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I did this 13 mile circular walk on Saturday, 13th February 2010. Click here to see a rough map of the walk (but only if you have already read my disclaimer and notes regarding maps).
This was my first walk in about two and a half weeks, and my first walk since I returned to full-time employment (!!!) on 1st February. I wanted to do something a bit different rather than walk one of my usual routes, and also wanted to travel a little further afield than I have generally been doing this last year or so. The first two-thirds of this route followed a walk I did about two and a half years ago, when I was doing exploratory walks for my Chiltern Chain Walk - this section didn't get included in the final route and so has not been described on these pages before. The rest of the route follows a bit of the Chiltern Way and a section of the Oxfordshire Way that I did include in my Chiltern Chain Walk.
I parked my car near one end of the huge common at Maidensgrove, in the Oxfordshire part of the Chilterns. The Chiltern Way Guide Book refers to this end of the common as Maidensgrove Common, though that name does not appear on the OS Map which names the entire common after the village of Russell's Water which is about a mile away at the western end of the common. A Red Kite flew low overhead as I picked up my rucksack and set off about 10.20am, and a few very small flakes of snow fell as I made my way along the edge of the common to a lane in Maidensgrove. I followed the lane to my right, and then turned right on a long bridleway that descended gradually through the trees of part of the Warburg Nature Reserve to reach the valley of Bix Bottom.
Part of the huge common at Maidensgrove.
The bridleway between Maidensgrove and the valley of Bix Bottom
The bridleway between Maidensgrove and the valley of Bix Bottom
The bridlewayapproaching the valley of Bix Bottom
As I passed the ruined church in Bix Bottom I rejoined the route of the Chiltern Way. I turned right at Valley End Farm, and then left to go uphill and through Bushy Copse. On the far side I crossed a cabbage field to reach the edge of the village of Bix.
The ruined church in Bix Bottom
The ruined church in Bix Bottom
The path from Valley End Farm, Bix Bottom
Looking back over Valley End Farm and Bix Bottom
Path through Bushy Copse
Approaching Bix
I crossed a main road and, leaving the Chiltern Way, went a few yards down a lane before turning left onto a footpath through Hatch Copse. This led on to the larger Earl's Wood, where the footpath eventually turned right, before I took a path going uphill to the right that took me to Rocky Lane.
The path through Hatch Copse
The path through Earl's Wood
The path through Earl's Wood
I crossed the lane and continued on a path between wire fences, leading down and up either side of another valley - there was a large orchard to the left at one point, rather unusual in the Chilterns I thought (though some parts were known for their Cherry Orchards at one time, I believe). The path led to a track or drive, where I went a short distance left to reach the attractive hamlet of Shepherd's Green.
The path between Rocky Lane and Shepherd's Green
Shepherd's Green
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