13/05/2008 by pete.

This is a draft of my journal entry for Walk 8 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did yesterday (Monday 12th).

Walk 8 12/05/08 – Chenies and Chalfont St Giles (11.9 miles approximately)
Parked at Chenies.

I started walking about 9.55am, having parked near the old water pump on the village green in Chenies. It was another gorgeous spring morning, with hardly a cloud in the sky and the temperature already around 17C. I took the lane going south, immediately passing the school on my right. The route was familiar to me – I would be following parts of the Chiltern Way and/or Chiltern Heritage Way for several miles, to beyond Chalfont St Giles. After a quarter of a mile or so the lane ended at a junction with the A404 – I spotted some Star-of-Bethlehem just before the junction, only the second time I’ve seen this attractive white flower..

Chenies (originally Isenhampstead Chenies) derives its name from Thomas Cheyne, shield-bearer to Edward III, who was given the manor in 1326. There was once a royal palace here, that both Edward I and Edward III used. There were once several paper-mills in the village, powered by the river Chess.

On the other side of the main road I continued along a lengthy bridleway running between hedges. I looked out for and soon spotted some Herb Robert growing here – I’d remembered that the earliest sighting I’d had of it last year was here when I walked the Chiltern Way. I heard a Lapwing a couple of times somewhere beyond the hedge on my left, but didn’t see it. The bridleway passed a small wood on the left, and a little further on passed under a brick railway bridge. It continued through a wood, initially mainly of beech. There was a surprisingly muddy section where it went down into a slight depression, before it rose again through an area of younger trees. The path then joined a good track, with a paddock on the left and part of the wood on the right. There was some Red Campion growing here. When the wood ended it carried on between the wooden fences of paddocks either side (a lengthy section of the right-hand fence was completely broken down, making one of the paddocks unusable). Across the paddocks on my left, I could see the houses of Chorleywood West – this is Betjamin’s ‘Metro-land’, a curoious mix of suburbia and countryside.

In 2004 a government survey of 32,482 neighbourhoods concluded that Chorleywood West had the highest quality of life in England, based on thirty seven criteria (the other top nine locations were also in the London Commuter belt, so as far as I’m concerned it’s yet more proof that there are ‘Lies, damn lies, and statistics!’). There was a Roman village at Chorleywood, with a villa thought to lie under the M25 here. In Saxon times it grew into a major town, with the border of Wessex and Mercia running through it. The town is famous for its Quaker conections – non-conformists flocked to the town, promised sanctuary by the towns inhabitants. William Penn settled the Pennsylvania colony with people from Chorleywood, Ricksmansworth and the surrounding part of Buckinghamshire, though this had disastrous financial results for the town. It boomed again in the 19th Century through the paper and printing industries. The coming of the Metropolitan Line in the 1890’s led to an incredible population rise, which continued until the 1960’s. Sir John Betjamin described Chorleywood as “essential Metro-land”.

At the end of the track I turned left on a private road, with houses to my left and large paddocks to my right – I should mention that all the paddocks were bright yellow with buttercups and dandelions. At a crossroads I continued along Chalfont Lane ahead of me, with more plush residences either side. At the end, I turned right into Shire Lane – this soon turned sharply right, but I continued ahead along Old Shire Lane, as the name implies, once the county boundary between Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. There were more houses on the left, and the paddocks to my right, with woods and fields beyond. A woman coming the other way saw my camera and guessed I was out to photograph Bluebells, but I explaine I was interested in all wildflowers.

Further on, the lane became a track as it left the house behind – it was now a good track, running for quite a distance beside Philipshill Wood, managed by the excellent Woodland Trust. After a while it started to descend gently. At the bottom of the hill, the track turned left, but I took a path going right, following a fence of wooden palings through part of the wood. I saw Yellow Archangel, Bluebells, Yellow Pimpernel and some more Red Campion amongst the flowers here. The fence and path curved slowly to the left through the wood, rising very gently to eventually reach a stile. The path continued alongside the right edge of a huge meadow, with part of the Chiltern Open Air Museum visible to my left (the museum is a collection of relocated old buildings representing the history of life in the Chilterns). I spotted some Cuckooflower growing beside the path here. I eventually went over another stile to reach a drive leading to both the museum and the Chalfont Campus of Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. The latter is partly housed in Newland Park, originally built in the 1770’s and later owned by Abraham Newland, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, whose signature was on five pound notes. I turned right for a few yards along the drive to reach a minor road.

Across the road the familiar path led along a thin belt of trees, once a continuation of the drive from Newland Park. Across a lane, the path passed between a garden hedge on the left and the fence of another small paddock. T a junction beyond the hedge the Chiltern Way went left, but I continued ahead, following the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail, on a path that was initially between hedges on either side, further on there was a large meadow to the left behind a large fence, with warning signs about guard dogs wandering loose. I passed some impressive conifers, and then the path ran between garden fences to reach a residential street on the edge of Chalfont St Giles. The path continued as an alleyway on the other side, running steeply downhill between wooden garden fences. It came to another street, where I continued along a narrow residential road opposite. Where this ended, I continued down another alleyway to emerge near a major road junction with mini-roundabouts. I went over a pedestrian crossing and took the road opposite, leading down into the busy but attractive centre of the village.

