last option for refreshments before the end of the walk. The section from here to Deddington was the least interesting. As a previous review mentions, the given rights of way across agricultural land are lost forcing the route to be extended by following field perimeters.

Despite all the fun, the mud, the notices of doom for non-dangerous bridges, the stiles and gates, the mud, the non-warnings of missing bridges, the mud, the longer field perimeter walks and yet more mud, this was a thoroughly enjoyable walk. I'd definitely do it again and would recommend that you do it. The only difference is that i'd perhaps do it in the other direction as I felt the Hook Norton end was prettier and would be better left to end on, but that just be my preference.

Our walk started from Deddington, and after a short stretch on the B4031 the route was mostly on footpaths or farm tracks.
Several fields north of Hempton had been recently ploughed and the public footpaths across these fields obliterated, so we consequently had to walk around the perimeter of these fields adding somewhat to the distance.
The route passes through the beautiful villages of Barford St Michael, South Newington and Wigginton, each with many old cottages built with Cotswolds stone.
The footpath to Wigginton west of South Newington had been closed by Oxfordshire CC due to the poor condition of the boardwalk, but alternative routes to Wigginton were possible using paths to the north, or by walking along the Wigginton Road.
Despite these inconveniences, which added an extra mile or so to the distance, we thoroughly enjoyed this walk through the Cotswolds.

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