Pete's Walks- West Wycombe and Moorend Common (page 1 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 of the walkDownload GPX file of the walk

PLEASE NOTE: The very large car park in West Wycombe used to be free. When I came here on 15th January 2022 I found it is now a pay and display car park, only free if you stay less than one hour and costing £4 if you stay more than 2 hours. I think you have to pay by credit card, I don't think the machine takes cash.

I did this circular walk of about 11 miles on Friday, June 9th, 2017. It was a new route, with several paths that I'd never walked before - I wanted to take a second look at the orchids I'd seen last week at Moorend Common, and concocted this route to reach them from the north instead of approaching from the south as I did last week.

I parked in the car park at West Wycombe (grid reference SU 826947), and started walking at roughly 11:55am. I'd deliberately left home about an hour later than usual because of the rain showers forecast for the morning, and it had rained on and off all the time I was driving to West Wycombe (in fact I waited a couple of minutes for the last shower to stop before I set off). From the entrance to the car park, I turned right towards West Wycombe and then turned right again to follow the A40 out of the village. After 3-400 yards I turned left into Toweridge Lane, and followed it steadily uphill towards a wood (coming at the start of a walk like this, this section always gets me puffing and panting). The lane continued uphill through the wood, then at the top of the slope it turned left and became a track (another track went right here). After two or three hundred yards a footpath went right (starting immediately before a cottage on that side), soon following a hedgerow on my left with an arable field on my right.

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The A40 heading out of West Wycombe (towards Oxford)

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Toweridge Lane

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Toweridge Lane in Towerage (I must have been half-asleep, I forgot to take my usual photo of the equestrian statue here)

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The footpath going south from Towerage

The path then dropped downhill through a wood, and continued downhill through a meadow of long grass. near the valley bottom, the path enters a wood, running close to the edge of the wood on the left. On emerging at a corner of the wood, it joins a bridleway going straight on along a track which soon reaches Fryers Farm on the right. Here the track goes left, but I went straight on along a footpath through a paddock, following a hedge on my right and then turning right when the hedge did so. Over a stile, I turned left along the other side of a hedge, and further on passed Sandage Wood to reach a minor road.

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The footpath going south from Towerage, just after leaving the wood

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The footpath approaching Fryers Farm

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The footpath from Fryers Farm, before it turns right

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The path past Sandage Wood

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Looking right (west) towards Wheeler End, from the same spot as the previous photo

I turned right along the road, immediately crossing the M40 motorway, then took a footpath starting a few yards down a drive on my left. This ran through part of Widdenton Park Wood, turning right at one point. On reaching the other side of the wood, I turned left and followed a drive to a reservoir surrounded by a tall green fence. A footpath followed the fence to the right of the reservoir, and followed the fence as it turned left behind the reservoir. At the next corner of the fence,  the path turned right to continue south eastwards through another part of Widdenton Park Wood.

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Near the start of the first path in Widdenton Park Wood

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Near the end of the first path in Widdenton Park Wood

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The drive to the reservoir

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The path continuing to the right of the reservoir

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The path continuing behind the reservoir

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The path continuing southeast through Widdenton Park  Wood

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The path continuing southeast through Widdenton Park  Wood