The map used for these walks is the O.S. Explorer 191 Oxford.
Lower Heyford - Steeple, Middle and North Astons, Somerton and back
along the Oxford Canal.
A circular walk of around 23km - fairly flat. This walk is particularly good in the Spring - The Oxford Canal is
really nice to walk along - full or flora and wildlife and you also have the benefit of
having the River Cherwell alongside as well.
The walk starts at Lower Heyford's
lovely church at map reference SP 48510 24876 - there is some parking available by
the church.
The road ends a short distance past the church and there take a marked
footpath which continues ahead between fences and very soon brings you out with
the Oxford Canal in front of you.
Follow the path round to the left crossing a
grassy area to reach a road, go right and head down towards the canal and railway
station. Don't actually cross on the road bridge, instead cross the canal using
the canal bridge and walk down onto the towpath.
Head along the towpath with the railway lines on the left and canal on the right
- the canal bends slowly round to the right before straightening again to arrive
at a small swing bridge.
Take the marked footpath on the left - this crosses the
River Cherwell - follow the path through trees and soon cross a small farmer's bridge - the path bends right and after
crossing a style you can see the railway embankment ahead of you - cross the
railway line and shortly come out into a field.
Ignore a track (which
incidentally from the barns has the excellent name of Cow Lane) going
half right across the field towards some barns - just follow the path going
straight ahead now walking alongside a hedgerow.
Cross another style and
continue in the same direction on a really nice woodland path - this eventually
comes out at some more fields and now Steeple Aston can be seen ahead across the
valley.
Still going ahead go down the dip and back up to reach the outskirts of
the village - walk up a very steep concrete track to the main village road. Turn
right and shortly turn right onto Paines Hill - this drops down
for a while and then climbs very steeply up to reach Steeple Aston's church (on
the left). [ SP 47593 26070 ].
Having looked round the church go back onto the road and continue along in the
original direction - around 400 metres along and just before you reach Poultry Farm
take a track on the left - this soon becomes a nice woodland path - follow this to a t-junction, now turn
right and
follow this across open ground and then a small woods to reach a road.
Go right
along the road passing several large lakes and walk into Middle Aston. Ignore a road on the left and then
just on the other side of the village opposite the gates to Middle Aston House and where the road bends right look for
two paths which leave on the left.
Take the left hand path and follow this
across fields for around 1km to reach a small farm road, go left and on reaching
Middle Aston Lane go right along the lane to soon reach the entrance track to
Hendon Farm. As you approach the farm turn left over a style and across a
field/paddock - continue down the field and cross a stream before climbing back
up to a three way junction.
Take the middle path cross the field to reach a driveway, turn right going
past North Aston Hall gates and shortly reach the
St Mary's Church (which is attached to the end of the Hall).
From the church go back
onto the track and continue in the original direction to go via huge estate
gates to reach a small road, go
left uphill and just as the road bears left take a path leaving on the right.
This path continues diagonally left across a field (where you get a nice
panaromic view of the railway viaduct) with Manor Farm House on the right and then reaches
the left side of a small
woodland. Still staying in the same basic direction with the woods on your right walk
down across fields to reach a small wooded area. [ SP 48704
29990 ] When we last walked here there were only path signs for straight
ahead - however do not go into the woods but instead go sharp right on a bridleway and follow
the hedgerow going up to reach a small road at Mill Cottage. Turn left and follow
the road - this crosses the River Cherwell and then reaches the Oxford Canal at Somerton.
The walk continues by turning right along the canal however because we always like
looking at churches we diverted here by going across the
canal and then the railway line - shortly look out for a small path on the right
which will take you on a nice little climb up to the churchyard and church at
Somerton - well worth the effort. Return to the canal the same way or you can
leave from the other side of the churchyard and walk back down the road.
Cross the canal bridge and go left onto the towpath - as you walk along
Somerton's church appears up on the left. Now the walk is simply a question of
enjoying a nice wander along the towing path - eventually passing Somerton
Crossing and Heyford Common Lock to eventually reach Allen's Lock at Upper
Heyford. Needless to say there is a church here so we crossed the canal at
Allen's Bridge and followed a small road which took us up to Upper Heyford's pretty church.
Return back to the canal and continue in the original direction.
Soon the River
Cherwell re-appears and you end up walking between the canal and the river for
some distance.
Just continue along to eventually arrive back at Lower Heyford
station - go back across the road bridge to the original starting point at St
Mary's
church, where incidentally there are several bench seats available for a relax.
Lower Heyford - Steeple Aston - Steeple Barton (and Barton Abbey grounds) - Tackley and the Oxford Canal back to Lower Heyford - circular walk of around 24kms.
As with the previous walk the start point is at Lower Heyford's
lovely church and for the first part of the walk the instructions are the same
in order to get as far as Steeple Aston's main village road.
As before turn right this time go straight ahead through Steeple Aston - the
road steadily climbs between houses and then passes a telephone exchange to
continue between fields to a main road (the A4260)Go straight across the
road and take the path across a field and into woods. Go through the woods and
follow the marked path along the field edge to eventually reach a track at
Whistlow Farm. Go left through the farm a road. Go left and then almost
immediately right - this path goes through a grass verge to reach a field - go
diagonally left across the field to reach a small lane. Go right and then follow
this narrow lane as it descends to cross a bridge and then as it bends sharp
right take a marked path on the left (signed to the church).
As you reach a house in front of you go right on a path across a field to reach Steeple Barton St Mary's Church.
After going through the church gate turn left through the cemetry to reach a kissing gate - turn left onto a nice path which drops down as it goes into the grounds of Barton Abbey. The path takes you over a stream several times - the grounds are both immaculate and beautiful to walk through - note this is a private property so you have to stay on the marked path. The path takes you eventually to a field - cross the field following the line of mostly chestnut trees on the left and then leave the field to go onto a bridleway and into a wooded area.
