Christmas Common

11th December

There’s a pithy C S Lewis quote (from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) that I love …

‘Always Winter but never Christmas’

Hope’s an essential component of being human, particularly relevant at this time of year. Time to go where it’s always Christmas! No one seems to know how Christmas Common got its name. Theories abound but I like to think it’s because they have a better perspective on life round these parts.

This was not the weather we were planning for. With a forecast cloudless day we’d anticipated crisp, frosty fields and icy puddles for our walk around Christmas Common. Instead the unseasonably warm weather made this more like an early autumn stroll. It’s hard to believe this is the second week of December!

We park up in the car park just outside the village. We’ve brought Hannah with us today. It’s an early start for her. She’s already been to church with us and now we’re out in the Chilterns. It soon becomes clear that she’s the only one who knows how to operate our camera. Any good pictures below are hers…the rest are mine. All in all a humbling experience!

I really enjoyed this walk. Parts of it we’ve walked before but here we linked them up into a new walk. The climb down Watlington Hill and back up Shirburn Hill are the only hills of note and there was some beautiful winter’s light as we walked through Cowleaze Wood, which Hannah’s pictures managed to capture. This was a 8.5 mile walk, 3 hrs 45mins. Slower than normal but Hannah was taking the pictures!

Coordinates for Satnav: N51° 38.182′ W0° 58.509′

Distance: 8.5 miles; Difficulty: Moderate