Pete's Walks- Watlington Hill and Cookley Green (page 5 of 5)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
I turned right along a bridleway running beside the wooded slope of the downs on my right. I was now back on the route of the mountain bike ride once again - in fact there was a feeding stage for the mountain bikers set up by the car park, and a support van there emblazoned 'Ride it!' (I was later able to search for them online and found out more about the ride - over 200 people took part). When the wood on the right ended, I continued straight on along the track, being passed by occasional cyclists. I was now out of the shade, and I was concerned that this might be a very hot section but fortunately it wasn't too bad. As I passed a junction at North Farm, the Ridgeway national trail came in from my right. A little further on I crossed a lane, and carried on along the track. A few hundred yards further on, there were tall hedges either side and I was shaded once more. When I reached a path crossroads near Lys Farm House (the shorter route I'd planned came in from the right here), the two miles from Swyncombe Downs seemed to have passed quicker than I'd expected.
The Ridgeway, running past the wood at the bottom of Swyncombe Downs
The Ridgeway, continuing northeast from Swyncombe Downs
The Ridgeway, continuing northeast from Swyncombe Downs - North Farm is in the trees on the right
The Ridgeway, continuing northeast
The Ridgeway, continuing northeast
I went straight on, but rather than follow the track I took the permissive path that runs parallel on the other side of the hedge to the right of the track. This ran along the edge of a large field, with a view ahead towards Watlington Hill. The path and the track reached a road, south of Watlington, where I turned right. After a quarter of a mile or so, I went down a drive on the left, soon forking left off the drive at a footpath fork. The path ran for some distance through a tree belt, passing through two gates in quick succession at one point. When it started to gradually climb Watlington Hill, I had two options - the path on the left ran along an old 'hollow way' in the shade of Yew trees, while a path a few yards to the right stayed in the open but passed through some flower-rich downland. Despite the warm sun, I chose the latter. As well as more butterflies and wild flowers, I saw several Red Kites overhead and a couple of rather noisy Buzzards.
The permissive path beyond Lys Farm House, looking ahead towards Watlington Hill
The short road section near the foot of Watlington Hill
The path to Watlington Hill
The path climbing the side of Watlington Hill
When I reached a section of open grassland rising up on my left, I made the third and final alteration to my planned route. Bizarrely, despite having started 15-20 walks from the car park here, I had never actually visited the top of Watlington Hill! So I went up a faint path that rose steeply up the hillside (again my camera is lying about how steep it was!). It wasn't too far to the top, and I had an excuse to stop part way up as some inquisitive Red Kites flew low over my head and I managed to get some photos (not brilliant ones, but amongst the best shots of Red Kites I've ever managed).
The start of the path I took to the top of Watlington Hill - it's steeper than the photo makes it look
The path I took to the top of Watlington Hill - again, it's steeper than the photo makes it look
A Red Kite on Watlington Hill
I passed a couple of Yew trees near the top of the slope, then turned right along the broad path running across the top of Watlington Hill. There were several more Red Kites here - some were swooping down and presumably taking food very close to a family picnicking. I enjoyed the views out over the Oxfordshire Plain, and spent a few minutes trying to photograph the Kites. I then followed the path back to the car park - through a gate it became a wide surfaced track, then it ran a short way between trees to return to the car park where I'd started the walk.
The path along the top of Watlington Hill
Looking back along the path on top of Watlington Hill and over the Oxfordshire Plain - I spent a few minutes here trying to photograph Red Kites
Another view from the same spot
The path back to the car park on Watlington Hill
This had been a really good walk, despite the rather grey start and the large number of mountain bikers that were about. There were some lengthy woodland sections interspersed with short field paths, plus attractive downland at both Swyncombe Downs and Watlington Hill, as well as the park land around Swyncombe House. There were only three noticeable bits of uphill, but the route was generally undulating rather than flat (except for the track from Swyncombe Downs towards Watlington Hill, near the end of the walk). The views weren't great in the first two-thirds of the walk (because it was mainly in woods or on paths enclosed by hedges or trees), but improved when I neared Swyncombe, and were very good from Swyncombe Downs and Watlington Hill.
I've had several really good walks in this area, and this route was really just a slight variation on ones I've done before. It was just as good as the other routes I've done here, and I'd be very happy to walk it again.