Chalfont St Giles is mentioned in the Domesday Book, the name Chalfont meaning ‘chalk spring’ . The parish church dates to the 12th century, and has some fine 13th century wall paintings, a rare example of painted battlements (dating from the 15th century), and also 17th century inscriptions of the Ten Commandments, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The poet John Milton fled to Chalfont St Giles in 1665 to escape the Great Plague of London, and it was here that he completed ‘Paradise Lost’. It was also here that a local friend persuaded him to write its sequel, ‘Paradise Regained’. Milton’s Cottage still exists and is open to the public. ‘Chalfonts’ is the cockney rhyming slang for piles.

I passed the pond on my left, and noticed signs announcing that today was the first day of a six-day literary festival here. Beyond the village green I took the familiar path on the right (part of the South Bucks Way as well as the Chiltern Way), initially along a private drive with some large residences either side. The drive turned left after about quarter of a mile, but I continued ahead on the path along the Misbourne Valley. This ran through a thin belt of trees, then along the drive of a row of houses (I spotted a black rabbit here!). It continued on a short section of lane, then between the fence of a meadow on my left and a large hedge on the right. I saw a Speckled Wood butterfly here, but could only get a photo of it with its wings closed together. The path along the valley then ran through another belt of trees, where I spotted some Wood Avens. The Chiltern Way soon turned left, but I carried on almost to the end of the tree belt before turning right.

The path here was slightly overgrown with nettles, running alongside the wire fence of a flat cattle pasture on my right. I crossed the river Misbourne on a narrow and rather precarious wooden footbridge, with a hand-rail on only one side. The river was flowing quite nicely, though more a stream than a river – when I’d been here before there’d be none or very little water in evidence at all. The path then followed the left edge of another meadow, again spattered with bright yellow flowers. I re-crossed the A413, the main road through the Misbourne valley, and took the path opposite through a golf course. I crossed a couple of fairways, with a green and a tee on my right, then followed the edge of a small wood on my right, before crossing another couple of fairways.

I passed the second of two small white posts marked ‘public footpath’ but then the path virtually petered out in the long grass beside another fairway on my left. I knew from past experience there was a decent path just inside the edge of the wood on my right, but there was no way of getting to it through the scrubby bushes between the long grass and the wood. I followed the rough grass ahead, going uphill beside the bushes – there were footprints through the long grass, but whether those of another walker or of a golfer hunting for his ball, I don’t know. I reached the green at the end of the fairway, and here managed to get through the trees and join the clear path running inside the edge of the wood. I followed this ahead for some distance. Twice it emerged back onto the golf course, only to immediately go back into the trees. Just after the second time it did this, I turned left at a path junction and crossed part of the golf course between some greens to reach the start of an alley between garden fences that led to a minor road.

I turned right, passing a few houses, and then went half-left on a narrow lane or private drive between more houses. At its end I continued on a path, following a hedge on my right beside a huge corn field. The path curved slightly left, with views over the field to a valley. At the end of the path a man and a woman were sitting by the edge of the field, the latter sketching – I said ‘Good Morning’ politely as I went by, but the man just stared at me blankly. Very odd. The path now crossed over the end of a line, and then ran between a wooden garden fence and a thick hedge. It then went through three meadows or paddocks, following a hedge on the right through the first two, then one on the left in the third. There were horses in the first and third of these fields, and as with most other meadows or paddocks today, they were bright yellow with Dandelions and Buttercups. I then came to another larger field – I crossed it diagonally to a far corner, close to where seven horses grazed, then turned sharp right to follow the hedge back to another corner of the same field. The path continued through yet another yellow paddock or meadow, then went through some allotments and followed a short drive to reach a main road between Amersham (immediately to my left) and Little Chalfont.

I turned right along the road for a couple of hundred yards or so, then took a path on the left. This ran along the edge of a small field, with the buildings of Little Chalfont to my right and then went over a footbridge across a railway line (there was metal caging across the top of the bridge, presumably to prevent people throwing objects onto the track). The path then followed a hedgerow beside two large arable fields, with an attractive barn conversion over to my left. Beyond the second field, the path ran between hedges on either side and ended at a track carrying a bridleway, where I went right and soon entered Lane Wood.

The bridleway immediately forked right at a junction, and ran along just inside the right edge of the wood, which sloped down on my left into the Chess Valley. The path was dry and well-surfaced, and this was a very attractive stretch of the walk. I saw Herb Robert, Yellow Archangel, Wood Speedwell and Garlic Mustard beside the woodland path, and further on came across the largest clump of Woodruff I’ve yet seen. After quite some distance the bridleway went down a slight dip and up the other side, then emerged from the wood to follow a drive a few yards to a lane.

Immediately across the lane, I left the bridleway by forking left on a path descending through the trees of another wood. There was more Wood Speedwell, some Bugle and a large amount of Yellow Pimpernel here. I forked left onto a narrower path, that ran close to the bottom edge of the wood. I kept left at a couple of path junctions to reach a metal kissing-gate, which gave access to a meadow that had some impressive horse chestnuts trees. I crossed the meadow, admiring the view to my right along the Chess valley, to reach the minor road that runs through the valley. On the other side I crossed a small paddock, and then followed a drive across the river chess – there was an impressive weir on my left, surmounted by a small statue. On top of the hill in front of me was the grand Latimer House.

