Our third walk of the year was led by Phil on Saturday 20th January. Thirteen of us gathered in the picturesque village of Turville, for an 8½ mile walk that promised hills and mud. Although it was cold, it was also dry and so not as muddy as it could have been. Luckily, we avoided Storm Isha, which blew in on the Sunday.
The walk started by heading upwards and to the north-west along a footpath through fields and woodland. This took us to Park Wood and St Nicholas Church, Ibstone. Then it was downhill in a southerly direction to Turville Wood. Leaving the wood, it was uphill again, to Turville Heath. (Uphills and downhills were a feature of this walk.)
Here we came across another walking group, going the other way. Some friendly waves and greetings were exchanged as we passed each other.
Now there was a bit more uphill and downhill though open fields on our way to Pishill. We stopped for a group photo on one hill with a view of Stonor behind us. We would be passing through Stonor Park later on this walk.
On reaching the church at Pishill, we stopped for lunch. There were plenty of benches in the church grounds for us all to sit and eat our packed lunches in comfort.
After lunch, we walked up the road to Pishill House and joined a footpath (the Oxfordshire Way) descending towards Pishillbury Wood. It was uphill again along the path through the wood, taking us to Maidensgrove.
Almost doubling back on ourselves, we turned left and joined the Chiltern Way, which descended through Park Wood and then through a couple of fields into Stonor.
Passing through a very tall (deer-proof) swing-gate, we followed a path through Stonor Park, getting a good, almost aerial view of Stonor House. We left the park through another tall swing-gate and were soon in the hamlet of Southend.
After a slight wrong-turn, we were soon back on the Chiltern Way, heading north-east and downhill back to Turville. This path varied from well-made with a gentle slope to steep and slippery, but we all made it to the bottom without incident.
Joining School Lane, we were soon back by the village green from where we had started. See our route of Google Maps. A few of the group stayed on for a drink at The Bull & Butcher before heading home.
According to my GPS, we had covered almost 9 miles with 1,875 feet (570m) of ascent in total. That should help burn off some of the Christmas calories.
Thanks go to Phill for leading this walk.
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