After a week of hard study, yesterday came as a welcome break with the chance to do an 11-mile walk in preparation for my Big Castle Wander this summer. We decided to stay local, wandering through the countryside and on to our town of Buckingham to explore its medieval past.

Setting off from Coombs woodland, we strolled for a few miles until we reached Thornborough Bridge, the only surviving medieval river crossing that took visitors  towards Buckingham. Nowadays it hides from view down a slip road off the A421, the far less inspiring modern route into town. After admiring this and the nearby Bronze Age burial mounds, we set off across the fields on a journey of discovery, our snaking walk taking us past deserted medieval villages, gushing weirs, a reservoir and a disused arm of the Grand Union canal, none of which we had ever realised were there. After…