Pete’s Walks

I have just updated my “Pete’s Walks” web site. I have added the journal entries for Walks 9-12 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, plus a few more butterfly and wildflower photos.

I have tried to create two versions of the Chiltern Chain Walk, one for Broadband users and one for people using the slower Dial-up internet access. I suspect the Dial-up version is still too slow to load for such users – if any Dial-up users out there could confirm this (or otherwise) I’d be grateful if you’d email me on pete@petes-walks.co.uk. Thanks.

Here is the draft for my journal entry for Walk 13 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did on Thursday. The weather has been pretty wet recently, limiting my opportunities for walking.

Walk 13 29/05/08 – Bledlow Ridge and Lacey Green (13.4 miles approximately)
Parked in side street in Bledlow Ridge.

Bledlow Ridge is a long linear village straddling the road between West Wycombe and Chinnor, situated at a high elevation along the hill of the same name. Originally a hamlet in the parish of Bledlow, it only became a separate parish in 1868, when the chapel of St Paul was built. It is now a haven for London executives and others of the wealthier social classes. It once boasted an impressive windmill, a post-mill built in 1820. This was allowed to decay during the early part of the 20th century and was eventually demolished.

I started the walk just after 10am – it was a really nice sunny morning and surprisingly warm. I started off down a footpath going east from the main road through Bledlow Ridge, passing between garden fences and then between the fences of some small meadows. Straight away there were Red Kites over the meadow on my right – I always see them close to Bledlow Ridge, in fact I’d been slightly disappointed I’d not seen one as I walked along the main road. I went over a stile into a large empty sheep pasture that sloped steeply downhill – there was no really clear path, but it was easy enough to make my way diagonally across it to the bottom right corner. Over another stile, I continued downhill beside the right-hand hedge of another empty pasture, with the broad Saunderton Valley ahead of me.

I stopped when I reached the next field, in the valley bottom, and despite the warmth donned my waterproof overtrousers. There has been a lot of rain over the four or five days since my last walk, and I could see the corn in the field was very wet. I didn’t want my trousers getting wet, as the dampness can then get through to my socks, leading to blisters. On the far side of the corn field, I turned right along a bridleway on a surfaced track or drive. I soon came to a minor road, where I turned left. I went up and down a small dip (where there was a large puddle across two thirds of the road). I then turned right onto a footpath, which ran along the right edge of three small meadows or pastures, gently rising up Slough Hill. There was a lot of Silverweed growing here, and several small blue patches of Germander Speedwell.

Near the top of the small hill, the path went over a stile and continued between hedges for a while, before emerging to follow the left of a hedge down the far side of the hill to a lane. My route now continued along a tarmac farm drive opposite, running between hedges and soon rising quite steeply up another hill (slightly bigger than Slough Hill, but not named on the map). Near the top of the slope it reached Allnutt’s Wood, and I soon took a footpath forking half-left through the trees. This was a very pleasant woodland path, marked by white arrows, which very gently descended to a gate on the far side. The path continued descending gently, now across a steep hillside covered in scrub. Near the bottom of the hill I reached a hedgerow which I followed to the right. The path soon switched to the other side of the hedge, and then entered a small meadow. Here I turned left and went under a railway bridge (I just missed being ‘run over’ by a train, one passing by just after I emerged from under the bridge). I then went slightly left across another meadow, and crossed over the main road through the valley (from Princes Risborough to High Wycombe, some miles to my right). I went a few yards to my right, then turned left by the Red Lion pub to reach Bradenham.

Bradenham is very attractive, set in a broad Chiltern valley with the church and manor house at the eastern end of the large sloping green presiding over the rest of the village, with a backdrop of steep wooded slopes. The village dates back to Saxon times, and appears in the Domesday Book. The earliest part of the church is the nave which dates to about 1100, much of the rest dating to the 1300’s. The north chapel was added in 1542 and the new chancel in 1863. The mediaeval tower contains two of the oldest bells in England, cast about 1300 (they were possibly not originally here, but bought from another church). William. 2nd Lord Windsor, built the original manor house here, and his son and heir Edward entertained Elizabeth I when she stayed overnight at Bradenham in 1566 on her return from visiting Oxford University (having stayed at Great Hampden the previous night). During part of the nineteenth century ownership of the estate was in dispute, and in this time it was leased to tenants, one of whom was Isaac Disraeli the father of Benjamin Disraeli (who would later live at nearby Hughenden Manor). The estate is now owned by the National Trust, but the manor house is rented out and is not open to the public.

