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The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009
It has been customary for many years for the Banbury and North Oxfordshire group to walk on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, but this year we started before Christmas and filled in the gaps. Other Oxfordshire walkers may have noticed from the winter programme that the B&NO group had walks scheduled every day from 23rd December 2009 to 3rd January 2010, varying in length from four to ten miles, a distance of 85 miles in total over a geographical spread involving Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire.
The weather conditions overall were dreadful with snow and ice making getting to the start of the walks hazardous and the walking itself difficult. However, despite this being the worst winter in the UK for 30 plus years only one walk had to be cancelled - a brave effort in the circumstances.
There were six walk leaders; four leading one walk each, with the lion’s share going to James Tipping with five and Peter Offord with three. 150 walkers participated, the highest turnout being 37 with many turning up on several occasions.
Despite the usual family commitments, there were eight walkers on Christmas Day. This walk started at Woodstock, continued via Combe and returned through Blenheim Park. Walking in the snow on that day whilst the rest of the world appeared to be asleep was a special experience; the walk was followed by mulled wine and mince pies at a very hospitable local pub.
The general consensus is that the series of walks was successful and thoroughly enjoyed and The Twelve Days of Christmas will become a regular feature in the Banbury and North Oxfordshire programme.

Yorkshire, June 2009
It felt like the hottest day of the year when on 1st June 2009 five intrepid B&NO Ramblers tackled the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge. Having made the decision to buck the trend and do the route the 'wrong' way round, Ingleborough at 723 metres presented no problem other than a bit of a scramble downhill and the team were soon replacing their water supplies from the back up car, well ahead of schedule. Whernside at 736m posed a bit more of a challenge and the steep incline required a bit more effort but they were still on schedule to complete the 3 Peaks in well under the 12 hour limit when they stopped for lunch by the roadside with only Pen-y-ghent to go. The decision to go against the flow of traffic made it difficult to keep to a path on the long slog between Whernside and Pen-y-ghent (694m). The hard going on soft tufty grass, heather and bog, when added to the intense heat and no shade, gave Peter, Jim, Mike, Bob and Mary a thoroughly testing time and it was with huge relief that they made it to the top and reached the downward path. After a brief stop to take on water they picked up the pace and practically jogged into Horton to complete the walk in less than 11 hours to everyone's satisfaction: a very respectable time given the heat and conditions underfoot. The good weather held up for the majority of the 7 day trip to Yorkshire and our group of 9 ramblers enjoyed walks including the Ingleton waterfalls trail, which follows the Rivers Twiss and Doe along a spectacular series of waterfalls. There was also a visit to Malham Cove, a curved crag of carboniferous limestone formed after the last ice age and standing some 80 metres high and 300 metres wide. The cove face is noticeable for its horizontal ledges on one of which a pair of peregrine falcon had nested and were busily feeding their three chicks. A rare and wonderful sight. A highlight of the Yorkshire trip was a visit to Swaledale and the walk from Muker to Keld which is in the latest Ramblers walk book. The meadows down to the river were at their spectacular best - be sure to visit in early June - and bluebells and primroses were still out as we walked up Swinner Gill. Hard to believe that this idyllic farming country was once the centre of a thriving lead mining industry that had its origins in the Roman era. Towards the end of the week the weather turned wet and blustery and dropped from the highs of 26 degrees plus down to a cold and miserable 6 but we'd had a wonderful few days of great weather and marvellous scenery. Our thanks to Peter for another brilliant trip.

Bamburgh, Northumberland, April 2009
Over 1200 years after the first Viking raid on the north east coast of England, an invasion of a different and more peaceful kind took place. A merry band of 13 Banbury & North Oxfordshire Ramblers took the motorway north on Good Friday 2009 through teeming rain and leaden skies to the beautiful coastal village of Bamburgh and the Sunningdale hotel.
I know it was over 1200 years since the Viking raids, because on the wall in the Parish church of St Mary the Virgin on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne is a framed letter of apology from some Norwegians who visited in 1993 bringing the letter and a peace offering of a cast of King Olaf's head (the patron saint of Norway who forced the Norwegians to accept Christianity at the end of the 10th century). There is also a rather bemused letter from the church's minister saying they hadn't realised they were still at war with the Norwegians but were happy to accept the offer of peace.
Grey skies gave way to unbroken sunshine on Easter Saturday and we were soon stripping off the layers of clothing with which we'd come prepared for the 'frozen North' as we covered the 13miles back to Bamburgh from Craster along the beautiful coastline. We'd travelled there by local bus and those of us old enough to qualify for free bus travel smiled smugly whilst those youngsters among us had to pay for the privilege. There have to be some perks to passing 60!
Three days of wonderful weather, cloudless skies and warm temperatures enhanced our enjoyment of the "gloriously uncrowded golden sandy beaches, more castles than anywhere else in England and stunning countryside" (it says so on the official Visit Northumberland website and it's all true) all the more memorable.
The next couple of days came in misty and cold so we took the opportunity to explore the towns of Alnwick and Berwick on Tweed, and visited Holy Island crossing the causeway and taking heed of the graphic warnings on all lamp posts of a Honda SUV up to its door handles in water. Fortunately we re-grouped in time to make it back in the dry. The extra layers came into their own as the temperature nose dived and B&NO Ramblers took refuge in the welcoming pubs and coffee shops.
A walk in the rolling purple moorlands of the Northumberland National Park, home to the Cheviot Hills, took in the Breamish Valley near Ingram and the sites of ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age hill forts and enjoyed a return to better weather.
Bird watching on the estuary, gourmet meals in the hotel (the chef came from a Michelin starred restaurant and his cooking more than made up for some temperamental showers), games of strip Newmarket in the evenings (I made up the strip bit), and a stop on the way home at the Beamish working museum, which recreates how the people of the North of England lived and worked in the early eighteen and nineteen hundreds, made for a truly memorable week.
None of it would have been possible without Peter Offord who did all the hard work – booked the accommodation, planned the walks, drove the minibus and gave us all an Easter egg. Grateful thanks to Peter for making it all possible.
If you would like to experience for yourselves Peter's excellent leadership skills there are limited places on his next trip to the Yorkshire Peaks from 30th May to 6th June when he plans to tackle the 24 miles in 12 hours of the 3 Peaks Challenge. At the moment there are more of us providing back up than doing the Challenge, so more support would be very welcome!