Reading Shakespeare, sideways

Cold and damp in the Chilterns today. I gave the spaniel a good long walk around the Stonor valley coming across signs for the Shakespeare Way, the Chiltern Way and the Seven Shires Way, all long distance walking routes. I hadn't heard of the Seven Shires Way before. It sounds like something from Lord of the Rings but is, in fact, a 234 mile walk that roughly follows the Oxfordshire county boundary encroaching on six other counties.