The current building called Latimer House dates only from 1838 after a disastrous fire gutted the previous building. That had been acquired by Sir William Cavendish in 1615, and had remained in his family for almost 350 years. In the late 18th century, houses were removed from the valley and a lake created in order to improve the view from the house. From 1847-1971 the house was home to the military Joint Service Defence College, and it is now a conference centre.

I turned right through a kissing-gate, and followed a path that initially ran parallel to the river on my right. It then curved slightly left, as the river turned the oter way, crosing another pleasant yellow-bespattered meadow to reach a lane on the edge of Latimer. On the other side, I started to retrace part of my previous walk, the path going through a large cattle pasture (empty, today the black cattle were on the other side of the river). It then followed a left-hand fence through a small field of rough grass, beyond which it came to a junction with another path and a bridleway. Here I sat on a stile to eat a very late lunch. It was 2.05pm, and I’d already resorted to eating a second Alpine bar to keep the hunger pangs at bay, there just hadn’t been anywhere else to stop. This was the same stile where I’d had lunch on my previous walk!

I joined the bridleway which continued along the valley between hedges – the river came very close at one point (I’d seen a Little Egret here on my previous visit). I saw some more Wood Avens growing here, and some Wintercress, something I’d not seen before and which I had to get identified on the ‘Wild About Britain’ site. The bridleway then went through Mill Farm to a lane, where I turned left, almost imediately stopping to take some photographs as I went over a bridge over the river – I always take shots here of the attractive views along the valley. The lane soon ended at the minor road through the valley. On the other side I followed a steep path uphill through a wood, then continued with tall brick walls either side to reach Chenies Manor. I turned left down the drive, with the impressive church on my left) to return to the green and my parked car.

Chenies Manor was built around 1460 by Sir John Cheyne, and in 1494 was inherited by the Earl of Bedford. It was restyled in 1560 by Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford. Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I stayed here. It remained in the Russell family until 1954, and there is a Bedford chapel in the adjacent church of St Michael. The house is open to the public at certain times, and has a mediaeval well,a priest hole and a dungeon. It is noted for its gardens, which include two mazes.

This was another enjoyable walk, on a generally bright and sunny day although the skies had clouded over a bit by about 1.30pm. I was very familiar with the first half of the walk, but was quite happy to do it again. There was a good mixture today of woodland and field walking, and the Chess valley is always very pleasant to walk through. Chenies Manor and Latimer House added some historic interest, and there was the usual wide variety of wildflowers. The meadows and paddocks throughout the route were especially attractive today because of the profusion of yellow Dandelions and Buttercups.

Total distance: 97.9 miles

Posted in Uncategorised | No Comments »

13/05/2008 by pete.

Sorry for getting them out of order! This is Walk 6, which I did last Thursday.

Walk 6 8/05/08 – Buckland Common and Chartridge (12.3 miles approximately)
Parked at Buckland Common, at the small parking area by the telephone box.

Note: This route is the same as the ‘Buckland Common, Cholesbury, Chartridge’ walk in the ‘Chiltern Hills’ section of my web site.

This was another glorious Spring day, with clear blue skies and the temperature forecast to reach 24C – it was already 16C as I left home. Fortunately there was a strong breeze to take the edge off the temperature, and parts of the walk were well-shaded, so I was rarely uncomfortably hot.

I set off from Buckland Common about 9.40am, initially following the route of the Chiltern Way (my penultimate walk on that Long Distance path started here). I followed a lane past a small green on my right, continuing past a house that I believe was once a pub. As the lane turned right, I took a footpath continuing ahead, crossing a small ploughed field and then going across a drive (going to a blue-painted farmhouse to my left). Over a stile, I continued alongside a hedge on my right, through a small paddock with a solitary horse. Across another stile, I turned right alongside the hedgerow. The field here was a large empty pasture dotted with dandelions and buttercups, with a wood on the far side. I went over a stile in the field corner, the path continuing between a hedge on my right and a wooden fence on my left, with paddocks beyond. There are usually a number of Alpaca in these paddocks, but as on the last time I walked here, there seemed to be just one Alpaca in each paddock. There was no sign of the large pig that blocked the path when I walked the Chiltern Way here last Spring!

The path dipped down and up again beside the paddocks to reach Drayton Wood. I followed the waymarks for the Chiltern Way, turning left at one junction and then right at a second one. There was a good display of Bluebells in the wood (as there wood be in most of the woods I’d pass through today) and also some Greater Stitchwort. The path next passed between the fences of some small paddocks, and crossed Shire Lane (thus changing county from Buckinghamshire to Hertfordshire). I went half-left through a small wood containing many holly bushes, and continued across a field of oil-seed rape to reach the end of a thin tree belt. As I turned right onto a path running through the trees, following a section of Grim’s Ditch, I was repeating part of my previous walk. But at the end of the tree belt I turned right onto a hedge-lined track, leaving the routes of both Walk 5 and the Chiltern Way.

