Pete's Walks - Walk from Maidensgrove (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.
Google map of the walk Download GPX file of the walk
I turned left along the edge of the common. In a corner (note: exactly in the corner, not the path a few yard further to the right) the path entered a wood and descended gently through the trees to reach the minor road running through the valley of Pishill Bottom. Across the road I went straight on along a permissive path (cutting off a small corner of the Chiltern Way), rising steeply through Shambridge Wood. The path went straight on where a tall fence on the right went half-right, soon coming to a bridleway where I turned right and rejoined the route of the Chiltern Way..
The path from Russell's Water Common to Pishill Bottom
The path from Russell's Water Common to Pishill Bottom
The permissive path from Pishill Bottom
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The next mile or so was very pleasant, as I followed the up-and-down bridleway through the adjoining Shambridge, Greenfield and College Woods, a section I remember fondly from my two Chiltern Way walks. The bridleway soon dropped into a small valley and rose up the other side. The bridleway then gradually dropped down into another valley (another bridleway went left at the bottom) where I spotted my first Nettle-leaved Bellflower of 2020, and then climbed up the other side. It then turned right, gradually descending for about a third of a mile to another valley bottom (where again a bridleway went left), before going more steeply up the other side
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The bridleway through Shambridge Wood
The bridleway through Greenfield Wood
The bridleway through Greenfield Wood
This is the second valley bottom, I think this is where College Wood begins
The bridleway through College Wood
The bridleway through College Wood, after it turns right
The bridleway through College Wood
The bridleway through College Wood, shortly after the third valley Bottom
The bridleway through College Wood