Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Russell's Water, Nuffield (page 5 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.
I continued past Ewelme Park, going straight on over a crossing bridleway bridleway and then turning right on the far side of a farmyard. The Ridgeway now ran between a line of trees on my left and a hedgerow on my right, before curving slightly left around the edge of a field. About two-thirds of the way along this field I left the Ridgeway, taking a footpath that went over a stile on the right. This path is a real favourite of mine - it runs along the top of some parkland above Swyncombe House, following the edge of Straights Plantation on my right. There were nice views looking left over Swyncombe to Swyncombe Downs, and further on I could look back out to the Oxfordshire Plain.
The Ridgeway at Ewelme Park
The Ridgeway immediately after turning right on the far side of the farmyard at Ewelme Park
The Ridgeway
View over Swyncombe from the path after I turned right from the Ridgeway, along the top of the parkland above Swyncombe House
The path along the top of the parkland above Swyncombe House
The path along the top of the parkland above Swyncombe House
View over Swyncombe
The path along the top of the parkland above Swyncombe House
View back towards the Oxfordshire Plain
Eventually the path went over another stile, and continued through Haycroft Wood. It soon crossed a drive going going down to Swyncombe House, and not long after crossed a grass strip between Haycroft Wood and Church Wood, with a nice view down towards Swyncombe on my left. Immediately after this I turned very sharply right, the new path going back across the grass strip and back into Haycroft Wood. It soon reached the drive I'd just crossed, where I turned left, following the drive until I reached a gate by a Lodge on the left. Here I turned left again, onto a broad bridleway running along the eastern edge of Haycroft Wood. I had to follow this bridleway for over half a mile - about halfway along here I passed the end of the grass strip (a 'ride', I suppose), and then the wood on my left was Church Wood. Up to this point, the bridleway hadn't been too bad, but now it became very muddy indeed - I realised how lucky I was that not all the paths and bridleways had been as bad as this today. As the bridleway reached a lane, I passed a couple of people collecting firewood, and one commented that I might be lucky and miss the rain. I saw what he meant, the skies (which had been quite bright when I started along the bridleway) were now very threatening indeed. I turned right and followed the lane almost a quarter of a mile to Cookley Green, but was overtaken by a heavy downpour before I got there.
The path continuing through Haycroft Wood
The path continuing through Haycroft Wood, after crossing the drive
View left over the parkland around Swyncombe House
The path going south through Haycroft Wood
The drive from Swyncombe House
The drive from Swyncombe House, just before I turned left
The bridleway along the eastern edge of Haycroft Wood
The bridleway along the eastern edge of Haycroft Wood
The bridleway continuing along the eastern edge of Church Wood
The lane into Cookley Green (it was about now it started to rain)