Pete's Walks- Cowleaze Wood, Studdridge Farm, Christmas Common (page 4 of 5)
I turned right and walked about two hundred yards or so along the road, then took a permissive bridleway (signposted) on the left. This soon turned right and passed a long brick outbuilding at Launder's Farm on the left. A footpath continued ahead, running beside a hedge on the left through a sequence of paddocks. It then ran for a few hundred yards through woodland to reach a bridleway in Fire Wood. I turned right on to the bridleway, which immediately turned left and continued through what soon became Prior's Grove to reach Hollandridge Lane on the edge of the hamlet of Christmas Common.
The road at Northend
The permissive bridleway at Northend - I turned right a little after the hollybushes on the right
The path going west from Launders Farm, Northend
The path going west from Launders Farm, Northend
The path going west from Launders Farm, Northend
The path going west from Launders Farm, Northend
The bridleway in Prior's Grove
I turned right along Hollandridge Lane, but only for about two hundred yards or so before taking a footpath on the left. This went a few yards down a driveway to reach Queen Wood, where I immediately turned right at a path junction. The path led through the wood, emerging on the far side next to the former village church. I turned right along the road here, soon passing the Fox & Hounds pub on the left where I was amused by a sign outside (see photo).
Hollandridge Lane, in Christmas Common (I turned left by the further of the two conifers)
The path through Queen Wood
The road through Christmas Common
Sign outside the Fox & Hounds pub, Christmas Common
I carried on along the quiet village road, passing a junction on my right, then a second on the left (which goes past the car park at Watlington Hill where I've started many walks). A few yards further on, I took a footpath on the left, which ran along the left side of a couple of empty sheep pastures to reach a bridleway, where I turned left and started descending the Chiltern escarpment near Pyrton Hill.
The footpath from Christmas Common
The footpath from Christmas Common
The bridleway that descends near Pyrton Hill