Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Turville, Cadmore End (page 5 of 5)
I went a few yards left along the lane, then took a path on the opposite side that started along a drive then ran between garden fences before crossing a meadow to reach Great Wood. The path here soon turned left, then went round a very sharp bend to the right and descended through the trees (occasionally with a view out to the Wormsley Valley). Near the bottom of the slope there was a short grassy gap between Great Wood and the beeches of Hay Wood, beyond which I crossed a field of maize with goods view north along the valley.
Approaching Great Wood from Ibstone
The path in Great Wood
View of the Wormsley Valley, from the path descending through Great Wood
The gap between Great Wood and Hale Wood
Looking north along the Wormsley Valley, from the Maize field beyond Hale Wood
Beyond the maize field I turned right along a hedged track, heading north through the Wormsley Valley. When I reached a crossing footpath I turned left (I was now briefly following a section of the Chiltern Way), and went across a huge field that was mainly clover. Across a drive to the grand house at Wormsley, the path continued downhill through part of an empty pasture to another drive. I followed this drive right for a few yards before turning left onto a footpath, now heading back into more woodland. I soon reached a path junction where the Chiltern Way went left, but I continued on through Blackmoor Wood
The bridleway going north through the Wormsley valley
The path going west across the clover field
Near the start of the path through Blackmoor Wood
The slowly rising path through Blackmoor Wood
There was now a long and almost flat section through the wood, before it gradually started climbing uphill. I hadn't seen too many other walkers on this glorious Autumn day, but now I met a couple of individuals and then a young family coming the other way. It was a long but very gradual climb uphill, at some point the wood becoming Shotridge Wood. Shortly after the path finally levelled out, I went left at a path junction, and in a few hundred yards emerged from the wood on a road on the northern edge of Christmas Common. I turned left and was soon back at my parked car.
The slowly rising path through Blackmoor Wood
The slowly rising path through Blackmoor Wood
The path now in Shotridge Wood
Approaching the top of the long gradual climb through Blackmoor and Shotridge Woods
The track back to the road, immediately north of Christmas Common
This was a very good walk, pleasantly varied and with some good ups and downs. It's certainly tougher in this direction than the other way round, because of the two steep hills between Turville and Cadmore End. It was sensible to start in Christmas Common, rather than at Watlington Hill, as this saved an unnecessary quarter mile road walk at each end of the walk.