talkingwalking

Oxfordshire RamblersIssue 44, April 2020

The Ramblers’ purpose is to create a Britain where everyone has the

freedom to enjoy the outdoors on foot and benefits from the

experience

To learn more about what our Oxfordshire groups have to offer you, go to our websitewww.ramblers-oxon.org.ukand click on the group links on the right. There you will also find links to their Facebook sites.

Editor Dave Cavanaghdavecavanagh1000@gmail.comUnless otherwise stated, items were written by the editor

Back issues www.ramblers-oxon.org.uk under the ‘magazine’ tab

Chair of Oxfordshire Ramblers Jim Parke jmh.parke@btinternet.com

Website www.ramblers-oxon.org.uk

Facebook @OxfordshireRamblers

talking walking

Oxfordshire Ramblers

Cover photo: on the Lambourn Downs above Uffington. Photo: Dave Cavanagh

Start placeWho wrote this, and in which book?

“Nothing – and I mean, really, absolutely nothing – is more

extraordinary in Britain than the beauty of the countryside.

Nowhere in the world is there a landscape that has been more

extensively utilized – more mined, farmed, quarried, covered

with cities and clanging factories, threaded with motorways and

railway lines – and yet remain so comprehensively and reliably

lovely over most of its extent. It is the happiest accident in

history. In terms of natural wonders, you know, Britain is a

pretty unspectacular place. It has no alpine peaks or broad rift

valleys, no mighty gorges or thundering cataracts. It is built to

quite a modest scale.

And yet with a few unassuming natural endowments, a great

deal of time, and an unfailing instinct for improvement, the

makers of Britain created the most superlatively park-like

landscapes, the most orderly cities, the handsomest provincial

towns, the jauntiest seaside resorts, the stateliest homes, the

most dreamily spired, cathedral-rich, castle-strewn, abbey-

bedecked, folly-scattered, green-wooded, winding-laned, sheep

dotted, plumply hedgerowed, well-tended, sublimely decorated

88,386 square miles the world has ever known – almost none of

it undertaken with aesthetics in mind, but all of it adding up to

something that is, quite often, perfect. What an achievement

that is.”

Answer on the last page.

‘Normal service will be resumed as soon

as possible’This is the message that used to appear on our TV

screens when transmission was interrupted. As I

recall, normality resumed within hours, sometimes

minutes. Not so life at the moment, not since

‘coronavirus’ became a household word. March

2020 was the month in which Covid-19, the disease

caused by the virus, changed the pattern of our

lives to an extent unprecedented for over 70 years.

With essentially no anti-viral weapons in our

armoury, keeping our distance from one another

became the fall-back position.

There can be few aspects of our lives that have not

been adversely affected; Ramblers group walking is

no exception. On 20th March Ramblers central

office said that “we have suspended all Ramblers

activities until at least 31 May 2020.” Going by the

comments of scientific experts, our programme of

walks, social events and path maintenance may

well be in abeyance beyond that date. We can but

wait and see.

Those of us who go on our led walks miss walking

with our many friends. That said, compared with

those who get very ill from coronavirus, some of

whom die, and those whose businesses are in

jeopardy or whose incomes have been slashed,

with the attendant privation and worry, our loss is

trivial in comparison.

For the latest on Covid-19 this site is very good:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Ramblers says that they will add regular updates to

the Frequently Asked Questions that are already on

the Ramblers website. All information is available

on this web page:

https://www.ramblers.org.uk/volunteer-

zone/coronavirus There is also a link to the

coronavirus information page on the Ramblers

homepage https://www.ramblers.org.uk/

On Friday 18th March I switched on the radio to

listen to Radio 4’s comedy ‘The Now Show’. It was

no laughing matter.

I had missed the first five minutes or so. At first I

thought that the six o’clock news had been

extended. Then I recognised the voice of one of the

lead presenters. It seemed that the cast was being

very respectful to the unfolding tragedy caused by

Covid-19; what they were saying wasn’t funny.

Certainly the audience was silent, completely.

Then I twigged: there was no audience. In keeping

with ‘social distancing’ the performers were on

their own.

I listened more intently. The cast was telling gags

but they were falling flat. Without the soundtrack

of laughter, the silence simply amplified the misery

that the disease was causing, directly and indirectly.

