Pete's Walks- Chinnor Hill and Stokenchurch (page 4 of 4)
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.
The path soon levelled out as it continued between fences and hedges to reach the lane through Sprig's Alley. I turned right and followed the lane for about a quarte of a mile. It bent right and then just after it bent left I took a bridleway on the right (opposite a long white cottage). This was soon running downhill into a valley, between a fence and Venus Wood on my right, with a nice view ahead of me. It seemed quite steep in places, considering it was a bridleway.
The path continuing to Sprig's Alley
The road through Sprig's Alley
The road through Sprig's Alley
The start of the bridleway after I turned right from the road
The bridleway descending beside Venus Wood
The bridleway descending beside Venus Wood
In the valley bottom I went straight on up the other side of the valley, now in Sunley Wood. Again this was quite steep to begin with, and I felt sorry for any horses that were ridden up here. But the steepness soon eased, and after I drew level with a field on the right, the bridleway levelled out and ran just inside the wood for several hundred yards until it reached a road.
The bridleway starting to ascend through Sunley Wood
The bridleway ascending through Sunley Wood
The bridleway through Sunley Wood
The bridleway through Sunley Wood
I turned left and carefully followed the road for about a third of a mile, to a junction on a corner where the road turned left. Here I turned right along Hill Top Lane, following it for another third of a mile to where it ended at the Chinnor Hill car park. The walk had taken me just under four hours (but I'm very slow nowadays, particularly going downhill).
The road walk, after I turned left
The road walk
Hill Top Lane, leading to the Chinnor Hill car park
Hill Top Lane, leading to the Chinnor Hill car park
I did this walk because I wanted to walk the long path from near Mallard's Court to Sprig's Alley northwards, which I'd not done before, and when I planned the route I was able to easily incorporate the path past Gurdon's Farm that I'd never been along. I thought the long stretch along the Ridgeway might be a bit tedious, but I hadn't walked it in that direction for some time and enjoyed it (despite the mud!). Overall, it was the most enjoyable walk I've had for quite a while - but it was a lovely sunny day for a walk, and the trees were approaching their finest Autumn colours, so almost any walk would seem good on such a day! As I've mentioned earlier, if I did it again I might start at that parking area near Chinnor, as it would slightly split up the long section along the Ridgeway and as the lane to the Chilton Hill car park is narrow with few passing places (I had a tight squeeze when I met a car on my way from the car park).