Pete's Walks- Cowleaze Wood, Chinnor, Ibstone (page 5 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.
In the field corner, at the valley bottom, I forked right at a path junction, soon spotting three or four Silver-washed Fritillaries as I crossed a clearing in what was now Hartmoor Wood. The path then climbed steadily uphill through the wood for some distance, before following a wicker fence past a garden to reach a minor road just as it entered Ibstone from the north. I turned left and followed the road, a little further than I remembered, before turning right by a fingerpost and Chiltern Way sign and following a path through the wooded part of Ibstone Common. When I neared the grassy part of the common I made my way to a seat that was shaded under the trees but looked out over the grassy part, and sat down to eat a very late lunch as it was now just after 2:30pm.
The path up through Hartmoor Wood
The path up through Hartmoor Wood
The path up through Hartmoor Wood
The path in the wooded part of Ibstone Common
The view from my nicely shaded lunch spot on the edge of Ibstone Common
Lunch over, I rejoined the route of the Chiltern Way and went through a kissing gate, continuing between hedges and then starting to descend through Commonhill Wood towards the Wormsley Valley (a sign indicated where I entered the Wormsley Estate). After a while the bridleway was a very narrow chalky groove, it would have been awkward meeting anyone coming the other way here. About halfway down the slope I turned left onto a footpath, still following the Chiltern Way and dropping steeply downhill for a short distance to reach a stile on the edge of the wood. The path then turned right, descending much more gently now and soon following a fence on the right - there were splendid views across the Wormsley Valley here.
Near the start of the bridleway from Ibstone Common to the Wormsley Valley
The bridleway descending from Ibstone Common to the Wormsley Valley
The steep path after the Chiltern Way turns off the bridleway
The Chiltern Way crossing the Wormsley Valley
In the valley bottom I crossed a track and continued across a large meadow. After crossing one of the drives on the Wormsley Estate, the path dropped slightly downhill across a corner of a sheep pasture to reach a second drive. Here I went just a few yards right, before taking a path on the other side. After one or two hundred yards I finally parted from the Chiltern Way by going right at a path fork. The path continued fairly level through Blackmoor Wood for several hundred yards.
The Chiltern Way crossing the Wormsley Valley
The Chiltern Way approaching the second estate drive in the Wormsley Valley
The Chiltern Way after turning left off the second estate drive in the Wormsley Valley
The path through Blackmoor Wood (after I went straight on where the Chiltern Way turned left
The path through Blackmoor Wood