Pete's Walks- Watlington Hill and Maidensgrove Common (page 2 of 3)
On going through the farm gate I bore slightly left across a gravel yard and took a footpath between wooden fences that led to Doyley Wood. The path through the wood dropped downhill into a valley, then climbed quite steeply up the other side. Near the top of the slope the path left the wood and continued across the left edge of a meadow. I saw some Ringlet butterflies and some lovely Grass Vetchling here, both firsts for the year.
The path from Maidensgrove Common Farm to Doyley Wood
The path descending through Doyley Wood
The bottom of the valley, before the path starts the steep climb up the other side
This is actually steep, not flat! The path through Doyley Wood going up the other side of the valley.
The path continuing across a meadow after Doyley Wood
On the far side of the meadow I reached a path crossroads. I had intended to turn left on a bridleway here, but I now chose to go straight on into Long Wood just so I could walk two short sections of footpath I'd never used before. The path continued northwest through Long Wood for some distance until it came to a T-junction of paths. Here I turned left, and followed this path through more woodland in a more westerly direction until it met the bridleway I'd been going to walk, just outside a farmyard gate. I turned right and walked into the middle of another section of Maidensgrove Common (I had to make my own way through the long grass and wildflowers, there was no sign of the bridleway), turning left after a while to find a gap in the trees (about 50 yards from where the trees started on my left) and a track or drive leading through some of the houses of Russell's Water. I passed the pond that gives the hamlet it's name (on my left), then turned left along the lane through the hamlet.
The footpath going northwest through Long Wood
The footpath going northwest through Long Wood
The footpath going west through Long Wood
The footpath going west through Long Wood
Maidensgrove Common
After a hundred yards or so I took a bridleway on the right, which soon dropped downhill into a valley. In the valley bottom I reached a bridleway junction where I turned right. The new bridleway continued through a narrow belt of trees and bushes, before reaching the village of Cookley Green after about three quarters of a mile. I crossed the road here and followed the right edge of the green here, stopping on a bench on the far side to eat my packed lunch as it was now about 1pm.
The bridleway from Russell's Water
The bridleway from Russell's Water
The bridleway to Cookley Green
The bridleway to Cookley Green
The bridleway to Cookley Green
The green at Cookley Green