Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Watlington, Fire Wood (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 eventually left the wood and continued across a meadow to reach a track name Hollandridge Lane (it dates back to the Saxons). Across this, the path continued a short way close to a tall hedge to my right, then went slightly left to drop down hill through a field of stubble to reach Fire Wood. At the bottom of the slope I went straight on at a crossroads of rights of way, now on a bridleway.
On leaving Fire Wood, I spent about 50 minutes looking for butterflies. I just walked back and forth along the bridleway, between Fire Wood and a solitary tree. When I was here about three and a half weeks ago I saw six or seven Clouded Yellows, and I was hoping to see a variation of them called 'form Helice'. About 10% of female Clouded Yellows are this form, meaning they are white instead of yellow on the upper sided of the wings. Unfortunately, although I definitely saw one, it never landed anywhere near me so I was unable to get a photograph. But there were again at least six or seven of the normal Clouded Yellows, and I managed to photograph some of those.
The path continuing from College Wood to Hollandridge Lane
The path between Hollandridge Lane and Fire Wood
The path continuing to Fire Wood
Fire Wood
Fire Wood
The bridleway from Fire Wood to Northend (I spent 50 minutes or so going up and down between the wood and the solitary tree looking for butterflies)
I then continued along the bridleway, until it came to a junction by Launder's Farm. Here I turned left along a footpath, initially with a long brick building on my left and then along the left edge of two or three paddocks.
The bridleway to Northend
The bridleway to Northend
The path after I turned left (near Launder's Farm, Northend)
Further along the same path
Further along the same path
I then entered another wood, at some point then entering another part of Fire Wood, until the path ended when it met a crossing bridleway. I turned right here but the bridleway then immediately turned left and led very gently uphill through Prior's Grove. After a few hundred yards it brought me back to Hollandridge Lane, where it enters Christmas Common. I then turned right and followed the lane for just over a quarter of a mile to its end at a road junction, where my car was just a few yards to the left.
The same path continuing through another part of Fire Wood
The path just before ending at a crossing bridleway
The bridleway through Prior's Grove
The bridleway through Prior's Grove
Hollandridge Lane
Hollandridge Lane
Hollandridge Lane
It had been a very pleasant summer's day, mainly sunny with temperatures around 21 or 22 centigrade, which was a pleasant relief after the long series of heatwaves there have been this summer. And generally, this had been a very pleasant walk - it's been a while since I've walked any new paths, and it was nice to walk some that I'd not used for many years. But, as I've already mentioned, I was disappointed that the path I took down Watlington Hill didn't have the views I'd thought it would have. So if I walked this route again, I'd probably take a different route down Watlington Hill.