Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Turville, Cadmore End (page 4 of 5)
Back on the forestry track, I followed it right, through an area of recently felled trees, and then into Leygrove's Wood. The track ran north-eastwards just inside the edge of the wood. After a few hundred yards I turned left, through a section of wood that was mainly coniferous. At a path junction I met a couple who'd been putting on their walking boots in the car park by where I stopped for lunch - I'd just walked two sides of a triangle of paths, they'd obviously come the shorter way through the wood. They were going on a walk to Horsley Green, somewhere I've not actually been, although I've skirted it on a couple of walks. I went straight on, heading north-westwards through the wood, and then continuing on a field path to reach Bigmore Lane.
Forestry track along east edge of Leygrove's Wood
The path going northwest through Leygrove's Wood
The path going northwest through Leygrove's Wood
The half-mile walk along Bigmore Lane was the least interesting section of the walk (although I noticed a polo pitch on the right, complete with four players and ponies, something I've only come across in one other place), but it was soon over and there was very little traffic. I crossed a minor road (Cadmore End was off to my left) and took a lane opposite, soon taking a footpath on the right that led across fields to a wood. The path then led down through the wood into a valley called Twigside Bottom.
Bigmre Lane
Start of the path going west towards Twigside Bottom
The path to Twigside Bottom
The path descending through the wood to Twigside Bottom
Twigside Bottom
In the valley bottom I turned left along a broad muddy track then turned right, a grassy track leading through the woods. Further on the path climbed the opposite side of the valley, following a hedge through an old meadow, with a good view south along the valley towards Fingest. The path then ran through an area of small trees and bushes to reach the road that runs through Ibstone.
Near the start of the path from Twigside Bottom up to Ibstone
The path from Twigside Bottom to Ibstone
Looking south along Twigside Bottom towards Fingest (Fingest Wood is above the distant green field)
The path from Twigside Bottom to Ibstone
I followed the road left for some way, then took a path on the right (the footpath signpost is obscured by a hedge coming this way, you can't se it until you've passed it). This ran between garden fences, then continued through two overgrown meadows, the second one dropping quite steeply into the head of a small valley. The path continued less steeply up the opposite slope, which was wooded, to emerge on to a lane in Ibstone close to the intriguingly named Hellcorner Farm.
Overgrown meadow, Ibstone
The same path dropping into a valley just east of Hellcorner Farm, Ibstone
The wood just before the lane by Hellcorner Farm, Ibstone