Five new walkers joined us today, boosting our long walk to a record twenty one walkers and they couldn’t have chosen a better day. The weather was perfect, lovely sunshine and warm but not hot. We set off down the Portway path towards Souldern but branched off up to the B4100 and crossed into Upper Aynho Grounds. The owners had kindly given us special permission to take the track down to the lakes away from the public footpath. Waterbirds abounded, a family of swans stood on the opposite bank eyeing us warily. The autumnal trees reflected their colours in the still water. We crossed the two bridges to the far side of the lake and followed the track back to the public path. Unfortunately there was a fence which had not been there previously so we had to cross to the path with care. We’ll know in future. We climbed through the woods of Warren Farm and emerged into a recently ploughed field. On the far side, over the gate were a pair of inquisitive horses. We followed the path down to Mill Lane and then back to the ford and through the woodland walk to the back of Croughton Village. The Church was covered in scaffolding as we passed through the churchyard and up into the village. The road by the school led us up to the fields and at the top of the rise the valley and the ridge beyond looked wonderful in the autumn sunshine. We continued out to the lane and then took the path off to the right which led us up to Camp Farm. We skirted below the Camp as the usual route to the ridge is now fenced off. Instead we walked up the far side of the Camp Farm field and then joined the track along the ridge and thence back to the pavilion. The refreshments were particularly welcome as we sat outside in the sunshine after 6.7 miles.