Pete's Walks - Cowleaze Wood, Stokenchurch, Shirburn Hill (page 5 of 5)
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.
Shortly after the fields to my left ended, I left the drive and took a footpath on the left. This ran through an area of grass and bushes at the foot of Pyrton Hill, where amongst other wildflowers I noticed some Clustered Bellflower. After going through a gate and entering a Shirburn Wood, the footpath almost immediately forked left from the faint track it had been following, and ran along just inside the edge of the wood, with fields to my left. The path soon turned right and then left again, still just staying inside the wood.
Near the start of the path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill, now running along the edge of Shirburn Wood
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill, just before it turns right
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill, after it turns right
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill, after it turns left
I could now see Shirburn Hill ahead of me. About a third of a mile after turning left, the path left Shirburn Wood and started a long climb up Shirburn Hill. I was feeling very tired by now, and stopped once or twice more than I normally would as I plodded my way to the top. Near the top of the slope the path passed through another bit of Shirburn Wood, then I went over a stile on the left and crossed an almost flat cow pasture (aiming for the far left corner). I then just had to cross a road, go a few yards left and take a short path that led into the end of the Cowleaze Wood car park.
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
View left from the path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
The path going northeast back to Shirburn Hill
The path up Shirburn Hill
View back from the path up Shirburn Hill
The path up Shirburn Hill
The field before the road that passes Cowleaze Wood
I'm still not fully fit, though I think I'm more or less over my bout of long Covid (but I still can't taste or smell filtered coffee!). With hindsight I should have shortened the route by taking one of the three paths back to Cowleaze Wood that I mentioned above. But at the time I reached them I was feeling fine, it was only as I was passing the foot of Shirburn Hill that I seemed to run out of energy. To be honest, I think the shortened version of the walk would be pleasanter, when I planned the route I only extended it past Shirburn Hill and then back again in order to make the walk up to around 8 miles rather than around 6 miles. I've added an 'Alternative 1' to my Google map to show the path I'd take to shorten the route.
I certainly enjoyed the new paths I walked today, and I'll probably include them in other routes in the future. The path through the sheep pasture to North Remlets Wood was really good, I was lucky that I did it during a sunny part of the day so the views were at their best.