Pete's Walks- Ibstone, Wheeler End and Skirmett (page 3 of 5)
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.
Across the road, a footpath continued uphill through an empty paddock to reach a path junction on the edge of Moussells Wood. Here I turned right, the path immediately turning left so that I more or less continued in the same direction as before. I followed the path through the wood for about a third of a mile (the OS map shows paths off on both side, but on the ground there was just a path crossroads) and then turned left at another path crossroads (I don't remember the path on the right being indicated by a waymark, but I know it's there as I've walked it a couple of times). I soon left the wood, the path continuing between fences to reach a lane corner in Little Frieth. Here I took the lane ahead of me, but only for a very short distance before taking a footpath on the right.
The path going uphill to Moussells Wood
The path through Moussells Wood
The path from Moussells Wood to Little Frieth
Little Frieth (I turned right at the footpath sign after the parked car)
The path went through a garden gate and ran between a cottage and a garden. It then went through a kissing gate and turned left. I stopped here to sit on a seat and eat my lunch (it was now about 12.50pm), admiring the view and spotting a distant Fallow deer in a field corner. I then continued along the path, which ran between hedges and fences, with a nice view over the green fields on my right. Across a lane, the path continued along a headland between fields and descended slightly to reach Hill's Wood. The path went slightly right on entering the wood (another path went left, but that is not on the map so presumably not a right of way), and then turned further right beside a tall fence. As I reached a metal gate with a built-in stile where the path joined a bridleway, I heard a bark somewhere behind me. Expecting to see a dog, I turned round and saw two foxes running through the wood very close to me.
The path going south from Little Frieth
The path continuing after crossing a lane, heading to Hill's Wood
The path through Hill's Wood
The path through Hill's Wood (or Hatchet Wood)
I turned right down the bridleway which was gradually dropping downhill towards the village of Skirmett, with hedges on either side. At a gap in the left-hand hedgerow I stopped to take a photo of the view towards Arizona Farm in the Hambleden valley - as I did so, I saw a fox run across the field in front of me and I managed to get a rather distant photo of it. I presumed it was one of the two I'd seen a few minutes earlier. The bridleway eventually reached a lane, where I turned left to enter Skirmett.
The bridleway descending towards Skirmett
Arizona Farm, in the Hambleden Valley near Skirmett
A fox, seen from the bridleway to Skirmett
A view from the bridleway descending towards Skirmett
The lane into Skirmett
I went straight on at a road junction, soon crossing a bridge over Hambleden Brook. Just after the road turned left, I took a footpath on the right. This initially ran between garden fences, then climbed quite steeply between hedges. It was steeper and longer than I remembered, and I was pleased to reach a right bend where the path was level for a short distance, before it turned left and became steep again. I heard and saw two more Ravens here, before the gradient eased as the path entered Great Wood.
The start of the path to Great Wood
The path to Great Wood
The path continuing through Great Wood