Pete's Walks- Cadmore End and Little Frieth (page 3 of 3)
I ignored the first path that entered the wood on my right, and after another few hundred yards the path I was on turned into the woods itself. Within a few yards it turned left (white arrow on tree, as usual), and continued very gently uphill. At the next path junction I went right, the path almost immediately turning left so that it was more like a right-fork than a right-turn. After a few hundred yards the path turned right for a few yards then turned left, just inside a section of conifers. It then turned slightly right, and eventually reached the minor road that runs through Ibstone (the road I'd crossed earlier between Fingest and Turville).
The path to Ibstone continuing through the second section of wood
The path to Ibstone continuing through the second section of wood, just after I forked right
Further along the same path, in Park Wood
The road at Ibstone, by Ibstone House
I turned right along the road (this was now new walking territory for me), immediately passing the impressive Ibstone House on my left. When the high brick wall around the house ended, I turned left on a bridleway, which ran between wooden fences and dropped steadily downhill through the parkland around the large house - I saw a herd of Fallow Deer over to my left at one point, but I'm not sure whether they were wild or not as the surroundings looked very much like a Deer Park. At the bottom of the valley I turned right onto another bridleway, but only for a short distance before I turned left onto a track leading to Harecramp Cottages.
The start of the bridleway from Ibstone
The bridleway from Ibstone
The bridleway from Ibstone - it ends when it meets another bridleway running through the trees in the valley bottom
The track to Harecramp Cottages
The paths varied slightly from the OS map here - at the end of the field on my right, I continued a yard or two further then went over a stile on my right into the next field (the map shows the path entering the first field for a few yards then crossing the boundary between the two fields). The path headed half-left across the large field to reach a gate or stile on the far side. Across a lane a bridleway started, following the edge of a wood on my right and very gradually climbing uphill. The gradient steepened as the bridleway reached the end of the wood, then eased as it emerged into a grassy field and turned right. After some way, the bridleway turned left through some trees and soon reached a track. I was back on very familiar territory again, as I turned left along the track to return to Cadmore End, turning left in front of the church to make my way back to my parked car.
The track to Harecramp Cottages - I left the track immediately after the fence that comes in from the right
The path from near Harecramp Cottages to Chequers lane
Near the start of the bridleway continuing the other side of Chequers Lane
The bridleway continuing through the northern edge of Hanger Wood
The bridleway continuing beyond Hanger Wood
The bridleway continuing beyond Hanger Wood
The track leading into Cadmore End
It was such a shame about the fog - it had been some time since I'd managed a walk, and I'd been looking to trying some paths I'd not walked before. But it was still good to get out, and in a way it made a change to walk in these conditions. There was a lot of noise from the motorway at the start of the walk, but once I headed away from the M40 I soon forgot about it. Many of the paths were quite muddy, but not too bad and after all, that's to be expected at this time of year. I think overall the walk would be quite good if done at a better time of year - there would be some good views along the way, and a good mixture of woods, fields and commons. I'd certainly like to use those paths between Ibstone and Cadmore End again, I'm sure I'll incorporate them into other routes in the future.