The Ridgeway - Day 5 Nuffield Common to Lewknor.
It's 25th July and it’s been 6 long weeks since our last Ridgeway adventure. What experiences were waiting for us? The season would have moved on. The poppies died back, the crops ripened, and the landscape bleached after the heatwave in the interim. Despite having trodden this stretch many times before, the unfolding day was uncertain, but what I knew for sure was this was a much needed experience. A particular word was ringing in my ears - Biophilia. We needed to experience that love of nature with all our senses. The best restorative remedy.
We picked up the Ridgeway near Nuffield Place and straight away we were overcome with a sense of release as we dropped down into beech wood, finding ourselves enshrouded in shades of green, calming but also revitalising as the leaves fluttered in the breeze. It was a magical start. We had turned off the main road where we were parked and then straight through a ramblers gate into this enchanted place. It was like as if we had opened the wardrobe door and fought our way through the hanging clothes to the back and into Narnia. The transformation was sudden and shocking but in a good way.
After a short walk down through the woodland we found ourselves in a different land. A bright world. We parted the curtains of mauve chicory to find ourselves in fields of gold with the path stretching out ahead and our world opening up before us giving a sense of optimism.
We halted before venturing out into the open, stopping to to enjoy this unexpected encounter. These gorgeous blooms. Then beyond this curtain we were confronted with the bleached, blond landscape. Michala defined this appropriately as the Scandinavian blond as she touched the silky barley with heads bent and strangely reminiscent of birds of paradise flowers. Paradise this surely was.
Then setting off across the fields in a fine mizzle, we welcomed the smell and touch, like a natural cleanser on our skin. There was no attempt to take cover under raincoats as we embraced the experience. However, we found shelter as we entered another woodland leading us into the Ewelme Park estate which, I know from previous ventures, overlooks fabulous views. However today the view was behind a fine veil of mist and rain.
On we continued dropping down the steep slopes of another estate, that of Syncombe House and its ornamental trees, arriving at St Botoloph’s Church. I have frequented the churchyard on a regular basis, particularly in February when there is a fabulous array of snowdrops and aconites. Unlike the churches of Berkshire, we found this church open to visitors. I particularly wanted to show Michala the unusual stained glass window of the RAF biplane.
Syncombe holds a special place in my heart as here, in 2016, was the birth of my inspiration to write about my walks. In the churchyard I happened upon a church warden who, on hearing that I was walking the Ridgeway, said that I should write about my walk and suggested I might find inspiration in a wonderful writer by the name of Llewelyn Powys who wrote essays about his wanderings in a compilation called ‘Earth Memories’. His writings highlighted to me the restorative value of walking and exploring and immersing oneself in the sights, sounds and smells of the outdoors. Through Llewelyn Powys I found I could bring that joy into the home by reading of other writers’ experiences of the landscape on days when I could not find the time to venture out.
Leaving the church we climbed up along the edge of Swyncome Down where we encountered our first group of walkers as they ambled along the narrow path between the grasses. We slowed our pace so as not to startle them and every so often another would appear in a brief panic as we approached their place of cover. It was a group of about eight young pheasants, not yet displaying the exotic plumage of their elders. Their tails suggested they were under six weeks old. We were amazed at how long they stayed on the path ahead of us before making a break for cover in the woods.
We followed the edge of the harvested fields of wheat lined with sprigs of rosebay willowherb, a pretty pink flower with anti-inflammatory properties often brewed as a bedtime beverage on account of its calming, sedative nature.
Leaving the grassy paths we joined a path of bright flintstone almost blinding as the sun reflected off the pale surface, any hint of rain long gone. The terrain changed again, with the aroma of wild thyme in the air and we were not the only ones enjoying our free range life.
The way became flat as we followed the path below the hills of Watlington, Shirburn and the gorgeous nature reserve of Aston Rowant, the breeze taking away any traffic noise as we neared the M40. Up beyond us we enjoyed the sight of a father with children in tow hopefully setting them up for a sense of appreciation of what a life outdoors can offer.
Our 10 mile walk was coming to a close and after a slightly damp start the day remained dry despite the dramatic skies of metallic grey beyond the green hills and the fields of gold.
To read about our 6th day along The Ridgeway National Trail click on the link below: