Pete's Walks- Cowleaze Wood and Ibstone (page 5 of 5)
The bridleway descended steadily through an area of small trees, but soon I had a view over Pyrton Hill on my right where I saw another group of Fallow Deer, maybe 12-14 this time. There was now a view ahead too, out to the Oxfordshire Plain. Near the foot of the hill I joined the end of a drive that passed a few properties and a timber yard at Pyrton Hill house.
The bridleway heading down to Pyrton Hill House
View over Pyrton Hill to the Oxfordshire Plain
The bridleway descending to Pyrton Hill House
The drive near Pyrton Hill House
A little further on I turned right along a path that ran along the foot of the escarpment. This was an attractive path, running through a varied area of mainly scrub and then briefly running through the edge of an area of beech trees. It continued along the edge of a wood of mainly small young trees, with fields of stubble stretching away on the left to where the Ridgeway runs.
The path going northeast along the foot of the escarpment
The path going northeast along the foot of the escarpment, Shirburn Hill in view ahead
The path going northeast along the foot of the escarpment
The path going northeast along the foot of the escarpment
The path going northeast along the foot of the escarpment
I stopped to let a couple of runners go by, and they thanked me and exchanged a couple of words, the lady joking that she "was NOT running up that hill!". I knew what she meant, as soon the path was heading up a long climb on the flank of Shirburn Hill - in fact both runners got about two-thirds of the way up before stopping and walking the rest. I was struggling just to walk up, of course. The first part of the path was marked by a huge number of large mole hills. I took my time and plodded steadily onwards, eventually stopping to admire the view back over the Oxfordshire Plain. Towards the top of the hill I passed through a narrow section of Shirburn Wood, then the path crossed a large empty pasture to reach the road past Cowleaze Wood. I turned left, and after a few yards a path on the right ran almost parallel to the road to bring me back to the car park where I'd started.
The path continuing up the side of Shirburn Hill
The path continuing up the side of Shirburn Hill
The path continuing up the side of Shirburn Hill
Looking back from Shirburn Hill
The path continuing through the narrow section of wood on top of this part of Shirburn Hill
The pasture between Shirburn Hill and the road
The path back to the car park in Cowleaze Wood
The walk had taken me about four hours and twenty minutes, which is about par for the course for me on a 12 mile walk in muddy conditions. I had really enjoyed it, one of the best walks I'd done for ages. This route, done in the opposite direction, was long one of my all-time favourites in the Chilterns, but I'd rather gone off it through over-familiarity. I've done a few variations of it, and used long sections of it on other walks, so it had started to be a bit boring for me. But this was only the second or third time I'd done it in this clockwise direction, and the last time was probably five years ago, so today it was almost like a new walk. There was a good mixture of woods and fields and other types of terrain, several ups and downs, numerous good views of some of the best parts of the Chilterns and out over the extensive Oxfordshire Plain, and my only slight grumble would be that it was a little shorter than I normally walk. It definitely left me wanting more!