I switched off.

Happy days.

To learn more about the DLYW campaign,

go to the Ramblers website

www.ramblers.org.uk and click on the link

on the homepage.

Don’t Lose Your WayRamblers Don’t Lose Your Way campaign was

launched in mid-February, the DLYW mapping

platform (available on/from the Ramblers website)

getting off to a great start.

There was excellent coverage in The Times,

Guardian, Telegraph, , Daily Mail, I, Mirror and

Metro. The Guardian article was shared over 11,000

times. The campaign was covered on BBC Breakfast,

Jeremy Vine's Channel 5 show, and ITV Anglia news.

There were also 33 pieces of radio coverage across

England and Wales, including interviews with staff

from Ramblers Cymru and Ramblers GB.

The reaction on social media was also amazing.

Organisations from CPRE to the YHA got behind the

campaign, not to mention Robert Macfarlane, Chris

Packham, Mary-Ann Ochota and Alastair Humphreys.

Usage of the DLYW tool on the website was so intense

that Ramblers had to temporarily take down the site at

times when there were large peaks in traffic.

Photo: Wim Klaucke

Thame & Wheatleygroup were joined by some of Vale

group’s path maintenance volunteers

to move and restore a footpath onto

the correct line in Forest Hill in

February. Two of OCC’s Countryside

Access Officers, Jackie Smith and

Arthur McEwan-James (both in red

fleeces), directed the operation.

Photos: Jackie Smith and Jim Parke.

Facebook pagesWe have an Oxfordshire Ramblers Facebook page that highlights some of our activities, plus items shared

to our page from other relevant sites https://www.ramblers-oxon.org.uk/

You can follow the activities of most of our Oxfordshire Ramblers groups on their Facebook pages or

groups.

• Banbury and North Oxfordshire https://www.facebook.com/bnoramblers2016/

• Bicester and Kidlington https://www.facebook.com/groups/BicesterandKidlingtonRamblers

• Henley and Goring https://www.facebook.com/groups/HenleyAndGoringRamblers/

• Oxford City https://www.facebook.com/groups/oxfordcityramblers

• Oxon 20s&30s https://www.facebook.com/groups/oxon2030s/

• Vale of White Horse https://www.ramblers-oxon.org.uk/vwh.html

• Oxon Weekend Walkers https://www.facebook.com/groups/oxonww

• West Oxfordshire https://www.facebook.com/groups/967551640029826

Oxfordshire County Council’s Countryside Access Team now have a Facebook Page.They show some of their recent successes in improving our footpaths, with occasional light-hearted

items. They are our allies. Do ‘like’ their Facebook page to follow their exploits. Simply search for

‘Oxfordshire Countryside Access’ in Facebook.

Combined operations: volunteers from Thame & Wheatley and Vale groups redefine a path through a wood, plus installing waymark posts.

Arthur, Countryside Access Officer for Vale of White Horse and part of South Oxfordshire, is at the front in the top left picture. Arthur was working with Vale group’s Vale Path Volunteers on what had become a very narrow path within Sutton Courtenay village.

Rest stopGot an amazing compliment from Scottish Gas for

once. They phoned to say my bill was outstanding.

Just bought some blonde hair & blue eyes. I am

saving it for a special Caucasian.

I’ve bought a spoiler for the car. It’s a sticker that

says ‘Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father’.

A boy who couldn't see, hear, smell, feel or taste

punched me in the face. I told him there was no

need for senseless violence.

Did you know that every two in one people are

schizophrenic?

My father's sisters have set up crime-fighting street

patrols in Drumchapel. They're vigil aunties.

At your wits’ end?Are you really bored of being stuck at home? Have you have done all those jobs that you had previously put off

for ages? Desperate times call for desperate measures: go to the Oxfordshire Ramblers website (www.ramblers-

oxon.org.uk ) and click on the ‘magazine’ link near the top of the homepage.

Remind yourself of the joys of walking by reading back issues

of our talking walking magazine.

A bedraggled crew at the end of the second day, having shovelled soil and assorted plants off a great length of the path

VPV in FaringdonThe Vale Path Volunteers spent two

sessions clearing Faringdon FP17,

from near the centre of town up to

Wickleshamlodge Farm.

