Pete's Walks - Watlington Hill, Cadmore End, Turville (page 2 of 5)
After following the road through the village for a couple of hundred yards, I took a path on the right. This ran between fences and hedges, going northeast at first and then east, dropping into the valley of Twigside Bottom. At some point along the path I saw a small bird that was either a Willow Tit or a Marsh Tit (they are very difficult to tell apart). The path continued through the woods in the valley bottom (where I saw several primroses), joining a track and following it left a short distance to a path junction. Here I took a path going very steeply up through the trees on the other side of the valley, and I was soon puffing and panting again.
The main road in Ibstone
The path from Ibstone to Twigside Bottom
The path approaching Twigside Bottom
The path approaching Twigside Bottom
The path rising up the eastern side of Twigside Bottom
At the top of the hill, the path left the wood and went right a few yards before turning left in a field corner. It then went straight on through a gap at the next corner and continued across a couple of arable fields, tractor marks showing the way through the young green corn. The path ended at a lane, where I went a few yards left to reach Marlow Road, where I went a few yards right and then crossed over to the start of Bigmore Lane. This immediately crossed over the M40 (I'd been hearing a bit of road noise since Ibstone). I had to follow the lane for over half a mile, but there was very little traffic on it and the countryside it passed through was quite pleasant so it wasn't too bad.
View back from the top of the eastern side of Twigside Bottom
The path towards Marlow Road and the M40
Bigmore Lane
Bigmore Lane
After about three-quarters of a mile I turned off Bigmore Lane as it turned left, taking a footpath going right just beyond a cottage which followed hedgerows to reach the north-western corner of Leygrove's Wood. The path turned left along the edge of the wood for a few yards, then turned into the wood. The path was a broad track, and it was very pleasant to follow it through the trees on this fine Spring morning. I went straight on at a path crossroads (bearing right would have cut a corner off the route), and soon heard and saw a couple of buzzards circling over the treetops. The path ended at a well-surfaced forestry track, where I turned right (I was now back on part of my Chiltern Chain Walk, which I'd now be following as far as the middle of Hanger Wood).
Approaching Leygrove's Wood
The path through Leygrove's Wood
The path through Leygrove's Wood
The path through Leygrove's Wood
The path through Leygrove's Wood, approaching the forestry track
The forestry track through Leygrove's Wood