Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove Common, Watlington Hill, Northend (page 4 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.
The path initially ran through a Beech wood. After some distance it changed from Beech to a mixture of deciduous trees, I presume this is where Shotridge Wood ends and Blackmoor Wood begins. I was now looking out for a path junction where I wanted to turn right. I remembered one time being surprised at how far I had to go to reach the junction, but even so I was starting to get worried that I might have missed it. Eventually (about half a mile after the last junction, according to the OS map) I spotted white arrows indicating a junction (on a tree just left of the path). I turned right, this path being the one I'd only walked once previously. It started quite steeply uphill, but only for a short while before turning slightly left and rising more gently - I spotted three Fallow Deer here, but they were off before I had a chance to take a photo. Further on there was quite a lot of holly bushes, then the path turned right, soon leaving the wood and running between gardens to reach a drive. At the end of the drive, I turned left along the road through Northend (like Southend, named after its position within the parish of Turville).
The path descending through Shotridge Wood
The path descending through Shotridge Wood
The path descending through Blackmore Wood
The path descending through Blackmore Wood
The start of the path through Blackmore Wood after I turned right
The path through Blackmore Wood
The path through Blackmore Wood (just before it turns right)
The path continuing from Blackmore Wood into Northend
I floowed the road until some trees started on the right, where I took a bridleway that started on that side. It soon brought me to a gate, through which I turned left between garden boundaries (Launders Farm was to my right). Through another gate it followed a hedge on my left, and continued straight on where the hedge ended, following a slight valley gradually downhill. It then ran through part of Fire Wood.
The road through Northend
The bridleway near Launders Farm, Northend
The bridleway between Northend and Fire Wood
The bridleway between Northend and Fire Wood
Fire Wood
Fire Wood
I went straight on when the path crossed a bridleway - from here to the end of the walk I'd be following a route I walk very frequently, but this would be the first time I'd walked it in this direction for many years. The path now rose quite steeply to reach the edge of the wood. I then found two trees had been brought down, including a mature Beech tree, completely blocking the path's exit from the wood. Possibly they were victims of Storm Henk, two days ago. I managed to clamber over them, and continued up the path (I was pleased that it was much less steep than it it seems when coming down it) to reach Hollandridge Lane (a track). Here I met the couple I'd seen earlier at the foot of Watlington Hill, we each recognised each other and stopped and chatted for a few minutes. The lady said she thought they'd seen some Long-tailed Tits, which I haven't seen on any of my walks for a long time (though I see them in our garden occasionally).
Fire Wood, after I crossed a bridleway
Two trees blocking the path's exit from Fire Wood, possibly brought down by Storm Henk two days ago
Looking back at the fallen beech tree
The path continuing to Hollandridge Lane (near Hollandridge Farm)