Just 1 on this walk today. Reader, I was that Billy NoMates. (I thought I'd kept it quiet I was going on this one but word must have got out).

Weather was blowy overcast mostly but some sun no rain Did the shortcut so dinner was a quick half in the Old Fisherman. I was at the front of the group today. But also at the back.

As I'm sure you'll agree, I’m a cheery chappy, not given to grumbling … but I have to say that I agree with earlier comments about the second half of this walk.

At first, this involves crossing a stretch of land festooned with multiple electric fences that require unhooking to get through. Some of the many gates had two such hooks on each side, four in all – what for? – Was the only inhabitant (a disinterested horse) a master of escape? Were the velociraptors in hiding? Or was it, implausible as it may sound, to discourage walkers?

This was followed by an endless succession of similar not very interesting fields. This induced an attack of RFS (repetitive field syndrome) in me - where you lose track of which field you do something different in and it’s always the next one anyway. The only excitement in this series was a large field where you can’t see the gap at the other side. It’s been recently planted with no sign of the path so there might be a few less cabbages this winter.

Did this walk solo next day to avoid the rain. Fine and interesting as far as Ickford when the large fields began. Lovely thatched lunch pub (Clifden Arms) closed for refurbishment after being bought by three of its regulars, due to reopen in October. Return leg is almost all large fields many with large herds of spooky looking cows. Next time I’d reverse the morning shortcut at The Old Fisherman, Shabbington and then re walk the morning route. Bus is £4.10 return.

11 sunny cloudy light shower sunny cloudy etc Buttercups a-plenty. Cow parsley, too. Most went for the short walk. Directions could do with at least one tweak, if only for my sake. I spent a good half-hour near Old Paddock wood, backwards and forwards, thinking I was lost when I wasn’t. The Old Fisherman was friendly (it's a pub, not a wierdo!) Can’t comment on the food – I didn’t have any. And the pint of Abbot I galumphed down hardly touched the sides. A field near the end had small coppers flitting around in it (butterflies ,not diminutive policemen). Got to Thame just too late for the xx:18. It started raining heavily, but, luckily, there was a Sainsbury’s, a bus shelter, and H&T has a large waiting room on the London bound platform .

Sainsbury's??? Rumsey's! Chocolate cake!!

I wasnt in cake tea or chocolate mode, I was in "get yourself home" mode

Also saw the small coppers. Very exciting to see one, let alone so many.

Yes very colourful if small, Thought they were some sort of day-flying moth at first.

any reason why this walk starts so early? Any options for a later start?

It is 7 or8 miles to the lunch pub and the bus connection at the start is quite tight. If one misses that one is delayed by 20 minutes.

If you plan to do the optional 3.6km extension you'd need to get the 9.05 train. Otherwise the 10:05 train would probably be fine for brisk walkers, especially if you take the short cut to the Rising Sun in Ickford and cut out the stretch to Worminghall and back. On a recent Sunday we started from Thame after 11:00am and reached Ickford before 2:00pm.

OK, just 3 on this walk, but the rest of you missed a treat. The weather was hot and sunny with just a bit of white cloud in the early afternoon. And there was field after field after field intensely carpeted with buttercups, great white drifts of cow parsley lining every path and lane, and huge dollops of hawthorn blossom on every hedgerow. In short, the perfect late May walk. (I will post some photos on Flickr and our Facebook page.)

The tight bus connection to Thame worked fine as the bus stop is in the station forecourt, so we started walking at about 10am. But we still did not get to lunch before 1pm, so the early train seemed justified. If anyone decided to get a train an hour later we never saw them (if you did, put up a separate report).

We thought the morning half of the walk was the more interesting bit: despite few contours on the map it managed to display a variety of pleasant scenery. By contrast in the afternoon there were a lot of large flat fields, and the end of the afternoon the charm of wading through enormous knee-high meadows began to wear off a bit.

For lunch we skipped the recommended lunch pub in Worminghall and took the shortcut to the second pub in Ickford (this was mainly my doing: I had a cold and fancied a slightly shorter walk: my companions would have done the main walk had I not swayed them). This pub turned out to be EMPTY, a nice change after the fully booked pubs of recent weeks, but a bit worrying from a business point of view. Their food was perfectly nice so I don't know why they did not have more punters.

We went to Treacles in pretty Thame for a "proper" tea, glad to avoid the dreaded Costa and got the 17.15 bus, again with swift train connections.

All in all a lovely walk....but I am not sure I would want to do it in winter.

9.05 train, long version, Clifden Arms (really nice pub, from memory) for me

I plan to go and will do the shorter option.

10:05 Oxford Parkway train arrives at Haddenham & Thame Parkway at 10:39, thus connecting with the 10:53 bus into Thame. So there's no advantage in getting the 09:43 train. Sorry I didn't spot that earlier.

8 on this walk but between us we did about 4 different versions: 2 started earlier to do the extended walk; 2 arrived on different trains to do the main walk; 3 did the short walk and 1 (me the contrarion) did the short walk but did not catch any buses and walked from and back to the station taking a bespoke route through fields - so a special tick for me (;>) - and ended up doing about 13 miles anyway. (I caught up with the short walkers at the end of the golf course section.)

The weather was fine and sunny throughout the day and all enjoyed this attractive ramble through a gentle rolling landscape with many fields packed with buttercups and dandelions. The Old Fisherman pub was packed and service was inevitably slow but decent quality food. Thame has an interesting High Street with loads of pubs but the independent cafes close so early so I ended up having refreshments at a Costas before walking back to the station. A terrific day out in a much under-rated area for good walking.

8 cloudy then wet then sunny

7 on the train, 4 of whom decided to start walking from the station, 3 got the bus and an 8th met up in Thame High St.

The 4’s cunning plan was to start walking early before the 3 o’clock rain came. Their plan wasn’t cunning enough, however. The 3 o’clock rain came at about 11:30. It was heavy and prompted a switch to the Shabbington shortcut for all except one. The pub there, The Old Fisherman, seemed fine but only one ate. The rest just drank.

The rain cleared after lunch and we made our way first to a church with enormous buttresses. Then on, through a hunting estate, and across countless fields with stiles. A herd of young cattle followed us through one large field. They were more inquisitive than dangerous but did seem to be practising their stampede manoeuvres. I was volunteered to walk at the back and wave my arms about from time to time, which, of course, I was very happy to do. :(

Later, approaching Thame, the majority of the walk opted to walk back to the station. They had a map so they could do things like that. 2 of us continued on the proper walk, almost tripping over a Bee Gee’s grave on the way in. (Bee Gee Robin is buried in the churchyard within sight of his house).

We continued into Thame passing a few open teashops, driven by a hunger for Rumseys chocolate cake (with a raspberry coulis) and coffee. A hunger that was eventually sated.