Pete's Walks- Redland End and Coombe Hill (page 4 of 4)
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 crossed the road and went down a bridleway that began along a track for a few yards before forking very slightly right. It ran through a tree belt for a few hundred yards, then continued through Pond Wood. I went straight on at a very slightly staggered bridleway crossroads, and a little further on the bridleway turned right to run almost parallel to a road on my left. Almost all the paths today were very muddy, but this stretch was particularly bad - it was a narrow path and the mud was slippery clay, so I struggled to keep my balance in places.
The bridleway through Pond Wood
The bridleway through Pond Wood
The bridleway beside the road, near Pulpit Wood
When I reached the small car park by Pulpit Hill I turned left to reach its entrance, then took a bridleway across the road (which I was pleased to find not too muddy at all). It went south, initially with paddocks either side, then ran just inside the edge of Ninn Wood which extended to the right. On reaching a path crossroads I turned left, soon reaching a field where I followed the hedgerow on my right. I then turned right onto another path, following the edge of a wood, Cross Coppice, on my left. On reaching a field corner the path continued on into Sergeant's Wood.
Near the start of the bridleway to Ninn Wood
The path going east from Ninn Wood
The path passing Cross Coppice and heading to Sergeant's Wood
The path continuing in Sergeant's Wood
I soon reached a staggered path crossroads, where I went a few yards right then turned left to go straight on (if that makes sense!). The path (very muddy yet again) soon widened into a grass strip running by some overhead wires for some distance. I went straight on when a footpath went right, then a few yards further on I turned onto a path going half-right through the trees. I then turned left along a path on that edge of the wood. I soon emerged from a corner of the wood and reached a track. Again I went a few yards right then turned left (through a gate) to continue in the same direction as before. This path, or rather bridleway, ran through a field, close to a hedge on my left, to a gate on the far side that brought me to a minor road on the edge of Green Hailey.
The path in Sergeant's Wood, after the staggered junction
The path in Sergeant's Wood, after the staggered junction
The path to the road in Green Hailey
I turned left and followed the road through the hamlet, and continued on until a bridleway went right (I was now on the route I frequently take from Whiteleaf Hill to Parslow's Hillock). The bridleway ran with a wood on my left and a field on the right. It then turned left through the wood, and I followed it for about another half mile, with part of Chiltern escarpment sloping down on my right. When a public footpath crossed the bridleway (I'd ignored an earlier permissive path on the left), I turned left (I've not walked the path going right, but judging from the contours on the OS map it must be one of the steepest paths in the Chilterns!). I followed the path through Hillock Wood for about half a mile - it took me straight back to the lane in Redland End where I'd started.
The road through Green Hailey
Looking right from Green Hailey, towards Bledlow Cop
The bridleway going right from the road
The bridleway after turning left, heading towards Parslow's Hillock
The path back to Redland End, through Hillock Wood
This was one of the muddiest walks I've done, and consequently I felt more tired afterwards than I would normally after an almost 11-mile walk (having said that, I didn't feel too bad the next day, so possibly I'm finally getting over the post-viral fatigue or whatever that has plagued me for almost three years now). But apart from the mud, the conditions were really quite nice for early January, generally sunny (better than forecast) and not too cold - not that the cold is an issue if you are warmly dressed.
I really enjoyed this walk, as I did when I did it in the opposite direction last year. There are some fine views (starting at Redland End meant that the best of them, at Combe Hill and Bacombe Hill, came in the middle of the walk rather than right at the end) and several ups and downs. A large part of the walk was in woods, but I think there were enough other sections that the woods never became monotonous. It's certainly a walk I'd be very happy to do again sometime (especially at another time of year, as I've only done it in the middle of winter). I would only say, as I did when I walked it before, that someone new to this area might prefer a route that included at least one of Pulpit Hill, Beacon Hill or Whiteleaf Hill (for instance the route I call my 'Four hills walk').