I followed the road into the village, soon having the very large green to my right. Across the green ahead of me, I could see the church and the manor house. By the cricket pitch in front of them, a lady was training her Alsatian in obedience. Having passed the church, I turned left along a short track and went through gates either side of a narrow pasture. The path now continued along a field boundary on my left, with a view ahead of bright yellow meadows rising to woods topping the hillside to my right (I’m really annoyed I lost the photos I took here!). Ahead and to my left, I could see the small eminence of Lodge Hill rising from the Saunderton Valley, where I’d be walking this afternoon.

There were several more Red Kites and at least a couple of Buzzards visible here. After crossing a hedge-lined driveway or track (where I spotted a Yellowhammer), the path switched to the left of a hedgerow, rising gently uphill to the corner of a wood. A Small Heath butterfly kept fluttering along ahead of me here. The path continued on beside the wood, where I spotted Common Rock-rose and Wood Spurge amongst the flowers growing here. I stopped at a bench by the highest point of the path, just before the path and wood turned sharply left – I started to take off my waterproof overtrousers, but then noticed the grass was still damp where it was in the shade of the wood so I decided to leave them on. The path now went steeply downhill for a while, then joined a track which it followed to the right. I soon came to a waymarked path junction, where I turned right. There was now a lengthy section with the wood, Park Wood, still on my right. Another Buzzard circled low overhead, but yet again I failed to get a photo. I spotted some Common Milkwort and Hop Trefoil in the grass as I walked along.

Beyond the wood, the path turned slightly left and then right, passing through a farmyard to reach Smalldean Lane. I turned left for about 100 yards, before turning right onto a footpath. A 4×4 was parked here, and a lady was just finishing getting her three dogs into it. We said ‘Hello’ and then she said, ‘Oh, we’ve met before!’. It’s a small world – she was the lady I’d passed on my last walk near Parslow’s Hillock, the one I’d talked to briefly about the scent of wildflowers. We talked briefly about the Chilterns, and how good they were for walking.

The path went slightly right, and then followed a hedge on the left rising gently uphill. I passed through three or four meadows or pastures, with views to my left over the Saunderton Valley and, further on, ahead to the Vale of Aylesbury. This was a very enjoyable stretch, the fields being very colourful with mainly yellow flowers. Beyond about the fourth field, I turned right onto a path that briefly crossed part of a pasture, before going through a gate and continuing as a green lane between hedges. It curved slightly left, and after a few hundred yards I turned off it, a short path on the right going a few yards between bushes and trees to reach the drive to the quaintly named Promised Land farm, just to my right. The path continued over a stile, rising uphill through the middle of a recently mown meadow. It continued through a smaller meadow at the top of the hill, then went along the drive of a house to reach a lane in Lacey Green.

I followed the lane to the left. On reaching the main road through the village I went left, but only for a short distance before turning right into Kiln Lane. This soon left the houses behind and changed from a tarmac lane to a gravel track. Where another track crossed it, I went right for a few yards, then left on a bridleway – this was very muddy and rather overgrown, it might have been a better idea to have stayed on the parallel Kiln Lane. In any case, at the bottom of the hill I rejoined the lane (now cement) and followed it as it went right, along the bottom of a small valley. I passed just a couple of houses on the left as I followed the lane for almost half a mile.

When a wood started on the left, I turned left on a muddy bridleway, rising slowly uphill just inside the edge of the wood. At the top of the slope it continued between hedges, where I stepped aside to let two joggers coming the other way pass by. Beyond a crossing track, the path continued between a wooden fence and a hedge on the right to reach Monkton Wood. Here I turned left, retracing my steps on the last walk as I followed a path just inside the left edge of the wood for about half a mile. The path was much muddier than when I was here on Saturday, but it was still very pleasant walking between the beech trees and holly bushes. At the end I turned left, joining the route of the Chiltern Way, to reach Lily Bottom Lane. Instead of turning right to reach the Pink and Lily pub, I went left for a few yards before taking a bridleway on the opposite side. This was initially very muddy as it rose slightly, with tall trees and holly bushes either side (it runs along another stretch of Grim’s Ditch). After only 100-200 yards I went half-right across the corner of a field of oil-seed rape, and stopped on a stile for my lunch as it was now just past 1pm.

