Pete's Walks - Watlington Hill, Southend, Maidensgrove (page 4 of 5)
At the bottom of the slope there was a wide grassy glade, then the path started up the opposite slope of a small valley, the wood here being a more typical beech wood. I hadn't been looking forward to this bit, as a couple of months ago coming the other way it had seemed a very steep descent. Curiously, it didn't seem anywhere near as steep as I remembered. Near the top of the hill I left Doyley Wood, and followed the left edge of a meadow, with nice views back towards Southend on my right. I then turned left on a pleasant bridleway that took me to a farmyard on the edge of Russell's Water Common.
The valley bottom and the start of the path back uphill in Doyley Wood
This looks flat, but is a fairly steep uphill in Doyley Wood
The meadow immediately north of Doyley Wood
Looking east from that meadow, over Pishill to Balham Wood (Southend is the far side of the wood)
The bridleway to Russell's Water Common
Russell's Water Common (I walked along the right edge of the common to a corner almost in the centre of the photo)
I turned right, and followed a path around the edge of this huge grassy common. On reaching the northwest corner of the common, I turned right, rejoining the Chiltern Way as it went downhill through a wood to reach the valley of Pishill Bottom. Here the Chiltern Way follows the road to the left, but I took a steep permissive path straight on into Shambridge Wood, turning right at a path junction where I briefly rejoined the Chiltern Way. After a few hundred yards I left it again, as I turned left and followed a bridleway (according to the OS map, though I'm not at all sure that horses could follow this narrow path) that now ran through Greenfield Wood. I was again on a path that was new to me, as I would be now for most of the rest of the route. After half a mile or so, I left the wood and followed a pleasant farm track to the small village of Greenfield (I've driven through here many times, but never actually walked through it before).
Path along the edge of Russell's Water Common
Footpath from the northwest corner of Russell's Water Common to Pishill Bottom (another section of the Chiltern Way)
The permissive path in Shambridge Wood
Newly surfaced bridleway in Shambridge Wood
The footpath in Greenfield Wood
The footpath in Greenfield Wood
Track from Greenfield Wood to Greenfield
I crossed the road through the village, and went through a gate in a brick wall to join a path running through Greenfield Copse. The long brick wall clearly indicated the boundary of a large estate, presumably that of Watlington Park.
The gate at the start of the path through Greenfield Copse
Greenfield Copse