Pete's Walks - Cowleaze Wood, Chinnor, Ibstone (page 2 of 7)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
I continued on down the Ridgeway, which was now again a wide grassy strip between hedgerows. Another wildlife sighting along here was my first Whitethroat of 2019. I crossed a lane, coming from Kingston Blount to my left (it's part of the route I'd driven to get to Cowleaze Wood), then after another half a mile or so I crossed a byway. A little further on I reached a long straight and slightly narrower section of the Ridgeway with tall hedges either side - beyond the hedges were old chalks pits, this being the site of the former Chinnor Cement and Lime company. I then crossed another road (from Chinnor to Bledlow Ridge). The Ridgeway soon became a chalky track with a neatly trimmed hedge on the left. At the next path junction, where a bridleway came in on the left, I turned right, leaving the Ridgeway after having followed it for about three miles.
The Ridgeway, heading northeast towards Chinnor
The Ridgeway, heading northeast towards Chinnor/p>
The Ridgeway, heading northeast towards Chinnor
The Ridgeway, running between the old chalk pits at Chinnor
The Ridgeway, after I crossed the road from Chinnor to Bledlow Ridge
View left towards Chinnor, from where I turned off the Ridgeway
I was a little surprised to find that I'd been walking for an hour and a half, I thought I'd have reached this point maybe 10 minutes sooner and I'd been walking quite briskly to get this long flat section over with. The path I'd turned onto was soon heading quite steeply straight up the wooded Chiltern escarpment. I found this first uphill of the day quite a struggle, which was a bit of a worry as there were another eight bits of uphill to come. But I plodded on slowly through the trees, and eventually made it to the top where I reached the lane on top of Chinnor Hill and turned right.
The start of the path up Chinnor Hill after I turned right from the Ridgeway
The path up Chinnor Hill
The path up Chinnor Hill
The path up Chinnor Hill
The path up Chinnor Hill
The lane on Chinnor Hill after I turned right
As I followed the lane, a motor-cyclist stopped to check whether he was going the right way to the car park, which I confirmed he was. When I came to a T-junction I turned left along a road (the one going to Bledlow Ridge which I'd crossed earlier). I followed the road for about a third of a mile, to where a narrow bit of wood (Ballfield Shaw) ended on the right, where I took a bridleway that initially ran between the wood and a hedge on my left. After the very grey and cool start to the walk, the weather was now quite sunny and a bit warmer. As I followed the bridleway, I suddenly realised the front of my right ankle was very painful. I must have over-tightened that boot lace somehow, and I needed to slacken it slightly - that eased the pain, though it would continue to come back every time I went up or down hill during the rest of the walk. After the field to my left ended, the wood changed from Ballfield Shaw to Sunley Wood, a typical Beech wood, and the bridleway soon dropped steeply down into a valley.
The road near Chinnor Hill after I turned left at the end of the lane
The start of the bridleway through Ballfield Shaw
The bridleway through Ballfield Shaw
The bridleway continuing through Sunley Wood
The bridleway through Sunley Wood
The bridleway through Sunley Wood