The path continued through a field of almost knee-high grass. I stopped again almost as soon as I’d started, finally deciding that I should be wearing my sunglasses on such a bright day. I was still wearing my overtrousers, so I probably looked an even odder sight than usual! In the far corner of the field, I went over a stile and followed a track between large paddocks containing numerous horses. Where another track came in from the right, the path went over a stile and went half-right across another paddock containing a solitary white horse.

As I then followed the path across a corn field, I met a walker coming the other way. He stopped and asked if the bird he’d just seen would have been a Kite or a Buzzard – I explained that the easiest way to distinguish between them is to look for the Kite’s forked tail. As I said earlier, it’s a small world! We got chatting, and it turned out he came from Markyate, one of the neighbouring villages to Kensworth where I live (I went through it on Walk 1). We chatted for about 10 minutes – apart from walking, we had back problems in common, and discussed the variety of treatments we’d tried. Going our separate ways, my path continued alongside a hedge on my right, through a cattle pasture then a small meadow, where Lacey Green windmill was to my right.

Lacey Green windmill is the oldest surviving smock-mill in the country. It was originally built near Chesham in 1650, but was moved to its present site in 1821 on the orders f the Duke of Buckingham, presumably due to a lack of wind in the Chess valley. It consists of a three-storey octagonal tower or ‘smock’, with an iron cap. Much of the massive internal machinery has survived, including rare ‘compass arm’ timber gearing. The mill was used for the last time in 1915. After a short spell as a holiday cottage, it was dilapidated by the 1930’s. It was used as a Home Guard look-out point during WW II, and later used as a farm store. It was fully restored by the Chiltern Society in the early 1970’s.

On reaching the main road in Lacey Green (again!) I crossed over and took the road opposite, going downhill into the adjoining village of Loosley Row. I turned right at a junction, and after a short distance took a path on the left – I was still following the Chiltern Way, so this route was very familiar to me. The path went past some horse chestnut trees, and then joined the drive from a farm, continuing downhill back into the Saunderton Valley. Near the end of the drive I followed the official line of the footpath, going left through some long grass (still wet, so wearing my overtousers did serve some purpose!), before turning right and crossing over the drive, following the edge of a field to reach the main road through the valley again.

On the other side, I followed a lengthy path through a flat corn field. Around this time I noticed that it had clouded over almost completely, a marked change from the blue skies of the morning (obviously, it was all my fault for putting my sunglasses on!). On the far side of the field, the path turned right, with a railway line running through a cutting on my left. After several hundred yards, the railway entered a tunnel and soon after I turnedleft through a gate on a path over the tunnel. I was now on the route of the Ridgeway again. As I crossed a meadow beyond the tunnel, I fnally decided that it was too warm for the overtrousers and took them off – although the sky was now overcast and getting increasingly grey, it was very warm and humid. A few yards further on, the Chiltern Way turned off to the right, but I continued ahead, following the Ridgeway. I crossed another railway line, and continued on a path between hedges across part of a golf course. The route then went across a field and round the side of a house or farm and along its drive to a minor road.

On the other side I followed a left-hand hedge, beside another corn field with Lodge Hill immediately ahead of me. The hedge turned left, then right (now on the wrong side of the hedge, according to the map). In the field corner, the path continued ahead, climbing steadily up the scrub covered slopes of Lodge Hill. This was a steady plod, but not a very long climb. There was then a very pleasant section along the flattish top of the hill – I was pleased to see some Common Rock-Rose, as I remembered seeing it here on the day I first got interested in wildflowrs two summers ago. There were good views in most directions – north towards the Vale of Aylesbury, north-east to Whitleaf Cross on Whiteleaf Hill (see my previous walk), east back across the valley to Loosley Row and Lacey Green, and south to where Slough Hill and the wooded hill behind it split the wide Saunderton valley into two narrower valleys.

