Ireland day 0907. Saturday 23 March 2024- London Day 7 *

Ireland day 0907. Saturday 23 March 2024- London Day 7

Today’s summary	After a very enjoyable and relaxing overnight stay in Oxfordshire with family, spent the morning on a good short walk in the Chiltern Hills, on a circuit near Chequers. Finished with a pub lunch at the Plough in Cadsden before starting the journey back to Malahide by train, train, train, plane and bus. Val coming back to Malahide next Wednesday. All in all a very successful few days away.
Today’s weather	Bright sunshine interspersed with heavy showers. Moderate to strong north westerly wind. Appx 8C

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Cadsden

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Today was my last day in the UK and I spent it staying overnight with family in Oxfordshire. Overall it’s been a very successful trip. I’ve met more or less all of the friends I wanted to catch up with, had a successful hip check (so far – because I still need to get the blood test results), and caught up with some of the family.

This morning, after a relatively early (for me) breakfast, we decided to drive the short distance to Cadsden to fit in a short circular walk back in the Chiltern hills. It turned out to be an extremely enjoyable walk. It wasn’t as muddy as Monday’s walk, and the weather was more or less ok. We did get hit by a few minutes’ cold hard rain but fortunately I had a lightweight waterproof jacket with me, so managed to stay reasonably dry.

The walk came in at about 10km, which was just long enough to finish in time for a pub lunch at the Plough Inn at Cadsden. This pub is close to the UK Prime Minister’s country retreat at Chequers. It has a slightly notorious history because PM David Cameron managed to forget his children and leave them behind in the pub on one lunchtime visit. It was also where Cameron and Chinese premier Xi Jinping cemented the start of a now long since departed golden age of Anglo-Chinese collaboration over a pint of IPA in 2016.

Anyway lunch was quickly despatched and it was soon time to start the journey back to Malahide. A combination of train, train, train, plane and bus worked smoothly enough and I was back in the flat by late evening.

Now as soon as I have unpacked I need to start getting organised for tomorrow. There’s a walking club outing to the Glen of the Downs, and I need to get all my things together ready for an early start. Val has some more commitments in London and will be joining me back in Malahide on Wednesday. It’s all go, again!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Setting out on the Ridgeway from Cadsden	This gate was donated by the Long Distance Walkers’ Association – I used to sit on the leadership team of this club

Looking out from Whiteleaf Hill. there’s a carved white symbol of obscure origins on the hillside below this point	Curious bright yellow fungi on dead wood – probably Ash – it’s being strategically cleared to get read of Ash Dieback disease

The Plough at Cadsden	Driving Van Trailer first – the train back to London this afternoon

On the top of Whiteleaf Hill