Whilst we enjoy travelling around exploring new parts of the country and visiting new sites it is good to occasionally visit old favourites. One such spot is Cholsey Grange CL in the village of Ibstone in Buckinghamshire. We have been coming to this site regularly since we started caravanning. It is a great location for walking, a cracking site and has the bonus of being close to Lolly and Toby so we can catch up with them during our stay.
I have done a wide variety of walks from this CL, many more than once. The route of today’s walk is a regular jamabout for me, and I have blogged it before but it is worth repeating. Last year our visit here coincided with the Olympics, this time it is The World Athletics Championships. We don’t usually carry a TV (I have stopped watching TV when at home too), but the one concession is when there is a major athletics tournament. Lynnie is a great fan!
I head out late afternoon; Lynnie is engrossed in the athletics so it is just the dogs and I enjoying the countryside. I leave the site through the gate at the far end to join the footpath and turn left heading downhill into the woods of Twigside Bottom.
At a junction of paths I turn right following a route signed to Fingest. There are options to leave the path on the left and the right but I ignore these and continue on the path along the bottom of the valley.
Our route is strewn with cobnuts, Dexter has a particular liking for these and left to his own devices would hoover them all up, munching away shell and all, so he is on a short lead. Crosby is far more interested in the large number of squirrels competing with Dexter for the nuts. Meanwhile I occupy myself by taking pictures of bees.
I walked this route almost a year to the day, then the harvest had not started, but this year everything is advanced and the combine harvester has been at work in this field.
Shortly before reaching a road I turn right to follow the path uphill. On reaching a stile I cross and turn right to follow the road for a few yards before crossing and going through a kissing gate to enter the downs above Turville. I am besides Cobstone Mill (which I have written about in previous blogs). From the downs there are great views over Turville and the surrounding valley.
One of the features of walking in the Chilterns is the constant sight and sound of Red Kites. After their reintroduction in the early 1990’s the first breeding pair produced chicks in 1992. The population has now grown significantly. There are a couple circling the downs.
I follow a southwesterly route diagonally across the downs, gradually descending to go through a kissing gate and then carrying on downhill to reach a junction of paths. I go slightly right to go through a gate into woods and follow this as it gradually climbs uphill to reach another kissing gate.
I follow the fence line uphill and then along the top of a field. I ignore a path on the right and continue to the end of the field where I turn right and then very soon left following the path through Beech woodland. Another feature of walking here is the number of deer to be seen. A small herd cross the track and then stop in the field below.
It was near here that I saw a white hind last year. I keep my eyes peeled, but there is no sign of her today. On reaching the road I turn right following it uphill as it sweeps right around a bend. Shortly before a road junction I take a footpath on the left, going over a stile to cross a field into woods and turn right to follow the path that eventually climbs to reach a road by Hellcorner Farm.
Here I turn right following this lane past Ibstone Cricket Ground and then turn down the drive to Cholsey Grange Farm. The walk has been just short of six miles, we have gone at a good pace and it has been good to be back in The Chiltern Hills.
To view this route in OS Maps Click Here
[To follow this walk you will need Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 171 – Chiltern Hills West]
11th August 2017
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2017)