The path decended through the trees on the western side of the hill, then followed a hedgerow through a meadow. It then went left across yet another corn field. About two thirds of the way across the field I reached a bridleway, where I turned left (leaving the Ridgeway). There was quite a lot of Common Fumitory between the bridleway and the crop In the field corner, I turned right on another bridleway. This soon ran past Old Callowdown Farm (where I rejoined the Chiltern Way) and then Callowdown Farm, both with ancient farmhouses. The bridleway then ran beside a hedge, climbing gently up the hillside, then rose more steeply through the edge of a wood to emerge at the hamlet of Rout’s Green. I turned left along a private road, then went right on another footpath, initially between garden fences but then going up and down a small dip in a sheep pasture. There was a good view across the valley here, and I had a close-ip view of another Red Kite. The path continued between bushes on my left and a paddock on my right, with numerous Ox-eye daisies beside the path. Across a track, the path continued between fences and hedges, with another good view over a yellow meadow to my left, back to Bledlow Ridge.

I was glad to get back to my car about 3.45pm without having got wet – the skies had been getting steadily darker, and indeed it soon started to rain as I drove home. The overcast afternoon had been a complete contrast to the blue skies of the morning.

This was another very good walk, the only weakness in the route for me being that the second half of it was almost entirely on the Chiltern Way and/or the Ridgeway, so I’d done it several times before. But I knew that this was unavoidable, as in planning the route I’d needed to find two interesting ways across the Saunderton Valley. There was perhaps less woodland walking today than on on recent walks, but there was still a decent variety of scenery along the route. There were good views throughout most of the walk, across the Saunderton Valley or out to the Vale of Aylesbury. It was certainly a circular walk that I’d be very happy to do again.

Total distance: 159.3 miles

Draft of my journal entry for walk 12 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did yesterday.

Walk 12 24/05/08 – Coombe Hill and the Hampdens (12.5 miles approximately)
Parked in car park at Coombe Hill.

Note: this walk follows the route of the ‘Coombe Hill and the Hampdens’ walk in the Chiltern Hills section of my web site, but in the opposite direction.

I could possibly have done this walk yesterday, Friday, but it was drizzling steadily as I had breakfast and it looked like it was going to be grey and overcast. Having done this walk (or slight variations on it) several times before, I really wanted to do it on a nice day so that I could get some reasonable photos. So I put the walk off until today, even though that meant walking on the Saturday of a Bank Holiday Weekend, when there would be more people about. As I didn’t have to worry about rush hour traffic, I just had the one cup of coffee at breakfast, and set out from Kensworth almost half an hour earlier than usual. Consequently I managed to start the walk at about 9.05am.

I went through the gate from the car park into the National Trust land on top of Coombe Hill. Three paths go off in different directions from the gate – the middle path is the most widely used one, going straight to the monument on top of the hill, but that would be my return route. I took the path going left, fairly close to some gardens on my left, with an open area of gorse and other bushes to my right. After a few hundred yards I came to a metal kissing-gate in the fence on my left. I went through it into a beech wood – I was now on the route of the Ridgeway, which I’d be following for a few miles as far as Whiteleaf Hill, and also on the route of the South Bucks Way which starts (or ends) at Coombe Hill.

The path weaved its way between the beech trees – I noticed some Yellow Archangel, Garlic Mustard and Woodruff growing here. I soon came to a road (the car park where I’d started was along it to my left) where I turned right and went downhill for a hundred yards or so. I went a few yards along a track on the left, before going over a stile and entering another beech wood. The path was initially close to a field on my left, but then went over another stile in a wooden fence on the right, and then moved further into the wood. Every hundred yards or so there were signposts with the white acorn sign depicting the Ridgeway National Trail – the path was reasonably clear today, but when the ground is covered in autumn leaves, the frequent signposts here are invaluable. As always it was a pleasure to walk through a beech wood like this. After half a mile or so, the Ridgeway came to a wide track, where it turned right, heading fairly steeply downhill.

Towards the bottom of the hill there was a bridleway crossing (here the South Bucks Way went left towards Little Hampden, where I’d cross its route again later today). Going straight on, I was now in a thin belt of trees with field either side. I heard some voices here, and discovered two horse riders in the field on the right who were obviously lost – I told them about the bridleway I’d just crossed, and they eventually made their way towards it. The tree belt ended by a farm and some cottages on a bend in a road. I crossed over and continued along a path on the other side – there was a security camera at the start of the path, as Chequers was now a short distance away to my right (the last time I walked round here, I met a policemen armed with a sub-machine gun – there must be some pretty unsavoury characters living round here! ).

