Pete's Walks- Redland End and Coombe Hill (page 1 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.
I did this circular walk of about 10.8 miles on Sunday, February 5th, 2017. It was a repeat of a walk I did in January 2016, but in the opposite direction (clockwise). I actually first walked this route clockwise in February 2015, but then I started at Coombe Hill. I chose to start at Redland End this time, partly because I thought the Coombe Hill car park might be full and partly because I hoped (in vain as it turned out) that by the time I walked from Redland End to Coombe Hill the fog and mist might have gone, so that I could enjoy the fine views.
I usually park on the southern edge of the tiny hamlet of Redland End where a footpath crosses a lane (grid reference SP 834022), but today there was a four-wheel drive vehicle already parked there and the remaining space was so muddy and rutted I was concerned I might get stuck. So I went back and parked on the other side of the hamlet, opposite where the lane meets the minor road from Whiteleaf Hill (I might not park here again, because it is very close to a blind bend, making it rather perilous when I left).
I walked down the lane, and turned right at the path crossing (where I usually park). The path ran through Hillock Wood, soon bearing slightly right, and then going half-left immediately after crossing a track. The path was now quite broad, but very muddy - unfortunately everywhere was muddy today, and with the mist and low clouds restricting all the views it wasn't exactly the best conditions for a walk. At the end of the path I turned right along a bridleway, heading north from Parslow's Hillock, still in Hillock Wood but now with part of the Chiltern escarpment sloping down through the trees on my left. After a third of a mile or so the bridleway turned slightly left, then soon went right. I now continued along an edge of the wood with a field on my left. This brought me to a minor road (the one I'd parked alongside in Redland End - there are more parking spaces here so this would make an alternative start for the walk). I turned left along the road, and was soon following it through the small hamlet of Green Hailey (ignoring the footpath on the right at the start of the hamlet, which I usually use).
The start of the path through Hillock Wood
The path through Hillock Wood
The bridleway going north through Hillock Wood
The bridleway after it turns right
The minor road through Green Hailey (the bridleway I took starts just a little past the white cottage)
Just past a white cottage on the right, I took a bridleway on that side. This crossed an empty pasture, and continued alongside the hedge on the far side. I then went straight on at a bridleway crossroads, entering Sergeant's Wood. A short distance into the wood I took a path going half-right, and after another short distance this merged with a track going left, following a line of telephone poles. I went 'straight on' at a staggered path crossroads (actually I had to go a few yards right then turn left) and soon reached the edge of the wood.
The start of the bridleway from Green Hailey
The path through Sergeant's Wood
The path through Sergeant's Wood
The path through Sergeant's Wood
The path through Sergeant's Wood, after the path 'crossroads'
The path then continued close to a hedge on my right, then carrying on beside Cross Coppice. On reaching the corner of this small wood, I turned left at a path T-junction, following a hedgerow on my left. Beyond the field to my right, the path soon entered Ninn Wood where I immediately turned right onto a crossing bridleway. This ran along the edge of the wood, with a tall hedge separating me from paddocks on my right, and after a quarter of a mile or so brought me to a minor road opposite the small car park immediately south of Pulpit Hill.
The path continuing from Sergeant's Wood, to pass Cross Coppice on the right (Pulpit Hill in the background)
The path after I turned left, heading to Ninn Wood
The bridleway along the eastern edge of Ninn Wood
The bridleway along the eastern edge of Ninn Wood