Pete's Walks- Redland End and Bryant's Bottom (page 2 of 6)
After a few hundred yards, I took a footpath on the right. This went up some steps between garden fences, then turned left and went through the ends of a number of gardens, with small gates between each one (I never like following paths through people's gardens, and felt very awkward going through a series of gardens). On reaching a road (which I recognised from my West Wycombe, Speen, Hughenden walk), I crossed over and went a few yards half-left down a short street, then took a footpath on the right. This led between two gardens, and on through a small meadow and then a couple of enclosures or pastures to a path crossroads (also on that West Wycombe, Speen, Hughenden walk).
The start of the footpath through Speen
The start of the second path through Speen
The second path through Speen
I turned left and followed a path beside a fence on my left, then further on a hedge - at one point there was a shallow pond on the other side of this field boundary. So far the path had been flat, but as it passed a field corner and crossed part of a large empty meadow, I could see the ground starting to drop away ahead of me. Soon, as I rejoined a hedgeline on my left there was a fine view ahead of me - the two valleys either side of me merged to form the Hughenden valley stretching away in front of me, with the villages of Upper North Dean, Lower North Dean and Hughenden itself visible ahead. The path dropped steadily downhill (I had a glimpse of a Fox here, disappearing into the hedgerow ahead of me), then I went over stiles either side of a small enclosure, and finally went past a farm to reach a road on the edge of Upper North Dean.
The start of the path going southeast from Speen to Upper North Dean
The path going southeast from Speen to Upper North Dean
Pond beside the path going southeast from Speen to Upper North Dean
The path going southeast from Speen to Upper North Dean
The path going southeast from Speen to Upper North Dean, near Bowley Wood
The path descending to Upper North Dean
I turned left, to reach a footpath maybe a hundred yards away on the other side of the road [WARNING: if you follow this route be very careful here, the path starts on a bend and I had a rather close encounter with a car here - if I do the walk again, I may turn right along the road and take the next footpath on the left, then taking the second path on the left in the wood to rejoin the route I actually took - I have shown this as 'Alternative 1' on the Google map] The path followed a fence on my right, soon going quite steeply uphill (much steeper than the photo below indicates!). There was an intermittent hedge on the left for much of the way. An unusual three-stepped stile then led into Hill's Wood (named on Google maps but not on the OS map). The path continued to go uphill through the wood, and I soon passed a path coming in from the right. When I then reached a path T-junction I turned left (this is where the alternative I mentioned above would come in, from the right). I soon reached a path junction by a corner of a field, where I kept right and within a few yards went over a stile into an empty paddock. The path went half-left across this to a metal kissing-gate, continuing in the same direction across a second paddock to reach a drive next to Piggott's Wood.
The path from Upper North Dean to Hill's Wood (not named on OS map) - as so often, my camera is lying about how steep the path is!
Looking left from the path to Hill's Wood - this gives a better idea of how steep the path is!
Looking back over Upper North Dean from the path to Hill's Wood
The path continuing through Hill's Wood
The path continuing through Hill's Wood
The path going left from the T-junction in Hill's Wood
The first field between Hill's Wood and Piggott's Wood
The second field between Hill's Wood and Piggott's Wood