Pete's Walks - Variation on 'Four Hills' Walk (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 quickly came to the end of the lane, by what was formerly The Rising Sun pub, where I took a bridleway going half-right (a footpath going right starts at the same point). The bridleway gradually wound its way down a wooded hillside over the course of about half a mile. Somewhere along here I had an interesting wildlife sighting - I spotted a Roe Deer in the trees over to my right, and as I watched it I saw something moving just in front of it, which I immediately recognised as the tail of a Muntjac! I moved a few yards further along the bridleway so I could get a slightly clearer view of the Roe Deer, and again I spotted the tail of a Muntjac. The Muntjac then ran off, and as it did so, not only did the Roe deer run off as well but also a second Muntjac! This is certainly the first time I've seen these two species of deer simultaneously, though I think I may have once seen a Muntjac and some Fallow Deer at the same time.
The start of the bridleway from Little Hampden to Dunsmore
The bridleway from Little Hampden to Dunsmore
The bridleway from Little Hampden to Dunsmore
The bridleway from Little Hampden to Dunsmore
On eventually reaching a crossing of rights of ways in the valley bottom, I turned left along a bridleway heading to Dunsmore Old Farm. I didn't go that far, as I looked out for and found a stile on the right, over which a path crossed an empty pasture, rising uphill at an angle as it did so. Over another stile, I aimed for the rightmost of two stiles in the opposite fence of another empty pasture. The path then levelled out as it crossed another pasture to stile in the far right corner. The skies had darkened, and there was quite a heavy hail shower as I crossed this pasture. I then turned right along the lane through Dunsmore, turning left into another lane opposite the village duck pond (but only after having had my lunch on a seat by the pond, despite the hail).
The bridleway after I turned left, heading to Dunsmore Old Farm
The footpath up to Dunsmore
The footpath up to Dunsmore
The footpath approaching Dunsmore
The lane through Dunsmore
The lane through Dunsmore, after I turned left
The hail was over by the time I reached the edge of Dunsmore, where the lane ended and a bridleway continued (towards Coombe Hill). I almost immediately forked right along another bridleway, that initially ran for some distance between paddocks either side. On reaching a tree belt, the bridleway turned half-right through the trees. After a hundred yards or so I went half-left along a footpath, which initially dropped quite steeply as it made its way through Coxgrove Wood. The path then rose uphill for just a few yards and then after another quarter of a mile or so I was delighted to see my first Wood Anemones of 2019. I then came to a path junction where I went left, and soon reached the edge of the wood.
The bridleway after I forked right on the edge of Dunsmore
The bridleway after I forked right on the edge of Dunsmore
The bridleway after I forked right on the edge of Dunsmore
The path after I forked left from the bridleway, to head through Coxgrove Wood
Coxgrove Wood
Coxgrove Wood
Coxgrove Wood