I followed the track southeast for about quarter of a mile, towards a gate which marked the entrance to a wood. As I neared the gate, I saw a male Muntjac Deer in the corner of the field on my right. I managed to get a photo as it crossed the track in front of me, but it was in too dark a shadow for the photo to be any good. The track continued with Shrubb’s Wood on my left, and a field beyond the trees on my right. I managed to photograph a Speckled Wood butterfly here. As well as many of the usual wildflowers, I came across two here that were new to me, I think – Yellow Pimpernel and Wood Speedwell. They were both tiny flowers next to the path, and I knelt on my plastic map cover to get close-up photos of them. I also came across some Wavy Bittercress, something that I’d only spotted once before (as usual, I’m indebted to the people at ‘Wild About Britain’ for their help in identifying these plants). Further on the field a few yards to my right ended, and I moved into High Scrubs Wood, which was on both sides of the path. I met a lady coming the other way with an enormous dog, an English Mastiff I think – she held it by its collar as I went by, but it was clearly friendly as it was wagging its tail.

Further on, there was a large grassy field just to my right. At a path junction I turned right, leaving the wood, and followed a hedge on my left across the field. There were several jumps for horses in this field and the one on the other side of the hedge – there were even jumps IN the hedge, so it could be rather dangerous following this path when there are show jumpers practising here. On the other side of the field I re-crossed Shire Lane to return to Buckinghamshire, and took a path almost opposite. This ran initially between stables on my left and a garden fence, before running along the edge of wood with paddocks on my left. Where the paddocks ended, I went over a stile and crossed the paddocks beside a hedge on the right. I then went through another small section of beech wood and then an area of scrubby bushes to reach Cholesbury Camp.

Cholesbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort, one of the best preserved in the Chilterns. A large ditch between two high banks runs almost the complete circuit of the oval enclosure, with a second ditch and further banks visible in the west and south-east. The ramparts are now crowned by a belt of beech trees, except in the southernmost section where the houses and gardens of Cholesbury have encroached. The camp is thought to have been in use from between about 300BC to 50 AD, but excavations have shown that it was only ever sparsely populated, and perhaps only used in times of danger. St Laurence’s church was built within the enclosure in the 13th century, but was much modified in the 1870’s.

I turned left and walked along the bottom of the ditch surrounding the hill fort, between two large embankments with several beech trees. The ditch curved round to the right, and after a while I reached a crossing path, where I started to follow a path along the right-hand embankment. I then went over two stiles in quick succession, and crossed a small paddock within the Camp. Over another stile, I went a few yards into a larger paddock, before going through a gate into St Laurence’s churchyard. There were two or three people here who were clearly doing a detailed study of the architecture of the church, looking at the stone window frames and referring to a plan of the church (although originally built in the 13th and 14th centuries, the church was almost totally rebuilt in the 1870’s).

When I first walked past Cholesbury Church a few months ago as I was exploring possible routes for the Chiltern Chain Walk, I got talking to the church warden here, who very kindly told me some of the village history and showed me an interesting grave in the churchyard. David Newton had served as a Royal Marine on HMS Revenge at the Battle of Trafalgar and lived to the ripe old age of 99, but he was in great poverty towards the end of his life until the vicar approached the Admiralty on his behalf and he was awarded a pension. There was a lot of poverty here in the 1800’s, and Cholesbury became the first parish in the country to go bankrupt, because it could not afford to support the poor of the parish.

The path went to the right of the church. I then turned right, to continue along the ditch and embankments surrounding the hill fort. Here in its south-western corner there was still some evidence of a second ditch and further bank surrounding the fort. On returning to the point where I had first reached the fort, I took the path across the Camp. On the far side I passed the village school on my left as I reached the road through the village. I went a few yards to the right, then took a path on the other side of the road. This passed between garden fences (there was some Lords-and-Ladies or Cuckoo-pint here), then followed a hedgeline down into a pleasant green valley of meadows and sheep pastures, with a wood visible away to my right. At the bottom of the slope, I turned left, and followed a wooden fence along the valley bottom, through a succession of sheep pastures, with the top of Cholesbury Windmill visible in the trees ahead and to my left.

Cholesbury Windmill, originally built as a smock mill in 1863 but rebuilt as a tower mill twenty years later, is a private residence with an interesting history. It was associated with the Bloomsbury Group around the time of the First World War and a number of well-known artists of the period frequented it. According to Wikipedia, “Gilbert Cannan who rented the mill for a time and whose wife Mary was previously married to J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, invited his friends including D.H.Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry to stay there. The artist Mark Gertler, also lived there for a time and painted a famous picture of the mill now on show in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford with Cannan and his dogs in the foreground. One of the dogs is understood to have been the model for the original illustrations of Nana the dog in the first edition of Peter Pan.”

The path passed a shed containing a few bullocks and then reached a road. I went down a drive opposite, where I got a not very good photo of an Orange-Tip butterfly that was fluttering amongst the Garlic Mustard here. The path continued past a house on the left and its large garden or smallholding, and soon after entered a wooded area as it continued on down the valley. A large branch had broken from a beech tree and almost blocked the path at one point. Further on I left the mature trees behind and passed through a fairly young plantation, where I saw some Yellow Archangel growing. On leaving the plantation, the path continued through the valley beside a broad hedge on the right. I went through three grassy fields that sloped up to my left, and then crossed over Hawridge Lane, a broad track. In the next pasture the path briefly ran to the right of a hedge, before switching back to the left. The hedge was now actually a thin belt of trees between wire fences either side, with Blubells growing in several places. The trees overhung the path, so I was walking in shade for much of the way as I progressed through a further sequence of empty cattle pastures. There were a fair number of Cowslips in one of them. The path finally passed through a large green meadow, before turning right and entering a wood where it immediately ended at a junction with a wide bridleway.