There has been a house at Chequers since the 12th century. The name possibly comes from the Chequers (or Wild Service) tree that grows in the grounds, or from the fact that the original owner Elias Ostiarius was an Usher at the Court of Exchequer and so included a chequer board on his coat of arms. The current house is 16th century, and was restored and enlarged by John Hawtrey in 1565. Soon after, he was given the responsibility of keeping a royal prisoner – Lady Mary Grey, sister of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. A later owner married a grandson of Oliver Cromwell, and the house still has a collection of Cromwell memorabilia. During World War I the house served as a hospital and then a convalescent home for officers. In 1918, the owners Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham presented the house to the nation for use as a country residence by the Prime Minister.

The path followed a wire fence on my right through a small arable field dotted with a few trees and bushes, then went through wooden kissing-gates either side of the tree-lined drive to Chequers – the Lodges at the end of the drive were just a few yards to my left The path continue alongside another fence, with large meadows either side. Ahead I could see an attractive brick-built farm, with a backdrop of a wooded hillside. At the end of the meadows, I turned right onto a path running alongside a wood on my left. To my right, I could see across the meadows to Chequers, with Coombe Hill beyond surmounted by its tall monument. Ahead of me I could see the distinctive outline of Beacon Hill. After some distance I reached a gate, and carried on across a large pasture containing cows and calves. As I crossed it, views started to open out ahead of me over the Vale of Aylesbury. This path is marked ‘Cradle Footpath’ on the map, but I have not been able to discover the origin of the name. The path continued into another pasture – this was empty of cattle today, and unlike the previous one had numerous trees and bushes dotted about. I spotted some Common Rock-rose growing here. Again there were good views down the hillside and across the Vale of Aylesbury – I took a short detour to the top of a small hillock called Chequer’s Knap for a wider view.

My route then went through a kissing gate by a huge old beech tree, and turned right down a broad track. After just a few yards I came to another junction, where I turned left (the North Bucks Way starts here, continuing straight on, a fingerpost indicating that it went 35 miles to Wolverton). There was some yellow Welsh Poppies growing here. The path now contoured through an area of short grassland studded with bushes, with the wooded slopes of Pulpit Hill to my left and some paddocks over to the right. There were still views out to the Vale of Aylesbury, and a nice view ahead to the wooded slopes of Whiteleaf Hill, with Bledlow Copse beyond it on the horizon. Although sunny, it was very hazy so the views were not as far reaching as they can be on clear days.

I crossed over a chalky track, where I spotted Silverweed and Germander Speedwell, and continued gently downhill through a nature reserve – more chalky grassland and bushes. There seem to be two alternative routes for the Ridgeway here – the map shows a different route, but there were still the white acorn signs along this path. Beyond the reserve, the path continued beside the long fence of a house to my right – a distant dog just looked at me and decided to ignore me today, sometimes it runs along the fence barking. At the end of the path I turned left along a road, soon forking right to reach The Plough pub at Cadsden. I turned right, behind the pub, but soon forked left, starting the long and quite steep climb up through the trees to Whiteleaf Hill. There was a lot of attractive blue spikes of Bugle growing beside the chalky path. I stopped at one point to look out through a gap to my left, over a wooded valley (called The Hanging on the map). I took the climb very slowly, and wasn’t too out of breath when I emerged from the trees onto the grass at the top of Whiteleaf Hill.

Whiteleaf Hill sits in a prominent position on the Chiltern escarpment overlooking Monks and Princes Risborough. At its top sits a Neolithic Barrow, dating back to about 3500BC. There are also possible round barrows, a bronze-age dyke and WWI practice trenches here. The hill is cloaked in ancient woodland and flower rich chalk grassland. Carved on its steep chalk slope is Whiteleaf Cross, whose origins are unknown although a phallic symbol on the hillside here is recorded in a document of 903. The first reference to a cross was in 1742, and it is known that the shape of the cross and the symbol below it have been changed since then.

