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.
I followed the road for about a hundred yards, then took a bridleway forking half-right into the wooded part of Ibstone Common. After a while I passed two ponds on the right, where I spotted some Marsh Marigolds. At a bridleway junction I went right, and soon came to another junction by a metal gate, close to where the wooded part of Ibstone Common meets the grassy part (on my left). Here I took a short detour to a seat where I had a very late lunch (it was now about 1.50pm). I then returned to the metal gate, through which a bridleway continued a short way between hedges, then started a very long and gradual descent through Commonhill Wood. Some where along here I found Primroses growing amongst tree roots next to the bridleway - I remembered seeing them here before. A little further on I came to a path junction, where I took a path going left. This dropped steeply through the trees for a short distance, to reach a stile on the edge of the wood.
The start of the bridleway through Ibstone Common
Pond on Ibstone Common
The start of the bridleway from Ibstone Common, descending through Commonhill Wood
The bridleway from Ibstone Common, descending through Commonhill Wood
The bridleway from Ibstone Common, descending through Commonhill Wood
Primroses, growing amongst tree roots beside the bridleway
The bridleway from Ibstone Common, descending through Commonhill Wood
As I crossed the stile there was a fine view ahead over the Wormsley valley. I turned right, and followed a fence-line gently downhill through a very large sheep pasture. At the bottom of the slope I crossed a bridleway, and continued straight on across a large arable field. After crossing one of the drives on the Wormsley Estate, the path bore slightly left as it crossed part of another empty sheep pasture. I then turned right for a few yards along another of the Wormsley Estate drives before the path continued on the other side, heading to Christmas Common.
View along the Wormsley valley, from the stile along the path after I turned left in Commonhill Wood
The path continuing across the Wormsley valley
The path continuing across the Wormsley valley
The path continuing across the Wormsley valley
The path continuing across the Wormsley valley, after crossing a Wormsley Estate drive
After a little while I kept right at a fork or junction (the Chiltern Way goes left here, to Northend). It was now about a mile of woodland walking to reach the vicinity of Christmas Common, the path being uphill all the way - almost imperceptibly so at first, but gradually getting a little steeper. At first the path runs through Blackmoor Wood, but later it is in Shotridge Wood - I think the boundary is where the wood changes to being a Beech wood, which is also where the steepest part of the path begins (though even this is still a fairly gentle gradient).
The start of the path to Christmas Common
The path to Christmas Common, in Blackmoor Wood
The path to Christmas Common, in Blackmoor Wood
The path to Christmas Common, in Blackmoor Wood
The path to Christmas Common, in Shotridge Wood
The path to Christmas Common, in Shotridge Wood
The path to Christmas Common, in Shotridge Wood