Pete's Walks- Ibstone, Wheeler End and Skirmett (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.
At one point I was pleasantly surprised to see a Hare run across the track in front of me and scamper uphill through the wood. Further on I came to what looked like a track fork which I couldn't remember seeing before, but I knew I had to keep to the lower track on the right. Eventually I reached a path junction, where I turned right and went down a flight of wooden 'steps'. On leaving the wood, the path followed a fence on the left down into the valley bottom, where I reached Holloway Lane. I crossed over and took a footpath that went down one of the drives on the Wormsley Estate.
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood
The start of the path down into the valley
The path down into the valley (in a while I'd be following a bridleway to Ibstone through the trees in the left-centre of the photo)
The drive on the Wormsley estate
After a few hundred yards a footpath crossed the drive, and I turned right. The path went through a narrow bit of wood, then crossed an empty pasture (I've seen sheep here before, I think) before climbing up through a small area of scrub to reach a bridleway, where I turned left. The bridleway gradually rose uphill, running through a narrow tree belt (with many fine beech trees), with occasional views left through the trees and along the Wormsley valley.
The start of the path between the drive and the bridleway to Ibstone
Further along the same path
Further along the same path
The bridleway heading up to Ibstone
Looking left from the Bridleway
The bridleway led on to the end of a lane, which I followed through part of Ibstone until I reached the common on my left. Here I turned left down a track, but immediately left it to follow a path that ran along the edge of the common (on my right). When I reached a drive crossing the common, I went across it and took a path going half-left. this was soon running along the edge of the common again. When I reached the wooded section of the common, I went more or less straight on, along a rather muddy bridleway (part of the route of the Chiltern Way). I passed three ponds amongst the trees here. When the bridleway reached the minor road that runs through Ibstone, I turned right to return to my parked car.
The lane leading to Ibstone
The path along the edge of Ibstone Common
The path along the edge of Ibstone Common
The Chiltern Way in the wooded part of Ibstone Common
One of the ponds in the wooded part of Ibstone Common
It was a shame about the fog and then the mist in the early part of the walk, but that didn't really spoil the walk for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would happily do it again another time. I don't think I have a strong preference as to which direction I'd want to do it in again, though the anti-clockwise direction probably has the best view (along the path downhill from Turville Court). As with so many walks in the Chilterns, there was a good mixture of woods and field paths and several ascents and descents to keep it interesting.
The 13.4 rather muddy miles took me five hours and 25 minutes, about 15 minutes longer than when I walked it in the opposite direction four years ago. I do only seem to be able to do about two and a half miles per hour nowadays (though I do take a large number of photos). The good news though, is that I didn't feel ill afterwards - fingers crossed (and I know I've said this before and been wrong), but I may finally have got over the post-viral fatigue or whatever that I've had for almost exactly three years now. I did have various aches and pains afterwards, but these were just due to muscle tiredness which was hardly surprising considering that I have walked so much less than usual over the last three years.