Having followed the valley of White Hawridge Bottom for about a mile and a half, I now turned right and followed the bridleway as it gradually climbed the hillside through the trees of Ramscoat Wood – again there was a lot of Yellow Archangel here. When I’d originally planned the Chiltern Chain Walk, I’d intended to go a little further along the valley, but the bridleway there was impassably muddy so I decided to go this way instead. On a later walk that went a little further down the valley, I’d passed the vehicles of some contractors who were evidently resurfacing the bridleway to make it passable again. They’re work seemed to have continued into the wood, as the section uphill through the wood looked as if it had been recently re-surfaced. On reaching the edge of the wood, the bridleway went right, between a hedge and the wood. It continued alongside the edge of the wood, as it turned to the left and then to the right again. Just before the wood ended, I turned left on a path beside a hedge through a large meadow, dotted once more with yellow buttercups and dandelions. In the field corner the path turned left along the hedgerow – I paused here to drink some water and to don my sunglasses.

It was very pleasant following the hedgerow, with the meadow sloping very slightly down to Ramscoat wood, which was now over to my left. Beyond the meadow the path continued in the same direction, with a stables and then garden fences on the right, and some paddocks and then some small meadows or pastures on the left. It ended at a minor road, where the outskirts of Chesham were a short distance to my left. I crossed over and followed a farm drive. Where this turned left into the farm, I carried on ahead on a path across a small meadow to reach Captain’s Wood, which is a fairly typical Chiltern beech Wood and a nature reserve. I turned right and followed a path through the beech trees and holly bushes. On exiting the wood, I turned left and followed a hederow descending steeply into a valley, with a pleasant view along the valley to my right. The path continued up the equally steep opposite side of the valley, switching to the left of the hedgerow partway up. There were now nice view left, along the valley towards Chesham.

At the top of the hill, I turned right along a minor road for a couple of hundred yard or so – I managed to get a poor quality photo of a Holly Blue butterfly here. I then turned left beyond a solitary house, on a bridleway heading down into another valley. There was a nice view across the corn field here and up the valley to my right. The bridleway soon switched to the left of the hedgerow, and again I could see the outskirts of Chesham along the valley to my left. It was again quite steep going down here (OK, not exactly mountainous, but steep enough to hurt my arthritic knees). In the valley bottom the bridleway continued between hdges (the one on the left having been trimmed very short), and then it climbed the opposite side of the valley, with a caravan park beyond the now mature hedge on the left. It joined the drive to the caravan park for a few yards, before reaching the minor road running through the village of Chartridge.

I turned right, and followed the road through the village, passing a pub and a small Mission Church on the right. I turned left into Cogdells Lane – this soon changed from a residential street to a farm drive. Where it turned left towards the farm, I went straight ahead on a bridleway between hedges. This soon turned right, where a footpath continued ahead – I stopped on the stile here to eat my lunch. There was a very nice view over green fields in the valley before me, leading to yet another wood. As I munched my favourite Corned Beef and Branston pickle sarnies, I saw a Red Kite flying low over the fields. A few minutes later, a procession of cows and calves ambled into view along the valley bottom.

Lunch over, I continued on my way, staying on the bridleway as it ran between hedges parallel to the valley on my left. The left hedge was again trimmed very short, while the one on the right contained mature bushes and trees that often overhung the bridleway, so that at times I was almost in a green tunnel. Yellow Archangel and Greater Stitchwort were among the wildflowers I saw along here. The bridleway reached a wood, where I stopped o look back and admire the view along the green valley. I then carried on along a path through the wood, before turning right on a bridleway that ran along just inside its far edge.

After a while I came to a junction, where the bridleway turnd right but I continued ahead on a footpath, now with the wood on either side. At one point I recognised a path junction where I crossed the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail. From where I’d turned right onto the bridleway, I probably walked about thre quarters of a mile through the wood, the path slowly curving to the left, from almost due north to west. Eventually I reached a metal kissing-gate on the edge of the wood, and the path then continued across a green pasture, currently grazed by sheep though there had obviously been cows there not too long ago. Beyond another metal kissing-gate, the path continued alongside the right-hand boundary of a larger pasture to reach a road.

I turned right along the road, to reach a T-junction after about quarter of a mile. I took a path almost opposite the junction, running alongside a hedgerow on my left through another grassy meadow dotted with yellow dandelions. The path started to go downhill, with a wood ahead on the other side of the small valley, and a farm across the fields to my left. In the corner of the meadow, I went through a kissing-gate, and continued downhill, now with a fence separating me from a horse paddock on my left. The path then went up the opposite slope, with the wood on the left and a nice view over a ploughed field and along the valley on my right. The path continued alongside a hedge on the left, and went down into another slight dip where it switched to the other side of the hedge shortly before ending at a track carrying a bridleway. I followed the track in roughly the same direction as before, and saw a nice combinations of blue-purple Bluebells and white Greater Stitchwort in the hedgerow to my right.

