Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove Common, Watlington Hill, Northend (page 3 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.
Immediately after going through a second gate, I turned left to follow a path up to the top of Watlington Hill. This ran a short way through a wood, including a section of Yew trees. It then ran beside the Yew wood on my right, the hillside on my left appearing to have recently been cleared of scrub. The path had so far been gaining height gently, but shortly after the Yew Wood ended it turned slightly right and climbed more steeply. Towards the top I chose to take a path forking right to a bench and a silver birch tree (because I always remember passing this tree). I stopped at the bench to take some photos, then continued the short distance to the top of the hill and took some more photos.
The path up Watlington Hill, after I turned left immediately after a gate
The path up Watlington Hill
The path up Watlington Hill
The path up Watlington Hill (I chose to take the path forking right to the bench and silver birch tree)
View from near the top of Watlington Hill
View from near the top of Watlington Hill
View from the top of Watlington Hill
I then continued along the top of the hill, sometimes with views to Shirburn Hill and Pyrton Hill on my left. At this point I was considering a couple of options for my route, but decided I'd make my decision when I got to Christmas Common. The path went though a gate, and it was then surfaced as it led on to a small bit of wood and then the Watlington Hill car park.
The path along the top of Watlington Hill
The path along the top of Watlington Hill
Shirburn Hill (furthest away) and Pyrton Hill from Watlington Hill
The path continuing to the Watlington Hill car park
The path continuing to the Watlington Hill car park
From the car park entrance I turned right along the road, following it for a straight quarter of a mile to a T-junction on the edge of Christmas Common. I'd now decided to extend my route a little, just to include a section of path I'd only walked once before (this was part of the route I'd intended doing from Christmas Common, and was the main reason I'd wanted to repeat that walk). So I turned left, and just after leaving the village turned right onto a footpath that started down a drive. When the drive turned right, I continued on into Shotridge Wood, the path soon curving left. On reaching a junction I went right, the path curving right and passing some small pits on my right. I soon came to another path junction, where I turned left onto a long path that descends gradually through the woods to eventually reach the Wormsley Valley, though I wasn't following it that far today.
The road from Watlington Hill to Christmas Common
The start of the path from Christmas Common
The path from Christmas Common, continuing into Shotridge Wood
The path from Christmas Common, approaching the junction where I turned right
The path from Christmas Common, after I turned right (I turned left at a junction after a hundred yards or so)