I photographed the Neolithic Barrow and admired the views over Princes Risborough and the Vale of Aylesbury, but didn’t bother today to wander the few yards down the slope to see the chalk cross carved into the hillside. I continued southwards on a new gravel track, but only for a short distance before turning left onto a bridleway (thus finally parting company with the Ridgeway). The bridleway ran just inside the edge of another beech wood, with a large corn field a few feet to my right. Initially the trees on my left were on a steep slope descending into the wooded valley I’d seen earlier. I passed another walker and a couple of Horse Riders coming the other way. Where the field eventually ended, I turned right, the path through the trees again staying close to the field on my right. I soon came to a junction of paths on the edge of the wood, and turned left, on a bridleway between the wood on my left and another large arable field on my right. Again, at the end of the field I turned right, on another woodland path following the edge of the field. I saw Yellow Archangel, Herb Robert and Woodruff amongst the flowers growing here, and near the end of the path managed to photograph a Speckled Wood butterfly.

The path ended along the drive to a house, beyond which I turned left along a minor road (this section of the route was very much ‘left, right, left, right’). Where the field to the right of the road ended, I again went right, with another section of wood on my left. The path soon turned left and ran through the trees, with the main escarpment of the Chilterns dropping away to my right – there were one or two openings in the trees giving views out to the Vale of Aylesbury. I passed a woman walking her three dogs – she commented on the smell of some wildflowers she’d just been past. This was a very pleasant section of walking, on a clear level path through the woods. At the end I went through a gate and turned left along a drive for a few yards to reach a road in the hamlet of Parslow’s Hillock. I went right for a short distance, then turned left beside the Pink and Lily pub.

The Pink and Lily pub is associated with the poet Rupert Brooke, who discovered it on one of his walks in the Chilterns and became quite a regular visitor in the years immediately before World War I. His most famous poem is possibly The Soldier with its opening lines
“If I should die, think only this of me:
that there’s some corner of a foreign field
that is for ever England”.
Brooke died of blood poisoning in 1915 while on the way to Gallipoli.

I followed the lane (which would eventually become just a track through the valley of Lily Bottom) for about quarter of a mile – I have twice before seen Muntjac Deer here, but not today. I turned left onto a bridleway, briefly on the route of the Chiltern Way again but leaving it almost immediately by turning onto a path starting behind the cottage garden on my right. This path ran along through another beech wood, with gardens and then fields nearby on my right. Again it was very pleasant following the slightly meandering path between beech trees and holly bushes. Eventually I came to a wooden fence, where I turned left, keeping to the left of the fence – the path on this side is for walkers, the path on the other side is for horses. The wood now changed to being a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees.

The path ended at a crossroads, which I crossed diagonally and took the leftmost of two paths going back into the woods. I was only amongst the trees for a short while, soon emerging on the edge of a cricket pitch I Hampden Common. I followed the edge of the pitch to a lane, where I went left a few yards to where it ended at a minor road. A drive continued on the other side to a few houses – where it soon turned sharply left, a footpath continued ahead. This ran between a small wood on my left (where I heard a Chiffchaff) and a meadow. It then crossed a field of oil-seed rape – here there was a long line of beautiful Field Pansies on the right edge of the path. Beyond this field, there was a small mound set amongst trees on my right – the map indicates that it’s of historic interest, but gives no clue as to what it was for. There seemed to be the remains of a small moat around it, but it seemed too small to serve any defensive purpose. I wondered if it was the site of a windmill, as it seemed similar to a couple of such sites that I’ve come across on other walks.

The path continued alongside a fence between some grassy meadows to reach the church at Great Hampden. I immediately twigged a wedding was about to be celebrated, as the door was decorated with a garland and there were a couple of smartly dressed women standing outside. I followed the path through the churchyard, going left of the church, and turned left along a drive – there were signs here for the ‘Wedding Car Park’ and I saw more smartly attired people turning up for the big occasion. I soon turned right onto a footpath (joining the Chiltern Way again). This crossed another meadow, with a ha-ha (a wall or, as in this case, a fence, sunk in a deep ditch so that it doesn’t spoil the view) with Hampden House beyond. The house was presumably being used for the wedding reception, as the car park was in its grounds and there were more smartly dressed guests in the garden.

Hampden House in Great Hampden is named after the Hampden family (later Earls of Buckingham), who owned the site from before the Norman Conquest until 1938. The present house dates in part to the 14th century, though most of the house is 17th century. The north and west ranges were remodelled by the architect Thomas Iremonger in 1750, clearly in the style known as Strawberry Hill Gothic although this style wasn’t ’ invented’ until almost 20 years later by Horace Walpole! This architectural style made the house a favourite setting for Hammer horror films. Visitors to the house are thought to include Edward III, the Black Prince and Elizabeth I. The most famous resident was John Hampden, the leading Parliamentarian in the years leading up to the Civil War, who died from wounds received at the Battle of Chalgrove in 1643. He had earlier earned fame through his refusal to pay the hated tax called Ship Money to Charles I.