I turned right for a few yards along Arriwig Lane, before turning left on a footpath immediately before Erriwig Farm (both these odd names derive from the Saxon for ‘way to the arable fields’, if I remember the Chiltern Way guidebook correctly!). The path followed a thin headland between fields and descended slightly to a long thin wood. It turned left just inside the wood and soon reached a path junction, where I turned right. I soon left the wood, and next crossed an area of rough ground with some clay pits to my right. I saw a lilac flower here which I think was another Cuckooflower, but I couldn’t get a decent photo to check as the wind was blowing quite strongly at this point and so the flower was moving about too much.

My route next led me along a drive towards Dundridge Manor Farm, between fields of green corn and with a nice view over the fields on my right. Two paths diverged when I reached the farm, and I followed the one going round to the right of the farm and across a field of yellow oil-seed rape. I went through a gap in the far hedgerow, and turned left along the edge of a similar field. This brought me to the drive to Dundridge Manor, which I followed a short distance to the right. I followed the road to the left for a quarter of a mile or so, taking the second turning on the left to return to my start point in Buckland Common.

This was another very enjoyable walk. There was a nice mixture of field paths and woods, lots of small ups and downs, and a bit of historical interest in the church and hill fort at Cholesbury. Today was a good day for a walk, although occasioanlly perhaps I felt a little warmer than I’d have preferred, despite the cooling wind and the frequent shade. Again there was an abundance of wildflowers (I’ve tried to reduce the number of times I mention them all!), and I saw some good butterflies today and managed to photograph three of them.

Total distance: 71.6 miles

Posted in Uncategorised | No Comments »

13/05/2008 by pete.

Below is a draft of my journal entry for Walk 7 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did on Saturday.

Walk 7 10/05/08 – Circular walk from Chesham (14.4 miles approximately)
Parked at Pay-and-Display car park at Chesham railway station.

Note: Much of this route is the same as the ‘Circular Walk from Chesham’ walk in the ‘Chiltern Hills’ section of my web site.
As this was a Saturday, I wasn’t worried about rush-hour traffic and so skipped my second cup of coffee at breakfast and set off earlier than usual. It was forecast to be warm again (24-25C) and so I wanted to do as much walking as I could before it got too hot – it was already 17C as I drove off from Kensworth. I parked at the station in Chesham and started walking just before 9.15am.

Chesham is the fourth largest town in Buckinghamshire, with a population of 23,000. In the past, beer, brushes, boots and watercress were among the major industries, but it is now largely a commuter town. Traditionally and locally the name is pronounced Chess-am, although it is more usually and widely pronounced Chesh-am. Rather surprisingly the river Chess takes its name from the town, rather than the other way around. Chesham is first recorded in Anglo-Saxon documents, including in the will of Lady Elgiva, a Saxon Queen. The town’s tube station is the last one on a spur off the Metropolitan Line.

I followed Station Road a short distance downhill into the centre of Chesham and turned left along the pedestrianised High Street. It was still quite quiet at this time of the morning, and the market stalls were still being put up in a row along the centre of the street. Near the end of the street, just before reaching the clock tower, I turned right to reach a dual carriageway that bypasses the centre of the town. On the other side I turned right for a few yards before turning into Church Street. I soon turned right into Bury Lane, and alleyway between old buildings that quickly led into Lowndes Park, where there was large pond ahead of me and slightly to the right. I followed the lane as it turned left along the edge of the park, passing the town church on my left. The lane soon ended but I continued on alongside the wall and then hedge on my left, through a large meadow which I think is still part of the park. There were sveral people walking there dogs here. Just before the end of the meadow, I took a path forking left through a narrow bit of woodland.

On the far side of the wood I turned right (the Chiltern Link, which I walked in 2005, goes diagonally across the field here, heading for the long valley of Herbert’s Hole which I could see in front of me). My path now followed the edge of the wood on my right – the field on my left, sloping down into a valley, seemed to have been planted with small trees or bushes. I passed a small tent beside the path here. Further on, the path continued beside some large paddocks. I saw a new wildflower here, Crosswort – I wondered if it was an escapee from a garden until I had it identified later on ‘Wild About Britain’. The path then ran between fences to reach a drive, with a road a few yards to the right. I turned left along the road and followed it for about half a mile into the village of Chartridge (which I’d also passed through on my last walk).

I turned right into Buslins Lane, which went steeply downhill, the tarmac soon being replaced by gravel as it left the village. The lane turned right when it got to the bottom of the valley, running between hedges with paddocks and a stable on the right. It then turned left and passed some cottages before reaching a lane. I continued down a farm drive on the other side (I saw some sort of Fumitory growing along here), and when this turned left I continued on a path between a hedge and a fence, heading uphill towards Captain’s Wood with sheep pastures on either side. I followed the path through the wood to a junction just inside the far edge, where I turned left. I kept right at a couple of forks in the path, staying as close as possible to the edge of the wood, before turning right at the next junction. I followed a hedge on my left across a meadow, with Mount Nugent farm ahead and to my right. I then followed the farm drive left to a road. The outskirts of Chesham were just a few yards to mt right, with the village of Bellingdon along the road to my left.