Day 1 was blessed with sun, day 2 was cursed with rain for the back-breaking work of clearing the soil that had almost obliterated this metalled footpath.

One section of the path was atop an embankment. It is unlikely that a farmer would have constructed it. Malcolm’s subsequent research suggests that it was used to transport gravel etc. from the quarry near Wickleshamlodge Farm.

Faringdon Town Council are going to incorporate this path into one of their promoted routes.

Photos: Jim Parke, Graham Cross, Dave Cavanagh

No, me neither. I read this whilst waiting for the loo on an airliner.

Successful campaignYou’ll have seen this story on the front page of

the March 2020 issue of South East Walker.

Henley and Goring Ramblers (HG), with Henley

Walkers Are Welcome, organised a rally in

Henley-on-Thames to protest about the

continuing closure of a footpath because of a

missing footbridge at Fawley Court in

Buckinghamshire. Alie Hagedoorn, chair of HG

and pictured holding the sign in the lower right

of the photo, writes “Since the protest Fawley

Court has replaced the bridge with a like-for-

like bridge, and the footpath is now once again

usable. Many people have had a look at the

new bridge in spite of the wet weather in the

recent months.

The publicity around the bridge was extensive during November and December, but all has quieted down

since the new bridge became available. Having said that, Buckinghamshire County Council still intends to

replace the bridge with a wider bridge. Either way, we are happy that we have a bridge back!”

Alie Hagedoorn

I saw this in the loo on a Eurostar train. Loovely.

Wet wet wetFortunately for those of us in Oxfordshire, flooding

was minor relative to some other parts of the

country during winter. That said, we didn’t need to

go to our rivers to see lots of water, which was just

as well as flooded fields on the approaches to the

rivers often prevented us from reaching them. The

rain was often accompanied by high winds, which

enabled the water to seep through our clothing to

reach some parts that even Heineken cannot reach.

Despite the weather the number of us on walks has

frequently been high, with attendances commonly

being in the high teens and often in the 20s,

sometimes over 30. Still, I guess where there’s no

sense there’s no feeling.

Photo: Luke Price

Flooding comes in useful for boot cleaningPhoto: Ian Macpherson

Spot the difference

Photo: Ian Macpherson

Photo: John Gordon

Photos: Clare Bass

Graham (far right) encourages the team to put their backs into it. OCC’s Arthur is at the front. Photo: Avril Ansen

VPV Sutton CourtenayThe Vale Path Volunteers were not to

know it but this would be their last gig for

who-knows-how-long, due to you-know-

what. Once again OCC Countryside Access

Officer Arthur McEwan-James was with

us. We filled four of the HIPPOBAGs that

he brought along. These come flat-packed

and are collected later.

Photos: Avril Ansen, Dave Cavanagh

Wherever you manage to walk in the coming months , hopefully you will see some of the blooms on this and the next page.

cranesbill

All photographed in Oxfordshire byDave Cavanagh

hogweed

yellow iris

birdsfoot trefoil

greater knapweed

marsh thistle

bugle

mignonette

common field speedwell herb Robert, my summer favourite, which occupies the twilight zone between sun and shade.

Feet up

Tommy Cooper jokes

I recently decided to sell my vacuum cleaner. All it

was doing was gathering dust.

So I said to the taxi driver, 'King Arthur's Close'. He

said, 'Don't worry, we'll lose him at the next set of

lights.'

I stayed up all night and tried to figure out where

the sun was. Then it dawned on me.

Police are hunting the 'knitting needle nutter' who

has stabbed 6 people. They believe he could be

following some kind of pattern.

I saw an ad in a shop window that said “Television

for Sale – £1- Volume Stuck On Full”. I thought: “I

can’t turn that down”.

Our ice cream man was found lying on the floor of

his van covered with hundreds and thousands.

Police say that he topped himself.

I got fired from my job at the bank. An old lady

asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her

over.

Upper crustSaw some lard in our fridge. It occurred to me that

the upper classes wouldn’t just have lard; they’d

have lar di da.

I thank you.

Answer to question on cover page Who wrote this, and in which book?

Bill Bryson, in The Road to Little Dribbling: more

notes from a small island (2015).

If you could live on only one road,

this might be it. Photo: John Gordon