Nuffield - Grim's Ditch - Hailey - Homer Farm

16 Aug 2005

• Total distance : 7 miles, including three on metalled or gravel surface.
• Start point : Nuffield Church, SU 667874. Nuffield is just off the A4130 between Henley and Wallingford.
• Weather : Warm and sunny.
• Temperature at start 24C.
• Muddiness rating (*=dry, *****=awful) * No problem, at least in August.
• People passed : Four people and a handful of vehicles.
• Camera : Olympus C-5060W. Images taken before deletions = 57.

A walk in the country infuses the soul with a zen-like sense of tranquillity which, in my experience, can be approximately doubled by choosing a day when everyone else is at work. So I set out for Nuffield, an unexceptional little Oxfordshire village but a convenient base for exploring the open, largely uninhabited land in the triangle formed by Wallingford, Nettlebed and Goring.

Following the Ridgeway Path (a modern invention which isn't the same as the ancient track now known as the Ridgeway, which lies to the west) I was soon walking along Grim's Ditch.

This man-made embankment appears all over the UK, from Yorkshire down into the West country. Clearly this begs some questions, like who was Grim? Was it a nickname, or clearly spelled out on his birth certificate? Why was he such a fan of ditches? And what were they for? The answers are frankly rather disappointing. Turns out there wasn't a Grim, but "grim" was a term used by Anglo Saxons to describe artefacts of uncertain origin ....which of course means the ditch predates them. The concensus is that it was either a boundary between tribal people or - in the case of the sections along the Chilterns (there's another stretch up near Ivinghoe Beacon) - a boundary between the lower arable pastures and the grazing land higher up. The three mile section leading west from Nuffield is not only well preserved, mainly wooded with fine beeches and ashes giving way to conifers and larches, but it's pretty and photographically appealing at all times of the year because the wooded area is narrow enough to allow in plenty of light.

I turned from the path onto a lightly-used road, which in turn gave way to another famous path, the Icknield Way. Less feted than the Ridgeway, it's thought to be an even older route. It follows roughly the line of the Chiltern escarpment, and having walked both paths (in both directions, sad or what) I think the Icknield Way is the better walk, if only because most of it is below the hills and hence offers the Chilterns as a backdrop. Mountains are usually more impressive from below. Confusingly the "Ridgeway Path", which includes all the original Ridgeway, includes bits of the Icknield Way too.

I rejoined the road and walked into the hamlet of Hailey. The only vehicles on the road were conveying perplexed grandparents wondering why little Darren and Kylie on the back seat preferred to scowl into their Gameboys rather than fall about with excitement at the sight of the sheep and horses thereabouts, or even at the luckless specimens at the Well Place bird zoo nearby.

The day was hot, I was thirsty and my ankle had started to ache, so arrival at the King William IV pub in Hailey was a joy. This fine Brakspears house is hard to find but has an excellent reputation for food and a wonderful view - probably the best of any Chilterns pub (see left).

Unburdening myself of my rucksack and walking stick I asked for a pint of best.

"We're shut" replied the otherwise charming young woman behind the bar. Evidently she was mistaken as I'd just walked in, past several imbibing customers. But I could already see where this was going. She confirmed my suspicion by nodding towards the clock. I just didn't have the energy to lay before her the inescapable facts, namely that I had money and I wanted beer, while she had beer and presumably wanted money.

I muttered a few blasphemous assessments of our inane licensing laws, shouldered my pack, and clumped out. As I did so a young French family was coming in. I felt an overwhelming need to distance myself from the toe-curling scene about to unfold and broke into a limping scuttle up the hill, and into the woods.

Click here for map > GrimsditchMap

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RodBird - 10 Sep 2005.