Pete's Walks- Watlington Hill, Nuffield, Russell's Water (page 7 of 7)
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 was now on part of the Chiltern Way again, as I followed the bridleway through the attractive surroundings of Shambridge Wood. The bridleway went up and down a couple of times as it progressed from Shambridge Wood into Greenfield Wood, where at one point I spotted a large orange butterfly which I'm sure could only have been a Silver-washed Fritillary. After crossing a track in a valley bottom, where another bridleway went left, I soon passed a gateway into a large flower-filled meadow on my left. I think it was just after this that I moved from Greenfield Wood into College Wood, the path rising uphill again and then very gently descending to reach another track in another valley bottom.
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The bridleway continuing through Greenfield Wood
The bridleway continuing through Greenfield Wood
I think this about where the bridleway enters College Wood
The bridleway continuing through College Wood
I turned left here (leaving the Chiltern Way) and followed the track northwest through the wood (I think this was still College Wood, but I'm not sure). Sadly one part of the wood that I passed on my left was infested with the dreadful Himalayan Balsam - I was surprised to see it here, as I thought it was usually found by water. It's an invasive species that is difficult to eradicate, and it poses a real threat to our native species. Further along the track there was a large fenced enclosure on my left where I'm fairly sure there were Wild Boar the only previous time I came this way - there was nothing there now, and the fences were in a poor state of repair.
The start of the track going northwest through College Wood
The track going northwest through College Wood
The track going northwest through College Wood
The track going northwest through College Wood - you can see some of the dreaded Himalayan Balsam that has infested the section of the wood on the left
The track going northwest through College Wood
At the end of the wood, the bridleway turned right along a grassy track between hedges. This soon turned left, and brought me to a minor road. Here I turned right and followed the road the half mile or so to Christmas Common. I'd been feeling pretty tired walking through the woods, but I suddenly felt more energetic here and seriously considered extending the walk by taking a path on the left (through Lower Deans Wood). But I decided that walking for six hours in 25C heat was enough, so I just continued along the road through the village, and then took a turning on the left that took me back to Watlington Hill.
The footpath after I turned right, at the end of the wood
The footpath continuing towards the road between Greenfield and Christmas Common
The road, approaching Christmas Common
The road from Christmas Common back to Watlington Hill
I did feel tired when I got back to my car, but I'd really enjoyed the walk. Considering that I'd just made up the route from the OS map, linking together some paths I'd not walked before and a couple I'd only walked in the opposite direction, it was really good - but then on such a nice day, any route would look its best. I was very glad that a large percentage of the walk was in woods, without the shade of the trees I'd have suffered a lot more - I don't handle heat well, and 25C is about the limit for me, I probably wouldn't go for a long walk if it was hotter than that. The only weak part of the route was the mile and a half road walk at the end, but it went quite quickly and the roads were quiet.
Other than that last road section, all the new sections I walked were fine - I'm sure I'll use the walk over the top of Watlington Hill again in the future (I've always stuck to the path from the side of the car park because that is really nice, but I now realise what I've been missing!). The long bridleway going southeast from Nuffield was nice too, I'll have to try to link that in with paths around the Stoke Row area sometime. Some of the other new sections I may not use again, simply because it may not be easy to link them conveniently with other paths. But I'd certainly be happy to do this walk again - there were some great views, the woods were wonderful and there were plenty of ups and downs to keep it interesting.