Pete's Walks- Southeast from Watlington Hill (page 3 of 3)
Instead of going over the stile and leaving the wood, I turned left and followed a bridleway that dropped downhill through the trees. In the valley bottom I took the bridleway going right (on the second of two tracks close together here - a white arrow on a tree pointed the way). The track was roughly surfaced and followed the valley floor for some distance - in fact I thought I could have gone wrong (it has been known to happen! :)) as the map clearly shows the bridleway rising up the slope that was on my left. However every so often there was another white arrow on a tree, so I was obviously on the correct route. Eventually there was a fenced enclosure within the wood on my left, and I saw a group of pigs here (the sandy coloured ones were possibly Tamworths, I thought).
The bridleway descending through College Wood
The start of the bridleway going northwest through College Wood
The bridleway going northwest through College Wood
The bridleway going northwest through College Wood
The bridleway just before it leaves the wood
On finally leaving the wood the bridleway turned right, along a track between fields either side. The track soon turned left and led on to a gate on a road. I turned left, and followed the road the short distance to Greenfield (I could have shortened the walk by following the road right instead, to reach Christmas Common). Opposite a farm that sells Christmas trees, I went through a gate in a brick wall on the right of the road, to enter Greenfield Copse. The path led through what were mainly beech trees and started to descend another hill. The path ended at a junction with a bridleway on the edge of the wood, where I turned right. The bridleway soon turned left, but I went straight on along a path through a thin belt of trees. After a while the path went left, and followed a hedgerow to reach the Watlington to Nettlebed road.
The bridleway going north (right) from where it leaves the wood
The bridleway heading towards the road
The road, heading from Christmas Common to Greenfield
The path through Greenfield Copse
The path through Greenfield Copse
The path through the tree belt
The path continuing to the Watlington-Nettlebed road
I turned right and followed the road towards Watlington, stepping onto the verge quite frequently as traffic went by. After a few hundred yards a footpath went right, along a drive. Another path soon forked left, soon running between hedgerows either side. It then started a long gradual climb up Watlington Hill - there were initially two parallel paths here, and I chose the left-hand one which ran in an ancient 'hollow way' amongst some Yew trees. The paths came together again after a while, and continued uphill, eventually leading me back to the car park where I'd started..
Near the start of the path up Watlington Hill
The path up Watlington Hill - I stuck to the old hollow way by the yews, but you can see the other path to the right
The path up Watlington Hill
The path up Watlington Hill, almost back at the car park
The walk took me about three and three quarter hours, possibly a little slow for 10.5 miles. But I'm definitely not fully fit, and did stop frequently to take a photograph (I took just over a 100, more than I usually take on a 5 hour walk). It also seemed a very up and down route, and I felt quite tired when I got back to the car.
It was certainly an enjoyable route, although as I mentioned earlier if I did it again I'd take a different route through College Wood to Greenfield in order to avoid the road walk (I only went the way I did today because it involved a bridleway I'd not walked before). As you can see from the photos it was a gloriously sunny day, and the photos don't do justice to some of the beautiful autumn colours.