{"id":"6984795d533dbb4b73118a14","title":"Walk 200 Christmas Common At Christmas Time","path":"walks/scrapbook/by-year/2015/volume-14-oct-to-dec-2015/walk-200-christmas-common-at-christmas-time","contentMarkdown":"# 🥾 Walk 200 - Christmas Common at Christmas Time\n\nOn the fourth day of Christmas, seventeen of us gathered at the free car park at Christmas Common. Our last walk of 2015, and our two-hundredth walk since the Berkshire Weekend Walkers was formed, was led by Christine.\n\nAlthough we'd had a lot of rain over Christmas, it was dry and sunny, although it wasn't very dry underfoot! The unusually warm weather we've had this autumn and winter meant that there were some daffodils flowering by the roadside, in December! After a bit of chat about what sort of Christmases we'd all had, we started the walk by heading east through Blackmoor Wood, then briefly joining the Chiltern Way on its way to Ibstone Common.\n\n![Walking through Blackmoor Wood.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume14/images/christmas_common1.jpg)\n\nWe turned northward before reaching Ibstone and made our way through fields and woodland to Lower Vicar's Farm. From there we turned westward and headed uphill, past Upper Vicar's Farm before stopping for lunch at some picnic tables overlooking Aston Rowant nature reserve.\n\nAfter lunch we crossed the nature reserve and picked up the Ridgeway at a point where it is also known as the Swan's Way. We followed this south-west until it crossed the Oxfordshire Way, which we joined heading south-east, back to Christmas Common village. Some of us stopped for a drink at the village pub, which was incredibly busy, before heading back to the car park. See our route on Bing Maps.\n\n![Ascending from Lower Vicar's Farm to Upper Vicar's Farm.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume14/images/christmas_common2.jpg)\n\n## 📸 Back to Volume 14\n\nReturn to volume index","contentHtml":"<h1>🥾 Walk 200 - Christmas Common at Christmas Time</h1>\n<p>On the fourth day of Christmas, seventeen of us gathered at the free car park at Christmas Common. Our last walk of 2015, and our two-hundredth walk since the Berkshire Weekend Walkers was formed, was led by Christine.</p>\n<p>Although we&#39;d had a lot of rain over Christmas, it was dry and sunny, although it wasn&#39;t very dry underfoot! The unusually warm weather we&#39;ve had this autumn and winter meant that there were some daffodils flowering by the roadside, in December! After a bit of chat about what sort of Christmases we&#39;d all had, we started the walk by heading east through Blackmoor Wood, then briefly joining the Chiltern Way on its way to Ibstone Common.</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume14/images/christmas_common1.jpg\" alt=\"Walking through Blackmoor Wood.\"></p>\n<p>We turned northward before reaching Ibstone and made our way through fields and woodland to Lower Vicar&#39;s Farm. From there we turned westward and headed uphill, past Upper Vicar&#39;s Farm before stopping for lunch at some picnic tables overlooking Aston Rowant nature reserve.</p>\n<p>After lunch we crossed the nature reserve and picked up the Ridgeway at a point where it is also known as the Swan&#39;s Way. We followed this south-west until it crossed the Oxfordshire Way, which we joined heading south-east, back to Christmas Common village. Some of us stopped for a drink at the village pub, which was incredibly busy, before heading back to the car park. See our route on Bing Maps.</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume14/images/christmas_common2.jpg\" alt=\"Ascending from Lower Vicar&#39;s Farm to Upper Vicar&#39;s Farm.\"></p>\n<h2>📸 Back to Volume 14</h2>\n<p>Return to volume index</p>\n"}