Pete’s Walks

This morning I did a 40-minute walk round the footpaths here in Kensworth, again with my brother Tim. I hadn’t planned on walking today, but it was such a lovely day it would have been a shame to spend it entirely indoors.

We walked up the road and took the footpath that goes across and then along the valley towards the quarry. There was a car rally being held here, with a number of cars (ranging from old open-top sports cars to modern hatchbacks) being driven around a course. There were a couple of points where they had to go up a very steep bank, then reverse down.

We walked up the steep path beside the quarry, and turned right to head towards Church End, the old part of the village around the 12th century church. We went a short distance along Hollick’s Lane, then took a path back to the main part of the village close to where the petrol station used to be. It was then a short stroll up the road, passing the Farmer’s Boy, back home.

This afternoon I did a 2-hour walk with my brother Tim.

We started at the picnic site near Cobblershill (off the Wendover-Great Missenden road) and followed a bridleway uphill through Cockshoot Wood to reach the hamlet of Cobblershill, which I’ve passed through on both the Chiltern Way and the South Bucks Way. We then followed a bridleway north, soon seing a pair of Muntjac deer across a pasture. The Bridleway then entered another wood – it was marvellous walking amidst the trees in their autumn splendour, with the sound of the freshly fallen leaves underfoot.

We eventually turned left off the bridleway, remaining in the trees as we descended into a valley and then up the other side to reach Little Hampden (I’d walked this path in reverse on my walk from Coombe Hill a few weeks ago). We then took a pleasant field path (one I’d not walked before) that followed a hedgerow gradually downhill to reach a minor road in a valley. There was a T-junction a few yards away, and we too the road almost opposite for a few hundred yards before turning right on a footpath.

This path followed ‘The Glade’, a long avenue between narrow strips of wood leading to Hampden House at Great Hampden, some distance behind us. We turned left on a path through a wood which took us back to the road we’d crossed earlier. We now followed Cobblershill Lane as it gradually went back up hill (this was the reverse of my recent walk from Pulpit Hill to Little and Great Hampden).

We turned left along a path that followed close to the top of a hill, running through trees with occasional views of the valley to our left. We then turned right on a bridleway that ran between fences, with pastures either side – we again saw a Muntjac deer, and their were four Red Kites here (the reason I took Tim for a walk here was I thought there was a good chance of seeing Kites). There were also three Microlights flying over.

The bridleway took us back into Cobblershill, and we retraced our steps through Cockshoot Wood back to the car. A very pleasant walk for an autumn afternoon.

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.