Follow this as it bears right and soon comes out on a tarmac drive by Barton Lodge. Go ahead on the drive and then when the drive turns left go straight ahead on a narrow track - this climbs slowly as far as New Barn Farm and then carrys on to reach a road. Cross the road and continue straight ahead on Dornford Lane Track - this starts off as tarmac surface but there is plenty of area either side which is grassed and much better to walk on. Once passed Upper Dornford Cottages the surface becomes narrow track - this nearly straight track is enclosed with hedgerow and really nice to walk along especially in the Spring.
Around 1.5km from Upper Dornford Cottages look out for a cross track [
SP 45610 20188 ] - turn left and follow the path
across two fields to a road. Cross the road and continue ahead on another path -
after the first field keep on the left path which heads straight on to a visible
trig point - stay on the path to reach a road.
Turn left and follow the road to
St Nicholas Church. From the church continue along the road - just after it
bends left take a footpath on the right. You need to head over to the far right
hand side of the field by the edge of Tackley Park. Go along the edge of the
field with woodland on your right - go through a small wooded area with a stream
on your left and then reach a t-junction (from now on you
will follow the Oxfordshire Way as far as the Oxford Canal - all signed)
- go left and cross a small wooden bridge. Continue straight on into the field -
bear right and follow the path across the field to reach a small potholed
track/road. Turn left and soon go under the railway bridge and follow the
Oxfordshire Way eventually via some nice mill weirs to the Canal at Pigeons
Lock.
Turn left along the towpath - there are some particularly nice canal bridges along here - several with some quite good names. Bridge 210 is called North Brook Bridge and at this point the River Cherwell is only several yards away - take a look at the old pack horse bridge which adjoins Bridge 210 and crosses over the River. The walk is quite straightforward now and just involves following the canal all the way back (it's around 6.5km) to Lower Heyford.
Oxford to Lower Heyford - one way - flat and about 23km.
(map if you need one is OS Explorer 180 and 191). The
idea of this walk is simply to walk a stretch of the Oxford Canal - since the
entire route is on the towpath there is obviously no need for any particular
instructions - just a bit of how to do it from a transport point of view.
Because of the high cost and difficulty in parking in Oxford we did the walk the
other way round - the train times and costs mentioned are relevant to June 2007.
There is some parking - currently free - alongside the railway station at Lower
Heyford - the only real drawback is the absence of trains to get you to the
start of the canal at Oxford - during the week currently one train goes to the
city at 09:54 hrs and on Sunday** one train goes there at 10:54 hrs - you should
check the train timetables on the web in case this alters. A single fare from
Lower Heyford to Oxford is UK Pounds 3.90.
**From what we can see currently there
are only trains on Sundays from around May to September.
Once at Oxford walk the short distance to the main road outside the station,
turn left and just keep ahead to reach the start of the Oxford Canal.
You
quickly reach the first lock and Bridge (243) at Isis Lock - just simply carry
on along the towpath with the only thing to worry about is not being mown down
by the frequent cyclists. There are lots of long-stay canal boats moored along
the first part of the canal - these used by the University students in many case
- hence the frequent cycle traffic. Parts of the towpath are actually in a very
poor state from a dumped rubbish point of view and it is disappointing that the
authorities (presumably British Waterways) allow such a beautiful canal to be so poorly used
and abused by some of the long stay
boat residents. 
However after a
while you get a break from the mess but it re-appears - if anything it's even
worse - as you get to Wolvercote. However soon you do walk out of this
mess and the Oxford Canal
becomes what it mostly is - beautiful to walk along and enjoyable for the open
countryside, bridges, locks and wildlife.
One of our favourite places to stop - usually for lunch - is at Shipton on
Cherwell which is a little over half way along the route - there are also some pubs
available along the route if you fancy a beer or something to eat etc.., another
favourite stopping off place is at Pigeons Lock.
Banbury to Lower Heyford - approx 21km. As with the
above there is no real need for walk instructions for this - the idea being to
get a train up to Banbury and walk back just following the canal. Almost as soon
as you leave Banbury the canal is just full of wild flowers, lovely lift bridges
and small bridges and just really lovely to walk.
When we went in May 2007 the
fare was UKstg3.90 from Lower heyford to Banbury, and the (only Sunday morning)
train left Lower Heyford at 10.06hrs and got to Banbury 15 minutes later.
Note: From
what we can see currently there are only trains on Sundays from around May to September.
The Oxford Canal is reached by leaving the railway station on it's right hand side (through the taxi rank) - just follow the road and shortly cross over the River Cherwell and then almost immediately you reach the canal at Albion Bridge (no.166), go down onto the towpath and turn left heading towards Lower Heyford. There are some really interesting old buildings alongside the canal as you walk out of Banbury - but it is not long before you are into open countryside. One of the features along this part of the canal are the number of lift bridges most of which are intact - seem to be far more of them than on other stretches of the canal we have so far walked.
Far as the lunch stop is concerned we stopped by Nell Bridge Lock - there is
a lovely little bridge here as well as the lock - however the pathetic
authorities have shoved a stupid concrete road bridge on top of it. This is
i.m.o. criminal - it really would not have been so difficult or that expensive
to have at least shoved their ridiculous concrete bridge a little to the left or
right and left a little peice of England alone.
Anyway back to the lunch stop -
what we found was that just a little further on you arrive at Weir Bridge 188
and Aynho Weir Lock - this is really a fascinating place where the River
Cherwell cuts right across the Oxford Canal and then going under the towpath via
a series of brick arches.
There are some seats at this really nice lock as well and
this really is an excellent place to pick for a stopover for a while.
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