The text and routes in these mapping apps are based on content in my blog where you can find the updated versions of the routes and notes on the landscape, history and things to watch out for. Link www.pootler.co.uk.
This route mostly uses minor roads to tour the Eastern Cotswolds, an area lived in and loved by well-to-do ‘nobs and yobs’. It takes in some lovely countryside, chocolate box villages, sights to see and some political and celebrity gossip.
It starts from Charlbury on the River Evenlode and runs northwards through higher ground to Chipping Norton before crossing a river valley to visit the famous Rollright Stones. From there it continues through Hook Norton, home of the eponymous brewery, and Great Tew, the epicentre of the rural celebrity wonderland. From there, it turns south and generally downwards, back through Stonesfield and the along the Evenlode Valley to return to Charlbury. The hills are numerous but not steep. There is one small but irritating stretch of off-road. See the Route Notes at the end of this summary.
Zooming In
Highlights are:
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David Cameron’s house, the location of the notorious ‘kitchen suppers’.
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Chipping Norton, with its relics of old industry and a surprising new one.
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The petrified Kings / Rollright Stones neolithic monument
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Hook Norton’s quaint old brewery. And lovely beer.
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The Dorn River Valley, home of ‘Butlin’s for Toffs’ and Top Gear.
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The usual sprinkling of oddities.
On the blog, there are detailed notes on waypoints and things to see. If your mapping app has not imported these, use this link to go directly to the blog post of the route. I hope these will be more entertaining than the links to dry Wikipedia articles dredged up as POI’s by the mapping apps’ software robots. This cannot give you the exact location for each waypoint but it many cases you won’t need it and at least the information will be up to date!
Link Pootler Route
Zooming Out
The bedrock here is typically Oolitic Limestone, a stone formed from small ball-shaped 'ooliths' (or egg stones), stuck together by lime mud and formed when calcium carbonate is deposited over sand grains on a shallow sea floor. This would have happened some 150m or more years ago in the Jurassic period. It is rich in fossils but in many places and in particular around the valleys, the limestone is buried under a thick layer of clay. If you want to know more about that check this link: Cotswold Landscape
As you would expect the landscape was folded, dissected by rivers, eroded and generally mucked about a lot in subsequent eras as this part of the earth's crust enjoyed a world cruise while the climate changed on a scale that dwarfs our present pre-occupations. If you are interested there is a proper description here: Link: Cotswold Geology
This area is generally good farming country. One particularity of the Cotswolds is Cornbrash, a loose rubble soil which forms on limestone and apparently provides a nice place to grow corn. This is described by the Oxford Geology Group as “bioclastic wackestone and packstone with sporadic peloids; generally and characteristically intensely bioturbated and consequently poorly bedded”. So, if anyone asks you, now you know.
The area has deep history. Stone Age people left their 'barrow' graves all over the place. The Rollright Stones, which are on the route, straddle both the stone and bronze ages and also lie on a network of Roman roads which are still followed in many places today. Throughout, sheep farming was a major activity even though the southern part of the ride was originally within the boundary of the Wychwood Forest. It suffered along with everywhere else from the travails of the 1300’s but thereafter played in a big part in the medieval wool trade.
The enclosures were the next major cause of change in the landscape. These started out being organised locally but later on could be arranged through an Act of Parliament The process continued into Victorian times. But the landscape (and the views of much of the populace) didn’t lend itself to the sweeping imposition of rationalised pattern of large rectangular fields and straight roads found in the wide valleys, and while there is evidence remains refreshingly varied.
Ethnologically, this remote area is now inhabited by the 'Toffs' tribe who don't have much communication with modern society and who are of great interest to sociologists, anthropologists, gossip columnists and paparazzi. ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ (which is close Dave Cameron’s farm on the route but is not on it) is not on a direct line of descent from the rural forefathers!
On the blog you will also find posts on the rich and complicated human and topographical history of the area as a whole, ranging from the early occupation, the changing agricultural landscape, the geomorphology of the chalk country, the buildings and anything else that moves me.
Link Pootler : Other Stuff
Route Tips
If your app provides notes on the road surfaces etc. keep in mind that they are automatically generated and only as good as the underlying mapping. The only problem you might wish to avoid here is a short stretch of Woodland footpath after you have left Great Tew and crossed the River Dorn. The minor road runs out beyond the airfield. I reckon the ‘views’ make it worth the walk! If you don’t, there are easy alternatives. Consult your map.
