Pete's Walks- Bledlow and Radnage (page 2 of 3)
After a short while I turned left onto a footpath. This crossed a drive to a house and then continued across a meadow with Radnage church in view ahead. I crossed a lane and walked through the churchyard to pick up a footpath starting on the far side. This path crossed a couple of green fields, and then in a third field, when the path forked, I went left - there were a few Buzzards and several Red Kites flying overhead here. I soon reached a field corner where the path went quite steeply uphill, at first through a gap in the trees that covered most of this part of the long ridge that is surmounted by the village of Bledlow Ridge. The path levelled out and ran between hedges and fences as it approached the village, with good views along the valley to either side.
The path through the meadow on the way to Radnage church
The path beyond Radnage church
The path beyond Radnage church
The path approaching Bledlow Hill (apparently I was too tired too take any photos as I was struggling up the steep slope between this and the previous photo!)
Looking right from the path to Bledlow Ridge ...
... and looking left, back along the route I'd come (Hedgerley Wood is the one going from the centre of the shot to the right)
I crossed the road in Bledlow Ridge and took the footpath continuing on the other side, which started off down a drive. It continued a short way between a fence and a hedge, then when the meadow on the left ended I took a path going right. I followed a mature hedge on the right as a far as a metal kissing-gate, then the path dropped steeply downhill through an empty sheep pasture - there were nice views here, over the Saunderton Valley. At the bottom of slope I turned left and followed a fence (on my left) to reach Lodge Hill Farm, where I turned right along the farm's drive (I think the actual paths here seem to differ from the OS map). When the drive turned sharply right, I turned left along a bridleway beside a thick hedgerow.
The path from Bledlow Ridge
This is immediately after turning right onto another footpath
The same path in the next field, looking across the Saunderton Valley with Lodge Hill on the left. The path drops steeply to the right end of the short line of trees, before turning left along a fence line to reach Lodge Hill Farm.
Approaching Lodge Hill Farm - I think you can guess the name of the hill behind it it!
I saw a couple of people crossing the field on my right, and on the spur of the moment decided to alter my route just to walk a couple of short paths I'd not used before. I turned right on a broad track across a field of cabbages or similar crop, then turned left along the opposite hedgerow (there was a wider path on the far side of the hedge, but the OS map clearly showed the path on this side of the hedge). In the field corner I rejoined my usual route (I'd just gone round the other two sides of a small rectangle), and turned right to cross the scrub-covered south-eastern end of Lodge Hill - I saw my first Redwings and Fieldfares of the winter here.
The new path I tried ...
... and after I turned left beside the hedgerow in the previous photo
The bridleway across the south-eastern tip of Lodge Hill