Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Turville, Cadmore End (page 6 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.
Google map (this walk started at Christmas Common instead of Watlington Hill, and follow 'Alternative 1' on the map)
On reaching the bottom edge of the wood, the path followed a fence on the left (with large sheep pastures either side) to reach Hale Wood, a nice beech wood. On the far side of this wood the path continued across a field (it was full of poppies when I cam here earlier this year). On the far side of the field I came to a junction of bridleways with one of the Wormsley Estate drives, where I turned right along a bridleway through the Wormsley Valley.
The path continuing from Great Wood to Hale Wood
Hale Wood
The path continuing from Hale Wood.
The bridleway through the Wormsley Valley
After a quarter of a mile or so, I turned left where a path crossed the bridleway, thus briefly joining the route of the Chiltern Way. The path crossed a large field, went over another of the Wormsley Estate drives, and descended slightly through another field to a gate. The path then went a few yards right along another of the drives, before turning left. Fairly soon I came to a path junction where the Chiltern Way went left (to Northend), but I went straight on along a fairly level path through a narrow section of Blackmoor Wood. There was a short section with the wood either side, then a sheep pasture close by on my right. The path was now rising very slightly, and after the end of the pasture it steepened (but was still only a moderate gradient). Towards the top of the slope the wood changed to be a beech wood (this may also be where it became Shotridge Wood). I usually follow this path at the end of a walk (as today) and often find it a long struggle, but today it didn't seem to go on quite as long as I feared and was even less steep than I remembered. Eventually I reached a path T-junction where I turned right, then after a couple of hundred yards or so I turned left at another path junction (white arrow on a tree, but no waymark - there are more white arrows on the path continuing straight on). This path continued through the wood, then went straight on along a drive to reach a road, where I turned left to return to Christmas Common and my parked car.
The path across the Wormsley Estate, after I turned left
The same path after it has crossed Wormsley estate drive
The path after I crossed a drive on the Wormsley Estate
The footpath through Blackmoor Wood
The footpath through Blackmoor Wood
The footpath through Blackmoor Wood
The footpath through Blackmoor Wood
The path continuing through Shotridge Wood
The path continuing through Shotridge Wood, shortly before it reaches a path T-junction
The path in Shotridge Wood, after I eventually turned right at the T-junction at the top of the long uphill section
The path in Shotridge Wood, after I turned left
The drive at the end of the path in Shotridge Wood
The road into Christmas Common
As I've already mentioned, it was a much greyer (and cooler) day than I'd expected, with only the occasional brighter interval. This was a shame, because this is a very scenic route with plenty of good views, but also with many very pleasant and lengthy stretches through woodland. It's one of the most strenuous routes I walk in the Chilterns (which is probably why I haven't done it more often!), the two hills after Turville making that section probably the toughest mile's walking I know of in this region. The long gradual climb through Blackmoor and Shotridge Woods can also be a bit of a drag at the end of a walk, though I coped with that better today than I usually do. The walk took me six hours, 20-30 minutes longer than other 15-mile walks I do.