Clifton (Track Walk)

This time me and my sister Jennifer went to take the

dogs out at Clifton. We drove towards the railway

bridge and parked up in the lay-by just in front of it from Aynho. After we parked up I got out of the car to get my boots on and there was a very bad smell in the air. After I got my boots on we went in to a VERY muddy track next to the embankment with the railway on and a thin amount of trees between us and the railway. A bit further on we found the viaduct I wanted to find. We walked up to it to take a closer look looking along the side of the arches it looks like it stretched infinitively. Looking at the arches we saw through the holes leading to the end of the viaduct. We walked along the side and saw the arches are numbered and a bit further along found a bit of rail and had a look round the forest on the other side quickly. We saw some ivy through one of the holes and it looked picture perfect when we went as far as we could because we was stopped by a fence and turned back and went the way we came in and carried along the foot path and saw a very nice little river we came up to a 3 point junction in the foot path. Then Jennifer wanted to turn back so we did.When we got back

 to the car I decided to carry on to the Great Western Arms pub (OX17 3PB) great service and very nice people and bit further down the drive to GWA you can buy an ice cream just outside the wharf. Great Western Arms website http://www.great-westernarms.co.uk/contact.html

Google Maps: 51.988597,-1.273304

GPS: N 51 59.316 W 001 16.398 

OS Grid Reference: SP 500 325 

Helmdon Viaduct (Ironstone Track Walk)

For my first post I thought I'd put on a viaduct. It was a big surprise when me and my mum first arrived we couldn't see this enormous viaduct because you're completely blind to see whats over the small hill.

Floyd had a bit of a problem trying to get over the first stile but he is quite a big dog Lucy the small dog just jumped through the fence. It is a very easy walk if you don't want to get on top of the viaduct. We walked underneath it first,  It is a shame about the graffiti all over the bottom of the pillars and on the inside of the walls on top. I took a lot of pictures unfortunately it was my mobile I took pictures on so some aren't very good but bare with me. As I walked under one of the enormous arches I felt small compared to the pillar I stood next to.  

 The structure looked magnificent almost scary. After a good look around we got on top of the viaduct by climbing up the slope by the most left pillar there is an easier way up by following the footpath until you come to a gate and turn left just follow the track from thereand looked around it was very wide which I didn't expect and there's a few small brick pillars running along the middle. We carried on along the track heading North.

When we walked for about 10 minutes we found a small hut probably used for storage for emergency use or a security hut the window frames are still there we had a look inside and it is very ruined not much to see here. So we carried on avoiding the marsh and heading for the next bridge.A bit further down the walk we saw two massive arrows made of loose stone and its very odd i had a look to where there pointing and there's nothing. We got to the second bridge it is very nice looking very wide arches and still in use for access in to Helmdon.

We walked back to the car after we got here because we couldn't go any further and some way along the route we went along the offical footpath. At the bottom of this post I'll just put on some more pics and a Ordnance Survey map of the walk. Ive highlighted the route with a black line me and my mum took. These Co-ordinates might come in handy as well they both lead to the start of the walk and you might want to park on the side of the road
Google Maps: 52.088,-1.145602 (Just copy and paste in to google maps)
Sat Nav: N52 05.280 W001 08.736.