Pete's Walks - Cowleaze Wood, Chinnor, Ibstone (page 7 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 now had to follow the Ridgeway northeastwards for about a mile and a quarter. After about half a mile I started to pass the foot of Shirburn Hill on my right, and after another half mile I started to pass the valley between that hill and Bald Hill. The Ridgeway was now a broad grassy strip between hedges again, and soon I could see the M40 bridge that I'd walked under near the start of this walk. I could also see a wood, Old Cricketground Plantation, over to my right, and roughly when I was level with the far end of it I took a path starting at a gate in the hedge on my right.
The Ridgeway, heading northeast towards the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway, heading northeast towards the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway passing the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway passing the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway passing the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway continuing from the foot of Shirburn Hill
The Ridgeway continuing from the foot of Shirburn Hill (Beacon Hill ahead, on the right, which I passed near the start of the walk)
The path crossed a pasture to reach Old Cricketground Plantation and continued through it - this was mainly small trees and bushes, then there was just a small area of Beech trees just before the path left the wood. The path then turned left along the edge of a large grassy field, continuing through an area of scrub as it rose very slightly along the southern flank of Bald Hill. After a few hundred yards, the path turned right and crossed the end of the valley, moving from Bald Hill to Shirburn Hill, and then came a short steeper section through trees, The gradient was much easier as I then followed the right edge of a pasture to reach the road past Cowleaze Wood. I crossed the road and took the short path going left, parallel to the road, to return to the car park where I'd started.
The start of the path to Cowleaze Wood, after I turned right from the Ridgeway, heading to Old Cricketground Plantation
Old Cricketground Plantation
Old Cricketground Plantation
The path continuing along the side of Bald Hill
The path continuing along the side of Bald Hill
The path continuing along the side of Bald Hill
View back along the valley between Shirburn Hill and Bald Hill (right)
The path crossing the head of the valley between Shirburn Hill and Bald Hill
The path rising uphill through trees, on the Shirburn Hill side of the valley
The path continuing across a pasture (part of Aston Rowant nature reserve) to reach the road past Cowleaze Wood
The short path back to the car park in Cowleaze Wood
The walk had taken me six and a quarter hours, exactly the same time as the two previous times I'd followed the route clockwise. That's 45 minutes longer than what I usually do, and I certainly felt very tired at the end of it. But I wasn't as done in as when I first did it, I was still walking at a good pace along the Ridgeway near the end of the walk, instead of at a painful plod as I was when I first walked this route in 2016. In any case, I wanted a walk today that was a bit more challenging than usual, I seem to have had a run of slightly easier than usual walks recently.
It's an unusual route as it's sort of 'D' shaped, with the start and finish point about a third of the way up the straight bit. The straight bit is all along a very flat part of the Ridgeway, so apart from the initial descent and final ascent all the other eight ups and downs are crammed into the 11-12 mile curved section. So there's a quite long flat section near the start and a shorter but still lengthy flat section near the end. But even these sections along the Ridgeway were quite scenic, as the Chiltern escarpment was often in view across the fields to my right. And the curving section of the 'D' had numerous fine views and plenty of woodland walking, which I think is particular pleasant on a Spring day.