The fields of North Oxfordshire - this one mercifully without heavy mud

... around Hook Norton, to Swerford, Wigginton, South Newington, Barford and Deddington.

We appreciated the welcoming pubs (special mentions for the Pear Tree at Hook Norton with its wide range of Hook Norton beers and The Unicorn at Deddington for its friendly atmosphere and good Sunday lunch).

We liked the golden stone of these small villages and their churches - notably the wall paintings at South Newington church which we were unable to get access to except by peeking through the window.

It was our own fault for walking in November and though the weather wasn't bad in the main, the going underfoot was very heavy, or as they say in the north-east "claggy". I couldn't help but think of the Somme as I stumbled on with increasingly heavy lumps of clay on my boots.

None of this was helped by local farmers who have ploughed their fields without leaving any signs of the tracks our OS maps assure us are there.

Better signposting, please, Oxfordshire!