Across the road I managed to get a photograph of a Holly Blue butterfly. A footpath went half-left here, between garden boundaries on my left and the fences of some small pastures on my right, one of which had some cattle in it. Since leaving Captain’s Wood, I’d been retracing part of Walk 6, but I soon left that route by turning right at the next path junction. This followed a mature hedge on my right with meadows ful of tall buttercups on my left, and then passed through a section of Ramscoat Wood (which I’d also been through on the last walk). The path then turned left alongside the wood, and headed quite steeply down into the long valley of White Hawridge Bottom. There were nice views to the right, to where the valley meets another one called Chesham Vale. At the bottom of the hill, I turned right onto a gravel byway – initially there was an Ostrich farm to my left here, and I took a couple of snaps of these huge and inquisitive birds.

At the end of the byway I crossed the road runing through Chesham vale, and took the path ahead of me that first went through Little Passmore Farm. It continued uphill, initially alongside the wooden fence of a bungalow on my left, then between a wire fence and a hedge on my right. There were again nice views, this time to my left over a large meadow towards Chesham Vale. At the top of the hill, the path continued through two small meadows and then followed a private drive to reach the A416 road between Chesham and Berkamsted (part of the route I’d driven from Kensorth earlier).

Another footpath started on the other side of the road, following the right-hand hedgerow of a large corn field, with horses grazing in a paddock visible ahead of me. The hedge turned slightly right after a while, and a bit further on it turned right again – at this point the path left it, turning left across the field, following tractor tracks throuugh the young crop. On the far side I went through a kissing gate and continued along a narrow path between mature hedges that overhung the path to form a green tunnel – there was a lot of holly and ivy along here. The path ended by a metal farm gate and a concrete drive, where I turned right onto a similar path that soon led to a minor road in Lye Green.

I went a few yards to my left, then took a path on the other side of the road. Initially this had a brick wall around a small estate of expensive modern houses on the right – there was Red Campion, Garlic Mustard and some Cowslips growing here. The path then turned slightly left, went over a stile and crossed an empty, irregularly-shaped pasture, before following a driveway a few yards to another minor road. There was another path almost opposite, which continued between corn fields and then meadows, before joining a long, well-surfaced farm track. There were now paddocks to my right, and some small enclosures on the left, one of which contained a Llama. The track passed through a farmyard and ended at a road in the village of Botley.

I went a short distance to the right, before turning left down a lane. This went downhill, with gardens either side. At the bottom of the hill, I turned left into the intriguingly named Broomstick Lane (on my exploratory walk in this area, which is the ‘Circular walk from Chesham’ in the Chiltern Hills section of my web site, I turned right into Bottom Lane at this point). This started as a track but soon narrowed to a path, with garden boundaries on the left and a hedge and small pastures on the right. There was a lot of lovely Herb Robert growing along here, the most I’ve seen so far this year. After about quarter of a mile I turned right, following a hedgerow through a yellow speckled meadow to a wood.

Here I managed to go wrong – despite having been through this wood two or three times before (it’s on the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail). As I’m doing this walk, I’m checking out the route descriptions that I’ve written for it (another reason, on top of all the photos, that I’m only averaging about 2½mph at the moment). So far they have been fine (they’ve been quite accurate, I’ve just needed to flesh them out a bit) but here they were woefully inaccurate and inadequate. I wasted about five minutes trying different paths at different junctions, before finding the correct route – the other times I’ve been here have been in Autumn or Winter when there wasn’t a thick undergrowth of foliage, that’s the only reason I can think of for why I didn’t recognise the way I’d been before.

On the far side of the wood, I followed a hedgerow through a small paddock, then the path continued as an alleyway beside some houses on the right. It ended beside a chapel on a road in Ley Hill. I turned right, soon reaching an odd junction where three or four roads radiated off from a sharp bend. I took a road going half left, between a cricket pitch and part of a golf course on my right. Two cyclists coming the other way said ‘Hello again!’ as they went past – I knew I’d seen them earlier, but I still can’t remember where on this walk it was. I saw a golfer retrieve his ball that had gone across the road, and then I passed the entrance to the golf club on the right. Having followed the road for almost half a mile, I took a bridleway on the left, just beyond a farm – four mountain bikers had emerged from the bridleway just before I reached it.

I followed the bridleway for about a mile, initially between fences with corn fields either side – across the small valley on the left I coud see an old chalk quarry. Further on the bridleway ran between hedges, as it descended very gently towards a valley ahead of me. After a few hot and dry days, there had been some thunderstorms yesterday evening – the paths here and elsewhere were not too wet, but just damp enough that the mud stuck to my boots as I walked along. The bridleway turned briefly left than right again at a slightly steeper section, then finally ended at a lane running through the valley of Flounden Bottom. This was currently being resurfaced (the machine had just gone past to the left) so as I turned to the right down the lane, the loose chippings joined the mud on the bottom of my boots.

After following the lane along the valley for a quarter of a mile, between green meadows and pastures speckled with yellow Daisies and Buttercups, I turned left on a path going uphill between fences to reach Long Wood. The path continued uphill through the wood, partly on wooden steps – I saw Cuckoo-pint, Garlic Mustard and Yellow Archangel amongst the wildflowers here. At the top of the hill, beyond the wood, the path continued on a surfaced track between fields. At a junction I turned right on a similar track – there were no signs, but this is shown as an ‘other route with public access’ on the map. It led to a crossroads with three public bridleways, where I took the one carrying on ahead, descending slightly through a wood. There was more Yellow Archangel here, Wood Spurge, Primroses, Wood Speedwell and a lot of Bugle, the first I’d seen this year. The path through the wood was muddy in a couple of places, but generally not too bad. The wood was mainly deciduous, but I passed a few conifers on the right at one point. On the far side of the wood, the bridleway turned left beside the wood, then went right to a junction with a path running through the attractive Chess Valley. I stopped on a stile here to eat my lunch, as it was now just after 1pm.

