Aynho Long Walk 16th October 2014
I was back from a week’s holiday to lead the walk on one of the few warm sunny days of the month so far. We welcomed Judith from the Kings Sutton and Brackley walks. There were fourteen walkers today. We set off down Green Lane which was quite soft underfoot but much improved from the levelling out undertaken over the spring and summer. We turned left at the bottom of the lane and passed across the back of the farm and residential buildings and onto the tarred track up to the lay-by on the B4100. To our concern, we saw a notice that the landowners had applied to deny public access to this Right of Way, and we will be taking this up with the Rights of Way dept at Northampton. We crossed the B4100 safely and followed the bridleway up to Station Road. Directly across was Millers Lane which we followed all the way into Souldern. The ford was not very deep but we skirted round it for those without waterproof footwear. We walked through Souldern Village to the pond before turning down the road past the church and the sewage works. The path alongside was somewhat overgrown and the stile into the meadow at the end rather tricky to get over. We all managed and continued across the meadow towards the autumnal trees in the wood, climbed the steep track and continued through Portway and back to the pavilion. The usual delightful refreshments awaited, thanks to Anita, and we sat out in the sunshine to enjoy our coffee and lemon drizzle cake.