Bucks &amp; Oxon

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Phoebe Smith is a busy woman &#8211; as an award-winning adventurer, presenter, broadcaster, author, photographer, and speaker she gets around the world and when not on the road, hosts the <a href="https://www.phoebe-smith.com/wanderwomanpodcast" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wander Woman Podcast</a> and is Sleep Storyteller-in-Residence at Calm.com. She&#8217;s the author of ten books including one about extreme sleeping. Her latest is about walking holy trails, because walking is something she finds truly cathartic. From losing her mother as a teenager to surviving toxic relationships, eating disorders and depression, Phoebe&#8217;s been through the mill. Wayfarer, which was published last month, is a memoir about coping with these challenges and walking Britain’s ancient pilgrim paths as a non-religious person on a healing journey. It&#8217;s a glorious read, and here, Phoebe&#8217;s shared a little bit of the magic, giving Muddy the low down on her three favourite walks in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-st-birinus-way-blewbury-dorchester-on-thames">St Birinus Way: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.walkingworld.com/Articles/Walk-articles/St-Birinus.aspx__;!!F0Stn7g!CG0CNtst0P-myjISSYkx75WUl8llu0Dqzo0M1uzorifegOgdTcIi4ihIc_FMH_FayKAHKzTJgN6k95FnhUPBR_0lQKwkQv6V3jetmg$" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blewbury &#8211; Dorchester-on-Thames</a> </h2>



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Near to me in Oxfordshire is the St Birinus Pilgrimage, which at the time happened annually, beginning in the small Thameside village of Dorchester before making its way across the chalk downs for sixteen kilometres to a tumulus known as Churn Knob, the site where the eponymous saint had converted the King of Wessex from paganism to Christianity in 635 AD. The conversion seems to have been a strategic political move to persuade Oswald, the King of Northumbria, to ally with him to defeat the Mercians (who lived in the area now known as The Midlands).



I love how this walk was all about connecting people and places. I like to do it in reverse, starting in Blewbury and ending in Dorchester, with a stop at the Red Lion in Brightwell on the way. I&#8217;ve never been able to walk it without stopping and chatting to at least a handful of people. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-thames-path-abingdon-oxford"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/abingdon-abbey-via-river-thames-to-oxford__;!!F0Stn7g!CG0CNtst0P-myjISSYkx75WUl8llu0Dqzo0M1uzorifegOgdTcIi4ihIc_FMH_FayKAHKzTJgN6k95FnhUPBR_0lQKwkQv7FYgH4iw$" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thames Path: Abingdon &#8211; Oxford</a> </h2>



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Amid the resurgence in popularity of pilgrim paths, a reverend in the diocese of Oxford decided to mark the end of his ministry as bishop by inaugurating a ten-day route following the path on which I now find myself walking, which he named The Thames Pilgrim Way. It doesn’t start at the source of the river and it doesn’t end at the sea. Instead, it begins at the western edge of the diocese in Radcot, Oxfordshire, and finishes at the eastern boundary in Wraysbury, Berkshire. Along the way it passes a number of priories, cathedrals and churches. You can easily connect the start and finish by using the regular bus that runs between Abingdon and Oxford. 



This is such a special one for me, I took my son (on my back) to walk a 100 mile section of the path when I was living in Berkshire &#8211; I loved the Oxfordshire section so much I ended up moving here!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-john-bunyan-trail-bedford"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/bunyansbedford.weebly.com/bunyan-trail--other-walks.html__;!!F0Stn7g!CG0CNtst0P-myjISSYkx75WUl8llu0Dqzo0M1uzorifegOgdTcIi4ihIc_FMH_FayKAHKzTJgN6k95FnhUPBR_0lQKwkQv47QM2mSA$" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Bunyan Trail &#8211; Bedford</a></h2>



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In 1995, The Pilgrim’s Progress became the basis for another idea: a walk. To celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Ramblers Association (a British charity that works to protect pathways in the countryside to ensure walking is an activity open to all) the local Bedfordshire group decided to waymark and produce a guide to a route they called the John Bunyan Trail, named after the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. The idea was that it would take in beautiful parts of the county, all with historical links to the local author, transposing the real places he would have frequented and doubtlessly been inspired by with those he plucked from his imagination and inserted into the pages of his tome. All this could be done succinctly over 131 kilometres.



When I walked this trail several years ago, I was in denial about being a pilgrim but, after wandering in the real places taken from the pages of a writer&#8217;s book &#8211; Delectable Mountains, Vanity Fair, and Doubting Castle &#8211; I realised the power of returning to my roots. If I wanted to walk forward, I needed to first revisit the past. It taught me a lot.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="769" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-29T160955.837-769x1000.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-160548" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-29T160955.837-769x1000.jpg 769w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-29T160955.837-615x800.jpg 615w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-29T160955.837-308x400.jpg 308w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-29T160955.837.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px" /></figure>



Want to check out some more of Phoebe&#8217;s walks? <a href="https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/wayfarer-love-loss-and-life-on-britains-ancient-paths-phoebe-smith?variant=40291476045902" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wayfarer: Love, Loss and Life on Britain’s Ancient Paths</a>, is out in hardback now. It&#8217;s published by HarperNorth and costs £16.99.

Author Phoebe Smith’s 3 favourite walks near Bucks & Oxon

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