Pete's Walks - Coombe Hill and Kingsash (page 6 of 6)
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.
After two or three hundred yards I reached a waymark post and a bridleway, where I turned right and descended further through the wood. At a junction in the bottom of the valley I turned right (straight on would have led me to Little Hampden), and followed a bridleway to reach some buildings and properties around Dunsmore Old Farm. Here I turned left, following a drive that soon passed a cottage on my right. On then entering Fugsdon Wood, I almost immediately turned right, this path going slightly uphill through the trees and holly bushes. When it came to a junction with another path I turned left, the new path almost immediately then bearing half-right as it continued through the wood.
The bridleway descending through High Scrub
The bridleway to Dunsmore Old Farm
The drive near Dunsmore Old Farm
The start of the path going right from near the entrance to Fugsdon Wood
Further along that path
Fugsdon Wood, after I turned left at the path T-junction
Fugsdon Wood, after I turned left at the path T-junction
After several hundred yards, I went straight on at a path crossroads, the path soon bearing slightly left. At some point the wood became Linton's Wood, and about half a mile from the crossroads I reached another path crossroads where I turned right, rejoining the Ridgeway once more. I followed the path through the wood for about another quarter of a mile to reach the road on Lodge Hill. I turned right (uphill) along the road, for about a hundred yards, then a fingerpost indicated where the Ridgeway went left. I followed it through another wood for a few hundred yards to a metal gate and a path junction, where I left the Ridgeway by turning right. This path stayed close to a hedgerow on my right, and in a quarter of a mile or so brought me back to the car park on Coombe Hill.
The same path, shortly after the path cross-roads
The same path now in Linton's Wood
The same path now in Linton's Wood
The Ridgeway in Linton's Wood, after I turned right
The Ridgeway in Linton's Wood
The road on Lodge Hill
The Ridgeway on Lodge Hill
The path back to the car park on Coombe Hill
I knew the day was going to be grey and overcast, if I'd known it was going to be so damp I may well not have bothered to go out. As always this was a really nice route and I rather regret not leaving it for a nicer day. I still enjoyed the walk (at least I got some much-needed exercise) and I suppose it made a change to walk in such dank conditions, it's not something I do too often. And at least I wasn't walking in thick fog, which I've unexpectedly had to do a few times now. There was a large amount of woodland walking on the route, with just a few field paths, two or three short sections along lanes, the chalk downland of Coombe Hill and Bacombe Hill, plus the short section through the southern edge of Wendover. This all added up to a very pleasant and interesting route, which I'm sure I'll again sometime.