Kinban two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Kinban here.

We completed this route after a period of dry weather, which is relevant to some of the comments in other reviews.
We travelled north from Banbury to Kineton. The walk through Banbury was easy to follow and soon led into the Oxfordshire countryside passing the edge of Drayton and into the village of Horley.
After passing through Horley there is a lovely walk along the sloping edge of a valley and passing a pond.
Hornton is another lovely village, famous for Hornton Stone used in the building of many Cotswold Houses and Oxford Colleges.
The route leaves Hornton and follows a clear route eventually leading to a ford crossing. This will possibly be difficult after consistent rain, but there is a footbridge approx. 50 metres to the left if coming North. If you are coming from the North leave the path just before it enters a small wood and cross into the next field on the right and then use the footbridge.
The route then heads toward Ratley and just before the village the route crosses across a hill which was muddy even after a dry period
After Ratley the route climbs the edge of Edge Hill the scene of the famous battle in 1642 during the English Civil War
Leaving Edghill by the side of The Castle Pub passing through a wood leads to an amazing view over the Warwickshire Countryside. On the day we walked we could clearly see the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire more than 40 miles away.
The route then leads down into the village of Radway ( visit the Church for a permanent interactive exhibition about the Civil War) then through the countryside passing MOD Kineton.
We then followed the alternative route around the camp perimeter and into the village of Kineton
This is a very attractive route with some lovely villages. The route is hilly in places and will be muddy in places after rain. There were cattle in two of the fields, but they showed no interest in us. There are a large number of gates and styles none of which were difficult.
All the villages have pubs with refreshments, but please check opening hours.

I completed this route yesterday walking southeast from Kineton. I have to say I really enjoyed this walk and was grateful MikeM had created it as an alternative to the flagged Kinban one. The route has plenty of interest and character, as it traverses a section of a MoD site, a section of the Cotswolds and some lovely villages. My tracked route on the OSMaps app has this closer to 14 miles in length, and has some steep elevation leading me to give this at best a moderate technical difficulty.

Although there are several pubs en route, I advise checking opening hours if you aim to use one of them for refreshments. I unfortunately aimed for the Dun Cow at Hornton which was closed due to a private function. This was frustrating after walking past the open Castle at Edgehill and Ratley's Rose & Crown. Never mind I thought, i'll go to the Red Lion at Horley... only to find on arrival it doesn't open till 6pm on Saturdays.

The route exits the lovely village of Kineton behind very quickly via an unsealed track with a view of the forthcoming Edge Hill on the horizon (photo 1). Just after a mile into the walk, the route reaches the boundary of MoD Kineton which is apparently western Europe's largest ammunitions dump. This is emphasised in photos 2 and 3 which warn of a "slight risk of explosion" and patrolling guard dogs - a new one for me on a Slow Ways walk! I could hear no continuous sirens wailing so I carried on. On several occasions the route crosses the railway (photo 4) which serves the military base and has some interesting history.

After leaving the army base behind, you head into the Cotsolds AONB and through Radway. The fact you're now in the Cotswolds is reflected in the steep ascent of Edge Hill towards the folly that is the Castle pub and hotel. The route leaves the village of Edgehill behind via a lovely pathway (photo 7) and before long you have passed through the next lovely village of Ratley and you are on the way to Hornton.

The route then takes you up and along the top of Bush Hill. I noted in the route description that this route was created to avoid the muddy Poplars farm in Kinban one. Whilst I haven't done that route for comparison, I did encounter a very muddy section whilst walking along the top of the Bush Hill (photo 10). Thankfully it had been dry for a few weeks, but it was still quite muddy and led me to wonder how much worse it would be if it was wet! There were also cattle in this field, although they didn't seem to be bothered about me at all. The route then crosses the plateau of Bush Hill via the D'arcy Dalton Way before descending into pretty Hornton.

After leaving Hornton, the route follows along the left to right sloping side of a valley towards Horley. My ankles breathed a sigh of relief when the end of the mile long sloping aspect was reached as it descended to cross a brook before ascending towards Clump Lane (photo 13). Horley was another delightful village to pass through (photo 14). The route then takes you across arable land before quickly passing through the suburbs of Banbury to the end of the walk.

As well as the aforementioned challenges with elevation, the route has plenty of gates, stiles, footbridges and steps to negotiate. There was no risky road walking to contend with, and where road walking was required it was through quiet villages and mainly on pavements. I'd definitely recommend this route and hope you find this review useful.

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