Pete's Walks- Christmas Common, Turville, Cadmore End (page 3 of 6)
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.
Google map (this walk started at Christmas Common instead of Watlington Hill, and follow 'Alternative 1' on the map)
I turned right to enter Turville, and just past the church on my right I took a footpath on the left. This is one of the steepest paths I know in the Chilterns, as it rises up Turville Hill to Cobstone Mill following a fence on the right. Fortunately the very steep part isn't very long. When bushes prevented the path from following the fence any further, I went a few yards left to an open grass area, from where it was only a short distance to the top of the hill. I was rewarded for the effort by some fine views over Turville and the surrounding woods, hills and valleys.
Turville
Moss-covered graves behind Turville church
Turville church
The path from Turville up Turville Hill to Cobstone Mill
The path from Turville up Turville Hill to Cobstone Mill
View from near the top of Turville Hill, back towards Churchfield Wood and Idlecombe Wood on top of the opposite side of the valley
View from near the top of Turville Hill, back back over Turville
I then went a few yards right along a lane and took a footpath starting on the other side. This started through a wood with fences on either side of the path, but after a while went through a gap in the fence on the left. The path then dropped steadily downhill through the wood, until near the bottom of the slope it emerged into a grassy field. The path continued to a corner of this field where it merged with a bridleway and a few yards further on I reached a lane.
The start of the path down the other side of Turville Hill
The path down the other side of Cobstone Hill
The path down the other side of Cobstone Hill
The path down the other side of Cobstone Hill - the route continue beside the fence going uphill to Hanger Wood
I went right along the lane for maybe a hundred yards, then took a footpath on the left. This followed a fence on my right (separating two large sheep pastures, that were empty today), climbing steadily uphill to Hanger Wood. This isn't as steep as the path up Turville Hill, but longer (and still steep enough!). The path continued further uphill through the wood - when it finally flattened out, arrows and waymarks showed where the path left a track only to cross the same track a little further on. The path ended at a T-junction with a much broader path, where I turned left. This path then merged with a bridleway just as it left Hanger Wood, and I continued along a hedge-lined track for a quarter of a mile or so to reach Cadmore End.
The path up to Hanger Wood
Looking back from the path up to Hanger Wood, towards Turville Hill (this gives a better idea of the steepness of this path
Looking along the valley called Twigside Bottom (or at least part of it is)
The path continuing up through Hanger Wood
The path after I turned left in Hanger Wood
The bridleway from Hanger Wood to Cadmore End
The bridleway from Hanger Wood to Cadmore End