SUMMARY: The Seven Shires Way is a 234 mile long walk around the Oxfordshire county boundary. It criss-crosses the boundary taking the walker into seven shires from Gloucestershire to Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire. The path passes through a wide variation of scenery: from the marlstone scarp slope of Edgehill in Warwickshire to the ironstone villages of North Oxforshire, the clay vale of Aylesbury, the beech woods of the Chiltern Hills, the riverbank of the Thames, the open downland of Berkshire and Cotswold villages in Gloucestershire. The book divides the walk into 21 sections, all of which have suggested access points for shorter distances, a list of useful accomodation and information about public transport. Each walk is accompanied by the relevant section of the Ordnance Survey map and is illustrated, giving archeological, historical, botanical and literary detail.
CONTENTS: The making of Oxfordshire - day one - Moreton-in-Marsh to Ascott - day two - Ascott to Edgehill - day three - Edgehill to Claydon - day four - Claydon to Middleton Cheney - day five - Middleton Cheney to Souldern - day six - Souldern to Finmere - day seven - Finmere to Ludgershall - day eight - Ludgershall to Waterperry - day nine - Waterperry to Henton - day ten - Henton to Northend - day eleven - Northend to Henley-on-Thames - day twelve - Henley-on-Thames to Tilehurst - day thriteen - Tilehurst to Moulsford - day fourteen - Moulsford to West Ilsley - day fifteen - West Ilsley to Fawley - day sixteen - Fawley to Ashdown House - day seventeen - Ashdown House to Sevenhampton - day eighteen - Sevenhampton to Southrop - day nineteen - Southrop to Great Barrington - day twenty - Great Barrington to Bledington - day twenty-one - Bledington to Moreton-in-Marsh .