Today I did a walk from Chalfont St Giles. I walked past Milton’s Cottage (where John Milton wrote Paradise Lost) for the first time – it was closed and partly hidden by scaffolding. I then followed some footpaths, mainly between hedges and fences, towards Jordans – I wanted to see the Quaker Meeting House there again, as it was covered in plastic sheeting and scaffolding when I went by on the Chiltern Heritage Trail in September last year. This time the plastic sheeting was gone, but it was still closed with building work going on, and some scaffolding and fences around it.
On the way to Jordans I’d met and chatted to another walker for a few minutes – he was a member of the Hillingdon branch of the Ramblers Association (I’m sure I’ve met one or two other people from that group on my walks before). I met him again as I now headed north – we were going the same route so we walked together for about an hour or so. We followed a good route, mainly field paths with a couple of wooded sections, over the hills just west of the Misbourne valley (which I’ve walked on the South Bucks Way). We met an American walker who was lost, and we managed to point him in the right direction to get back to Chalfont St Giles.
Just short of Old Amersham, we turned left and started back south along the route of the South Bucks Way through the Misbourne valley. The gentleman I’d met was going to follow that route all the way to Chalfont St Peter, but I soon turned left to cross the valley (I noticed there was a lot of water in the Misbourne, which had been totally dry in September last year). I followed a path up the hill on the far side of the valley, passing close to schools and a college. Having crossed the road between Amersham and Little Chalfont, I followed a path that took me to a wood above the Chess Valley.
I sat on a tree stump here to eat my lunch, then went back the way I’d come for about half a mile, before turning left along a path through trees to reach Little Chalfont. I turned right, and followed a lane heading back towards the Misbourne valley. Most of the rest of the walk was a descending path through the edge of a wood next to a golf course. I crossed the road running through the Misbourne Valley, went over a couple of pastures and turned left along the Suth Bucks Way route, soon returning to Chalfont St Giles.
Not the best walk I’ve ever done, but not bad and very good in parts. It was a nice warm autumn day, generally bright although it did cloud over briefly once.