The Outer Aylesbury Ring is a total of 53 miles (86 km) passing through many picturesque villages and some of the most beautiful countryside around Aylesbury. The Aylesbury Ramblers have published an excellent series of 14 guides which describe the route, and some of the area’s history. The walk is very well sign posted.
We used my parents’ house in Aylesbury as a base for the walk in Easter 2019. They took us to the start of the day’s walk at the beginning of the day and collected us at the end from wherever we ended up. This was great; there was no obligation to set a specific length to any day’s walk.
Useful links
Day 1
We were taken to the start point by my parents, a car journey of less than 5 minutes. It was cool this morning, with quite a thick mist. We wore coats and fleeces, and there’ll be no pictures of the start of the walk.
We walked up into Wendover Woods and then down to the canal near Aston Clinton. From there we followed the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal to Marsworth, where we enjoyed a pint in The Red Lion PH.
Our lunch was a picnic by the canal at Ivinghoe Locks. By now the weather was considerably warmer, we had no more need of a coat.
Our original intention was to finish at Mentmore. We arrived in the village at 3:30pm; the pub was shut and there was nowhere to buy water, so we walked on. We managed to drink from a tap attached to a water trough by the way after we left the village.
We arrived at Wing for a pint in The Cock Inn while waiting for our lift back to Aylesbury. The total distance covered today was around 16½ miles and proved not to be to hard.
Using OS maps on the phone all day was enough to run the phone’s battery completely out. We should have bought a portable battery charger for the phone. We will be more conservative in the use of the phone in the next stages.
Day 2
We were given a lift to the church at Wing and we were walking by 09:15. It was a lot warmer today, we were glad we had the courage to walk without carrying our coats.
We missed the path a few times today, which highlights the need to carry an OS map as well as the guide. As yesterday, we used OS maps on the phone.
The morning’s walk ended at The Black Boy PH in Oving. This community owned pub boasts spectacular views of the surrounding countryside.
From Oving, we walked to North Marston where we ate our packed lunch by the village pond. The walk is proving to be a demonstration of beautiful Buckinghamshire villages.
During the afternoon we saw many Red Kite overhead.
The views from Quainton Hill are quite impressive.
We arrived at The Long Dog PH (Waddesdon) by 16:45. That completes 31 miles of the walk, well over half way.
Day 3
The phone we were using for navigation wouldn’t turn on this morning. A busy period printing the relevant OS maps for the day on my parents’ printer. Never rely on technology, paper maps do not fail or run out of batteries.
It was very warm today; no need for a fleece or extra layers.
Today’s walk felt as though there was more road walking than previous days.
We were not as fast as the last 2 days. We enjoyed a pint in The Bell PH in Chearsley, then another after lunch in The King’s Head PH in Haddenham. We then walked as far as Tiggywinkles Wildlife hospital, arriving there around 3:00pm. We only walked 10 miles today, leaving us around 12 tomorrow.
Day 4
We were back to yesterday’s end point and walking by around 9:00am.
The path was generally well signed, but today we came across a sign pointing the wrong way. Our hesitancy made us ask some other walkers for orientation. They weren’t aware of the O.A.R. but gave us enough confidence to ignore the sign and be thankful for our map!
There is a huge amount of house building going on in this area; quite different to the situation in our own home town.
Once again, today’s weather is warm; sun hat and glasses with no need for coats and layers. Much of today’s walk was spent in the Chilterns and used the Ridgeway LDP. It was beautiful walking with fantastic views. There were many Red Kite to be seen in the air today.
We enjoyed a pint in The Plough PH in Lower Cadsdean before looking for a lunch stop in the shade.
The monument at Combe Hill was particularly busy with tourists.
We arrived in Wendover, the end of our walk, and were in The Red Lion PH by 4:30pm.
Today, we came across some walkers walking The Ridgeway using Contour Holidays. A lot of the OAR uses other LDPs: South Bucks Way, Thane Valley Walk, Mathew’s Way, Swan Way and, of course, The Ridgeway.