ROUTE DESCRIPTION - Walk 19, Stoke Row and Exlade Street
OS Explorer Maps required: 171
Approximate distance: 10.2 miles
Start in Stoke Row near the Village Store (SU 682840).
ANTI-CLOCKWISE
Follow the road west through Stoke Row, and turn left down School Lane immediately before the church. Just past the last house on the right, take a footpath going half-right across two paddocks (ALTERNATIVE ROUTE: to avoid horses and stiles there is a permissive path after another hundred yards or so on the right). Turn right between fences at the end. Turn left where the fences end for about 100 yards, then take the path going right. This soon goes over a stile and follows a field boundary on the left through a large pasture or meadow. Continue ahead to reach a minor road. Go a few yards left, then take the footpath on the right. This passes through an L-shaped pasture, soon with a wood on the right – continue to the gate in the corner. Cross a lane and take the footpath opposite, which soon joins a track or drive and follows it to the right. Where this turns right, take the right-most of two paths going off ahead of you. Follow the path through a wood to reach Scott’s Farm. Cross another lane and continue on the path almost opposite, initially along a drive with cottages on the left. This enters a wood and goes slightly downhill. Look for a path going very sharply left (indicated by faint arrows on a tree – there is a track making a bit of a short-cut just before the junction). Follow this path, almost doubling back on yourself – do not turn right on the track after a few yards, look for the path ahead marked by white arrows on trees. This path goes through the wood to another pasture, where it goes slightly right to reach another lane. Continue on the path opposite, initially between garden fences and then just inside the edge of a wood. Just round a left-hand bend, keep to the left at a fork. Continue ahead to reach a gate into the churchyard at Checkendon (SU 663830).
Don’t enter the churchyard, but cross the drive to Checkendon Court and take the footpath opposite. This follows the boundary of Checkendon Court on the right initially, then continues across the meadow to a kissing-gate. Go across a drive and through a second kissing-gate in a hedge, then turn left, between the hedge and a fence on the right. At the end, follow the road a short distance to the right, then take the bridleway on the left. Where a footpath crosses after about quarter of a mile, go right, following a fence on your right through a large sheep pasture. Follow the boundary round to the far corner. The path continues ahead a short distance through bushes to a path junction where you turn right and follow a left-hand hedgerow downhill. The path continues down through a short alley between gardens to the road in Exlade Street (SU 659819).
Turn left, and follow the road for almost half a mile. Just after a wood begins on the right, take the short bridleway on the right that leads to the A4074. Cross carefully, and continue on the bridleway opposite, which goes left (DON’T follow the permissive path straight ahead). Follow the arrows on trees. Keep left at a fork (near a junction of forestry tracks) and continue through College or Abbott’s Wood. Where a wide and muddy forestry track crosses, the path is a little obscure – it continues on the other side, going half-left then turning to the right. A short distance further (just after a type of wooden gate where you have to step over two boards) you come to a crossing of bridleways, marked by arrows on a tree (note that older versions of the map shows this as a staggered junction rather than a crossroads). CAUTION: there is an unmarked path going left here, starting either side of a small holly bush behind a tree – the bridleway going left, which is the way to go, is a few yards further on beyond a larger holly bush. The bridleway is, as usual, marked by arrows on trees. Follow it as it turns left after a few hundred yards, then goes right to reach Deadman’s Lane. Turn left, and follow the road VERY CAREFULLY to reach its junction with the A4074 (SU 666806).
Cross over VERY CAREFULLY and take the bridleway ahead of you (which will be followed for almost three miles). The bridleway starts along a surfaced track beside a wood on the right, passes a cottage on the left and continues between fields. It crosses Park Lane, and carries on between a wood on the left and more fields to a second lane. Continue on through a wood to a third lane, where you go a few yards right before continuing on the bridleway on your left. There is soon a large house visible to the left. The bridleway eventually crosses its drive and continues on to a minor road. It continues on the other side, soon crossing a drive. It continues through more woodland, crosses another lane/drive (by a fingerpost saying ‘Satwell ½’), and descends through a wood. At the valley bottom, turn left at a crossroads of bridleways (SU 702830). (N.B. If you lose track of how many lanes/drives you’ve crossed on this section, just carry on until the bridleway descends steeply downhill and reaches a crossing bridleway, where you turn left).
Keep left at a fork, staying on the bridleway. After a few hundred yards, stay on the bridleway as it turns left through conifers (a footpath continues ahead). Continue ahead when the path meets a wider track at a bend, until you reach a lane/drive. Go past the metal gate opposite, and immediately take a path going right. When this is crossed by a bridleway, turn right for a few yards (passing between the posts of a fence) then take the bridleway going left (resuming the direction you were in before). Cross a road and continue ahead to reach the corner of a lane. Turn left to reach the main road in Stoke Row, where you turn right to reach the Village Store.