Seven Shires Way Day 1 - Monday 27 July. Cornwell to Traitor’s Ford

Walking 9.50am to 7.40pm

Distance walked 21 miles
Distance left 211 miles

The SSW is a 232 mile circular walk, more or less following the boundary of Oxfordshire. I joined it at Cornwell although the guide book starts it at the Four Shires Stone, about a mile east of Moreton-in-Marsh.

From Cornwell, I followed a single track road to cross the A436 towards Chastleton, the path crossing Chastleton Barrow, an ancient fort, although there’s nothing to see. Then down the lane past the church and NT Chastleton House. My navigation went rather haywire near Chastleton Glebe and when I met a road I managed to turn right instead of left.

The Four Shires Stone has a county name engraved on each side - Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. This was originally where the four counties met but the Worcestershire boundary is now quite a distance away.

I had a lunch stop on a bench in a tiny, well cared for fences paddock  In it is the grave of a local farmer who died in 1994 aged 30. There is also another grave, possibly of his mother who died in 2015. A beautiful spot.

Field paths and a track took me to Barton-on-the-Heath. High deer fences protecting a deer farm. I took a photo of a magnificent antlered stag. He was sitting only a few yards away and looked at me disdainfully.

On to Little Rollright comprising a tiny church and a Manor House and associated buildings. I stopped to talk to a chap on the path who happened to own the manor. The Rollright Stones were nearby although I only saw the Whispering Knights before entering the beautiful Neolithic Echoes sculptured woodland.

Skirting Great Rollright, field paths to Ascott and then some quiet road walking. I had planned to camp along Ditchedge Lane, a long bridleway but it came on to rain heavily so I dived into woodland just before Traitor’s Ford to pitch for the night.

It rained on and off for much of the day but the forecast is better for the rest of the week.