The path then entered Lady Hampden’s Wood – I soon passed a family coming the other way, and a bit further on passed some sort of huge Redwood tree. There was some more Bugle and some Wood Speedwell here. Beyond the wood I followed a path heading diagonally downhill to a distant corner of a huge corn field. I was now crossing the large valley of Hampden Bottom. As I neared the field corner, I met a couple of walkers coming the other way – this being a Bank Holiday Saturday there were far more people about than on my usual mid-week walks. I crossed the road running through the valley bottom, and continued on a path opposite, which ran through a thin belt of trees curiously named Coach Hedgerow – the path here was certainly a lot clearer than when I first came here on the Chiltern Way three years ago. There was a wide variety of wildflowers growing here – Bluebells (as everywhere else, fading away badly now), Wood Avens, Herb Robert, Greater Stitchwort, Yellow Archangel, Germander Speedwell. Where a farm track crossed the tree belt, I turned right and followed a path across the corner of a corn field and then across a narrow meadow.

I stopped to eat my lunch on an impressive wooden seat, with a nice view back across Hampden Bottom. I saw a pair of Orange Tip butterflies while I munched away. It had been bright and sunny for most of the morning, but now I noticed that it had clouded over. I continued on my way, passing through a small belt of trees where I found some Sanicle, the first I’ve come across. My route then turned right on a permissive path which followed the edge of a corn field, where I saw some Common Field Speedwell, and then entered another wood, where I soon turned left at a path junction. After a short distance the path left the wood and continued between hedgerows for a couple of hundred yards to reach a track or drive which led to the lane into Little Hampden. Briefly repeating part of my previous walk, I followed the lane left as far as the Rising Sun pub – whereas last time I turned left onto a footpath here, today I went half-left on a bridleway.

The bridleway descended almost imperceptibly through yet another wood for several hundred yards (I passed some Wood Avens and Yellow Pimpernel here) before dropping quite steeply to a valley bottom. I continued on it as it turned slightly right and gradually rose up the opposite side, still in the trees. There was again a wide variety of wildflowers beside the path, including Herb Robert, Bugle, Germander Speedwell, Wood Speedwell, Wood Spurge and some more Sanicle. At the top of the hill I reached a bridleway junction, where I turned left. At first I was on a track along the edge of the wood, but soon passed a house and garden and the track became more of a lane, running between hedges and fields either side. Through gaps in the right-hand hedge I could see across a wide valley to Boddington Hill and Wendover Woods, where I’d started Walk 5. I could also see some quite threatening grey clouds, so I hurried on my way along the lane. I soon reached the attractive hamlet of Dunsmore, passing the small chapel on my right and coming to a crossroads of lanes by a pond on my left.

Dunsmore is a hamlet in the parish of Ellesborough and, like nearby Little Hampden, is one of the most remote places in Buckinghamshire. It is accessible only by two narrow and steep lanes, and is occasionally cut off in winter. It retains its small community atmosphere, although both its pubs have closed in recent years. The name dates back to Anglo-Saxon times.

I stopped and signed a petition here against increased flight noise from Luton airport, then carried on along the dead-end lane opposite. This passed several old houses and cottages then became a bridleway. At a bridleway fork I went left, back into the woods once more. There were initially fences either side of the bridleway. Over the fence on the right I soon saw a spectacular yellow and pink fungus – I later had it identified on the ‘Wild About Britain’ web site as a ‘Chicken of the Woods’ (I was amazed – that and Fly Agaric are the only fungi names I know!). Further on, the bridleway ran for a good distance beside an old rusting iron fence. After walking through the wood for over half a mile, the bridleway turned half-right just after the iron fence petered out, but I went on ahead, following a path through the trees that was marked by painted yellow arrows. I crossed a broad track (the car park was along it to the left) and went through a kissing-gate into an area of grass and bushes. Initially walking parallel to the wood on my left, the path soon became clear and led through the bushes to the open grass area surrounding the monument on Combe Hill.

