🥾 Walk 365 - Maidensgrove Common and Pishill

Twenty-one of us met up on Sunday 20th January; a mixture of regulars, not-so-regulars and newcomers. It was one of those bright winter days with sunshine, blue skies, no breeze to speak of, and ice in the puddles. A real treat after the succession of miserable grey days we've been having so far this year.

We set off across the gently undulating open fields of Upper Maidensgrove and Russell's Water Common. It wasn't long before we came across what appeared to be a few dog walker with far too many dogs. As we got closer, it became more apparent that this was probably some kind of organised event, such as a dog training exercise.

We joined the Chiltern Way and the open fields gave way to the mixed woodland of Pishill Bottom. After some steep ups and downs, we emerged from College Wood into the open farmland of Hollandridge Farm. Here we left the Chiltern Way to follow a footpath to Turville Park Farm.

A more gentle downhill path took us along the edges of fields until we came to a crossroads by a barn. This was the location for our lunch-stop. There was a grassy bank, which made a good place to sit in the sun while eating our packed lunches. There was also a trailer by the barn, which provided a platform to sit on for those who didn't want to sit on the bank.

After lunch, we walked through the hamlet of Pishill. Here The Crown Inn would have made a lovely pub-stop, but it was closed for renovation. Next came a steeply inclined woodland path at Pishill Bank, which put some of us to the test.

At this point a few of us questioned the accuracy of Jane's walk description: "The paths rise and fall gently as they cross the hilly terrain." Nonetheless, we all got to the top without incident. There was one more descent and ascent, through Doyley Wood, before we back at the car park. See our route on Google Maps.

After the walk, quite a few of us went to The Five Horseshoes in nearby Russell's Water, and the weather was nice enough to sit outside with our drinks.

Thank you to Jane for leading the walk and to Jo from providing two of the photos.

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