After twelve days at home we are on the road again. The weather has been really hot and the prolonged dry spell is starting to show its effects on the countryside. The positive is that the grass in the garden is not growing, but the negative has been the moorland fires. We were particularly saddened to see the pictures of the fires around Saddleworth Moor. It was just over month ago that we were walking there, it was dry then, to see the devastation and impact on the wildlife is heart breaking.
This trip was planned a while ago and involves a brief stop over in the Chiltern Hills before heading up to Oswestry and then back to below Shrewsbury and will cover just over three weeks. However, we are in the midst of having work done on our home and if this is to be progressed someone needs to be around to provide tea and cake to the guys doing the work. Therefore, Lynnie is only accompanying me for the first few days and then she and Dexter will go home so Crosby and I can go on a “lads” walking tour.
Yesterday we pitched up at Cholsey Grange CL, this is a favourite CL of ours and over the years we have become good friends with the owners Ted and Jackie. It is set in stunning walking countryside and the site has cracking views, added to which it is only a few miles from where our daughter Lolly and future husband Toby live.
One of the things I enjoy about caravanning, and there are many, is waking in the morning and pulling up the blinds to a different view. Today I stumble out of bed; my days of bouncing are behind me, and check that everything is still in working order before preparing for my morning walk. Today’s pre-flight check has added scrutiny; during the night I have entered a new decade and now find myself starting a new day as a sixty year old. I don’t feel any different, but apparently it is a milestone in one’s life.
Later we 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 we turn right following a route signed to Fingest. There are options to leave the path on the left and the right but we ignore these and continue on the path along the bottom of the valley.
As we near Chequers Lane at Gravesend we take a footpath on the right and then fork left on a footpath that skirts the bottom of Mill Hanging Wood.
After crossing a minor road we continue along a path through trees across Turville Hill. After going through a kissing gate we cross a field of pasture, to our right is a cracking view of Cobstone Mill. This mill featured in that classic film; Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang.
Through another kissing gate we turn left to walk the short distance between houses to the centre of Turville.
We turn right through the village along a quiet road and then as woodland appears on the right take a well-worn path through the trees of Turville Wood.
We cross a minor road and then shortly after a farm track at a crossing of paths we take the route that goes straight on heading northwest. After a few hundred yards this path is joined by one from the left and continues uphill through trees between fields of pasture.
We stay on this path and continue straight on when, at the edge of Ibstone, the path turns into a tarmac lane. After passing the cricket ground we take the farm lane back into Cholsey Grange. Our walk has covered close to six miles, it is a familiar route but still interesting to see what has changed since the last time we trod these paths.
It is now time to celebrate my birthday with a cold pint of beer. Cheers!
To view this 6 miles walk on OS Maps Click Here
To follow our walk you will need Ordnance Survey Explorer – Map 171 – Chiltern Hills West
5thJuly 2018
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2018)