Southend to Ewelme

Following our decision to take two cars slightly further for day walks than we would normally do, because lockdown regulations still mean that we can't stay in B&Bs, pubs or hotels overnight, today's was the leg of the Chiltern Way that was probably furthest, and undoubtedly the slowest journey overall, from our flat in Milton Keynes. We needed to get to Ewelme, which is a slightly odd place for the western extremity of the Chitern Way's original circuit, because to our judgement it isn't really in the Chilterns at all. However, it is only slightly to the west of some delightful Chiltern scenery, and it is a very pretty place, so we'll let the route-planners off! Our route took us via Aylesbury (as usual, our idenitical maps apps on identical i-phones sent us different routes here) and also via Watlington (the Oxfordshire one) where we drove straight past The Fat Fox, where we stayed when walking The Ridgeway. Driving through the narrow streets of Watlington is not great fun though (especially since the maps app didn't get the road priorities quite right) and I imagine it can be a bottleneck at busy times. The other obstacle on the roads (and later, on bridleways) was banks of cyclists who seemed to think they had priority over all other road users.

Ewelme wasn't far beyond Watlington and our route took us right past the attractive church to an excellent car a car park at SU753897 by the recreation ground. There were a number of cars already parked (but on a total of four visits over the bank holiday visit we never saw it full, so it does seem a useful parking place for Chiltern Way walkers) and some cyclists just preparing to head off for a ride...more cyclists! We drove back to Watington then up over the route of The Ridgeway (I remember that bit!) and along some rather narrow lanes to Southend Common (SU648913), where we parked the other car. Trying to find out more about Southend is tricky, because of its more famous Essex namesake, but in much the same way as Southend-on-Sea was originally the southern end of the village of Prittlewell, this Southend is the southern end of the parish of Turville. The chickens on the common were fascinated by our car.

The place where we had parted company from the Chiltern Way on the previous leg was only a couple of hundred metres from our parking place; today we turned right past the cottage we'd noticed last time and into attractive woodland. After a short distance we went through a deer fence onto the Stonor Estate. Stonor Park is home to a famous Catholic family, the Stonors (aka the barons Camoys) but before we passed the house we noticed a car park with some cars in it (unusual after months of lockdown and also for a stately home before 10am in the morning) - and a rather exciting looking adventure playground beyond. This, it transpires, is “Tumblestone Hollow”, a new adventure playground which just opened at Easter. Good luck to them. We continued past the rather more conventional house, and down to the road where we turned right into Stonor Village.

After turning right again onto a path, we climbed into the beautiful Park Wood and our first bluebells of the day. There was a slightly complicated section around Lodge Farm and we emerged onto a road, briefly on a route shared with the Oxfordshire Way, behind a couple of women with dogs, and soon we all met a couple with ... more dogs...We continued along the road to Russell's Water Common then turned left. We descended slightly to Big Ashes Plantation then very steeply through a nature reserve. Before we emerged from this there was a bench with a lovely view, and we stopped to change my socks. We then continued through delightful rolling countryside, with sheep and lambs, and more attractive woodland.

We reached a road, but happily, after crossing it we found a gap in the hedge and a path running parallel with the road, just the other side of the hedge. We then turned onto a track which we followed for a couple of miles, through Hazel Wood, past a Young Offenders Institution (which was out of sight) and across The Ridgeway. For most of this stretch, the bluebells were really beautiful. This reminded me how much I am enjoying the Chiltern Way, and, if I'm honest, how much more I am enjoying it than I enjoyed The Ridgeway overall, though the sections around here were pretty good.

After The Ridgeway and still in the line we'd been following for a while, there was a brief section on a road. This is known as Old London Road and apparently it was once part of the London -Henley-Oxford turnpike road. Someone had put down a row of logs, presumably to stop parking, and these also provided a convenient seating place for lunch. Then we continued into a more open landscape. The guidebook sings the praises of the views towards Wallingford and the Wessex Downs, but it was a bit breezy and we had a few drops of rain - and there were more other walkers and cyclists on the path than I am comfortable with.

Past Harcourt Hill, we turned off the track and meandered our way towards Ewelme, joining the Swan's Way (which leads from Goring across the Chilterns then north to Milton Keynes and the Northamptonshire Border, thus giving us another possible route back to Milton Keynes) and, a little later, joining the Oxfordshire Extension of the Chiltern Way. It was less hilly than previously, but we nevertheless had an excellent view to Ewelme as we approached the village. We stopped to wait for an approaching couple, but after a little wait they still didn't appear, so we continued. It turned out that the couple, a clergyman and his wife, had a VERY slow dog. After collecting the car, we stopped at Ewelme Church to photograph it, wondering if it was the rector of Ewelme we'd seen.