Pete's Walks - Bix Bottom and Rotherfield Peppard (page 2 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 have only walked this byway once or twice before, and I'm fairly sure this was the first time I'd walked it in this direction. It followed the bottom of the valley through the wood, then after a while there was a meadow or pasture over a hedge on my left, with the wood still on my right. I went straight on at a junction where another byway went right (towards a large house named Merrimoles, that I've often passed), now beginning a lengthy section of the route that was new to me. The byway continued along the valley, and after a while there were fields either side of me. I then turned right at another byway junction (going straight on would have brought me to Bix, I've walked the far end of the byway several times). This byway ran between fields either side for a hundred yards or so, then turned half-left as it briefly ran through another wood where, as it passed Westleaze Cottages, it became a surfaced drive. The byway turned slightly right as it left the wood, with a large open area of grass to my left - I was clearly on part of a large estate, rather than on farmland. The byway continued south for over quarter of a mile to a crossroads, where I turned right along a bridleway (I'd have reached Bromsden Farm if I'd gone straight on).
The byway after I turned left
The byway after I turned left
The byway after I continued straight on at a byway junction
The byway after I continued straight on at a byway junction
The byway after I continued straight on at a byway junction, approaching where I turned right
The start of the byway after I turned right
The byway after I turned right
The byway after I turned right
As I followed the bridleway along another surfaced drive, I could see what looked like an equestrian statue some way over to my left, close to Bromsden Farm - I've since searched the web for information about it, and apparently it's a a fibre-glass prop from a James Bond film! Originally the horse had wings (there are photos on the web showing the wings) but they have obviously dropped off or been removed. There is definitely a Bond connection to this area, I'm pretty sure I was on an estate that belonged (may even still belong) to the Fleming family - in fact, when the bridleway turned left after several hundred yards there was a wood on the left that was named Tartary after a successful novel by Peter Fleming, brother of the Bond author Ian Fleming. The bridleway continued along the drive through what was obviously more park land, until shortly after a cattle grid it ended at a bend in Rocky Lane.
The bridleway after I turned right (just before I'd have reached Bromsden Farm)
Statue near Bromsden Farm)
The bridleway after I turned right, just before it turns left (the wood called Tartary on the left)
Further along the bridleway
Further along the bridleway
I went straight on down Rocky Lane - this was now the fourth section of the lane that I've walked on various routes, plus I've also crossed it at a couple of places. In fact after two or three hundred yards I came to one of those crossing points, where I turned left into Padnell's Wood. I was briefly back on familiar territory until I reached a path crossroads and went straight on - this next section of the route I'd only walked once before, in the opposite direction, earlier this year. There were plenty of Bluebells in this wood, and the fresh leaves on the trees were almost dazzlingly green. On leaving the wood at a minor road I turned left, then immediately went left at a road junction, following a lane through Satwell as far as a junction by The Lamb At Satwell pub, where I turned right and soon came back to the same minor road (the B481).
Rocky Lane
The path through Padfield Wood
The path through Padfield Wood
The lane through Satwell
The lane after I turned right in Satwell