2017 Newsletter
THE OXFORDSHIRE WAY – SURVEY AND IMPROVEMENTS
The Oxfordshire Way is a sixty-five mile recreational walk which runs south-east from Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire to Henley-on-Thames. The Way is one of the important recreational routes promoted by the Oxfordshire County Council’s Countryside Access Team. In 1996 the Council published a guide, updated in 2004, and also produced a website-based version on the Internet from which it is possible to download maps and directions for particular sections of the Way.
However, with the cutbacks in the level of funding it has not been possible for the Countryside Access Team to undertake the regular surveys and checks on the quality of the route as it would like.
At a meeting of the Rights of Way Monitoring Group it was suggested that over the Winter and Spring of 2016/2017 the Oxfordshire Area Rambler Groups and the Oxford Fieldpaths Society should undertake a complete survey of the Oxfordshire Way.
This survey would involve checking the provision and the cleaning of finger-post signs and waymark discs; undertaking clearance of any vegetation encroaching onto The Way; and reporting bridges and stiles in poor condition to the appropriate Field Officer. The Oxfordshire Way passes through an area of the County where the path quality is monitored by the Cotswold Wardens, the West Oxfordshire, Bicester and Kidlington, Thames and Wheatley Rambler groups and the Chiltern Society. It was agreed that the Oxford Fieldpaths Society would make a detailed survey and check the section from Shipton-under-Wychwood to Bourton-on-the-Water.
In June, therefore, in cool and overcast weather conditions a group from the OFS, - Liz Adams, Michael Payton, John Eyre and Jim Parke - walked the first stage of the section , from Shipton-under-Wychwood to the village of Bledington, just across the County boundary in Gloucestershire.
The group found that The Way was well signposted and way-marked and the path surface in good condition. Two waymark posts needed replacing as one had rotted off at the base and the other was tied onto another post which was in a rotten condition. Just north of Bruern Abbey, to their pleasant surprise, the group met a volunteer team from the Cotswold Wardens, hard at work strimming down the long grass on the path surface. The group then spent some time clearing away the encroaching vegetation on a stretch of woodland along Cocksmoor Copse to No Man’s land. For the rest of the Way to the village of Bledington it was evident that the farmer had mown the path surface.
A few days later the second stage of The Oxfordshire Way was undertaken - in glorious sunshine - by the same group, with Bill Rooker replacing John Eyre. This time the survey was undertaken in the opposite direction, walking from Bourton-on-the-Water via Wyck Rissington to Bledington. The group found The Way was well marked with finger posts and waymark discs in Gloucestershire. There was a great deal of snipping and clipping away of the vegetation along The Way, especially at bridges. The photo shows the team hard at work on a bridge carrying The Way over a tributary of the River Windrush just to the east of Bourton. The only items of report were a missing fingerpost and a direction sign near Gawcombe. The path surface on the long section across fields from Gawcombe, following the Westcote Brook, to Bledington had been mown.
In addition to undertaking this survey the OFS has undertaken a programme of significant improvement to The Oxfordshire Way through its donate-a-gate policy of replacing stiles by gates. The first of these took place some years ago when three gates were installed on the Way, near Tetsworth. More recently, the Society has paid for two gates to be installed in the parish of Waterstock.
The photo shows John Eyre and Michael Tyce, the Chairman of Waterperry Parish, affixing the donation plaque on one of the gates. This installation at Waterstock will be followed in the autumn by the provision of four further gates in this parish, two funded by the Society and the other two by the Parish. Staff from the Countryside Access Team will install these gates. Further to the south, at Middle Assendon, the Society has agreed to provide a gate which is to be installed by the Chiltern Society.cs In this way the Society is making a significant contribution to improving the accessibility of this important recreational route.