It had been very warm and humid all morning– the sky was rather hazy, mainly white rather than blue. I was already feeling rather drained by the heat, as I set off again, following the path west along the valley, at first through a field of rough grass and then through a large cattle pasture – the cows were all in a tight group down by the river. I have seen Little Egrets along the river here on previous occasions, but not today – if any were around, they’d have been hidden by the thick vegetation along the river. They’d also have been frightened off by the people paddling along the river – someone else looked as if they were collecting watercress (there is a commercial watercress business a little further along the valley). On the far side of the pasture I reached a road, where I turned right to reach the village of Latimer.

The village and parish of Latimer lies in Buckinghamshire, but borders Hertfordshire. It was originally joined with the neighbouring village of Chenies, when both were called Isenhampstead and there was a royal palace in the area. During the reign of Edward III the land was split between two barons, William Latimer and Thomas Cheyne, from whom the two villages derived their modern names. At the time of the English Civil War the manor of Latimer belonged to the Earl of Devonshire. Charles I was brought to Latimer on his way to London after being captured by the Parliamentarians.

There is a very attractive triangular green in the centre of Latimer. On the green is an old water pump, a memorial to the local men who died in the Boer war, and another tomb-shaped stone memorial marking the burial place of the heart of a horse that was wounded when a General Villebois was killed (also in the Boer War).

From near the left-hand end of the triangular green in the village centre, I took a footpath tht led across a meadow in front of house, with a nice view to my left over the Chess Valley. I turned right along a lane, soon passing the village church on my left. Further on I passed the entrance to a large private residentail estate, also on the left. There was some Red Campion and Russian Comfrey growing here. After half a mile of lane walking, I turned half-left on a path that crossed a large Barley field diagonally to reach a wood.. It was much cooler in the shade of the wood, and this was a very pleasant part of the walk. I passed a pond on the left, and further on saw a lot of the charming little Yellow Pimpernel that I’d come across on my last walk. There was also some Wavy Bitter-cress growing here.

Beyond the wood, I crossed a meadow, again speckled with yellow Buttercups and Dandelions. I crossed a lane and followed a hedge through an empty sheep pasture to a second lane (there was White Campion by the stile here, the first I’ve seen this year), where I went a short distance to the left. As the lane turned left by some houses and a farm, I turned right on a bridleway called Green Lane. This ran along between mature hedges, again the shade making this a cooler and pleasanter section of the walk. I followed it for some distance, with occasional views over the Chess Valley on my left. Herb Robert and Goldilocks Buttercup were amongst the wildflowers I passed along here. Eventually the bridleway descended gently down into a valley. Near the bottom I took a short path on the right that crossed a corner of a field of oil-seed rape to join a similar hedge-lined bridleway, where I turned right. I followed this bridleway some distance along the valley bottom, with the field of bright yellow rape to my right. I spotted Lesser Celandine, Yellow Archangel and more Cuckoo-pint here.

I came to a junction where another bridleway came in sharply from the left, and immediately after a footpath went across. I turned left onto the path (rejoining the route of the walk round Chesham that I’ve previously mentioned, and also following the final section of the Chiltern Heritage Trail) and followed it uphill beside a fence separating two meadows. I continued uphill, though less steeply, following tractor tracks across a large field of young corn. At the top of the hill, the path continued beside a hedge on the right, with school playing fields beyond. I crossed over a farm drive, and walked across a paddock. Through a kissing agte on the far side, the path turned right between a fence and haedge on the right. I then turned left through another kissing-gate, and followed a hedge on my right, having to take a slight detour round two of the four horses in this paddock.

In the field corner I went through another kissing-gate and went half-left through another corn field. The ground was sloping down ahead of me, and I could see a few valleys radiating away from Chesham. When I walked this path on the Chiltern Heritage Trail I was amused by the fact that the route across the field was marked by cairns of flintstones and I’ve always remembered it as the ‘cairned path’ – sadly there were no cairns here today. On the far side of the field, the path led steeply downhill between trees and bushes, going round a hairpin bend before crossing a bridge over the railway line. Immediately over the bridge I turned right on atarmac path that soon took me to Chesham Staion and my waiting car.

It was about 3.05pm when I got back to my car so, allowing for my lunch stop, it had taken about 5 hours and 40 minutes to walk the 14.4 miles. Very slow going, but largely due to the 150+ photos I’d taken. I did feel more tired than usual at the end of the walk, quite drained in fact, but that was hardly surprising considering the very warm conditions – unlike my walk two days ago, there’d been no wind to take the edge off the temperature.

This was another good walk, with a variety of scenery and some pleasant views ove r the rolling hills and valleys of the Chilterns. I think I’d have enjoyed it more if it had been a fraction cooler, and also if I’d had a decent night’s sleep the night before – I’d been feeling rather low on energy all day.

Total distance: 86.0 miles

Posted in Uncategorised | No Comments »