Pete's Walks - Cross Bucks Way
Post-walk comments
I wasn’t too sure how much I’d enjoy the Cross Bucks Way, as I suspected it would be similar to the North Bucks Way which was the least enjoyable walk I’ve done so far (not that that was too bad, anyway!). But the Cross Bucks Way turned out to be a very pleasant walk which I really enjoyed. There was the minor irritation of paths having been planted over in a few places, especially on the first day, but this would probably be true of most walks at this time of year. Generally the way was well sign-posted, but as much of the route was across grass fields with no visible path care had to be taken with navigation, using the map to see where the stile was likely to be in the next field boundary.
The Cross Bucks Way was fairly flat, but with enough small ups and downs to prevent it from becoming boringly so. There were no big hills to ascend or descend at all. The route was almost entirely on farmland apart from a couple of small areas of scrubland, and didn’t pass through any woodland at all apart from one or two small belts of trees. The majority of fields it crossed were grass fields for livestock, although apart from a few horse paddocks and some fields with sheep I didn’t come across too much in the way of livestock, cattle being kept in pens at this time of year because the fields were too wet and muddy. Of course there was also one field with a small herd of Alpacas and some Wild Boar in an enclosure, too.
West door of Stewkley church (Day 3)
The Cross Bucks Way passed through some very pretty and interesting villages, and went by some impressive churches (the ones at Hillesden and Stewkley being particularly noteworthy). Stratton Audley was an attractive stone-built village from which to start the walk, Winslow had many interesting streets and buildings, Stewkley too had many fine buildings. There were other small hamlets and isolated dwellings that added interest to the walk.
So overall I thought the Cross Bucks Way was a good walk. Although there was nothing really outstanding (apart perhaps from Stewkley church, which was slightly off route), each of the three walks I did was enjoyable. Having spent several months over walking the Hertfordshire Way, the Cross Bucks Way was a nice short and easy challenge for me.