Coombe Hill lies just south of Wendover, Buckinghamshire. At 853 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest points in the Chilterns, and there are panoramic views over the Vale of Aylesbury. It is surmounted by a tall column, a memorial to the men of Buckinghamshire who died in the Boer war – the column has twice needed repairing after suffering severe damage from lightning strikes. In 1918 Coombe Hill was given to the National Trust by Lord Lee of Fareham, who also donated the nearby Chequers to the nation for use as the Prime Minister’s country retreat.

It had seemed to brighten up briefly as I’d been walking through the wood from Dunsmore, but it was now very grey again, the views over the Vale of Aylesbury were therefore disappointing, nowhere near as extensive as they are on a clear day. I could still see for several miles, however. There were a lot of people about as it was a Bank Holiday Saturday (I remember having the monument briefly to myself on my Berks-Essex Walk) so I quickly moved on, following a broad grass strip with gorse bushes either side. At the end, a clear path went through some trees and then continued through an open area of grass and gorse back to the car park where I’d started.

It’s immodest of me to say so (as I designed the route!) but I think this is an excellent walk. I’ve done it (or variations of it) several times now and I’m sure I’ll walk it many times again. It’s certainly one of my favourite walks in the Chilterns – there’s hardly a dull footstep throughout the whole twelve and a half miles. There are some really good views, especially from the edge of the escarpment at places like Coombe Hill and Whiteleaf Hill, a lot of enjoyable stretches through woodland interspersed with occasional field paths, several places of historic interest, and plenty of ups and downs. My plodding prose and poor photos really don’t do it justice. The only slight disappointment today was that it clouded over and was quite grey at the end of the walk, so the views at Coombe Hill were not as good as they might have been. But that was just a very minor irritation – the photos I took of a Speckled Wood butterfly, a beautiful Field Pansy and, most of all, the Chicken Of The Woods fungus, were a real bonus.

Total distance: 145.9 miles

A draft of my journal entry for Walk 11 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did yesterday.

Walk 11 21/05/08 – Cobblershill and Little Kingshill (12.5 miles approximately)
Parked in picnic site car park near Cobblershill.

This was a fine day for a walk – pleasantly cool (varying from11C when I started to about 16C when I finished) and bright, despite there being a lot of large clouds in the sky.

Mine was the only car in the car park as I set off from the picnic site near Cobblershill at about 9.45am. I took the bridleway heading uphill – straight away I saw a wide variety of wildflowers beside the path: Garlic Mustard, Herb Robert, Yellow Archangel, Wood Spurge, Goldilocks Buttercup, Bluebells. The flowers and undergrowth soon disappeared as the bridleway steepened, climbing steadily through a beech wood with a few holly bushes and just dead beech leaves underfoot. I passed an area near the top of the hill where there was a plantation of young trees in plastic tubes, and the bridleway continued through a slightly older plantation of young bushy trees, before returning to the beech trees. I ignored paths going off either side, crossing the route of the Chiltern Way at one point, and stayed on the bridleway until it reached the edge of the wood at a junction where five tracks met.

I took the second turning on the left, following a bridleway between hedges with cows and calves in the first of a sequence of yellow-speckled fields to my right. I soon passed a house on my left and continued on between the hedgerows, where again there were numerous colourful wildflowers. Over the hedge on my left I had a nice view across a wide Chiltern valley, the northward continuation of the Misbourne valley (the river doesn’t actually rise until near Great Missenden, and flows south from there). The bridleway then passed through a small wood and came to a fork, where I went right to continue along the hilltop west of the valley. There was now another cattle pasture on my left. I soon came to a wood, where I turned left on a pleasant path through the trees – I got a glimpse of a Muntjac deer here. The path exited the wood, and turned right in a large sheep pasture, following the edge of the wood.

There was a nice view ahead across the valley here, and I had another wildlife sighting, a Buzzard circling over the sheep pasture. I soon came to a path junction, where I went right over a stile, back into the wood. A narrow but clear path led through the trees, going downhill at an easy gradient. Beyond the wood, it ran between a long garden fence on the left and a tall hedge. It then continued along a drive, where there were nice views along another valley that I was now crossing (the continuation of Hampden Bottom, which I’d cross again later). At the end of the drive, I turned right along a minor road for a hundred yards or so, then took a footpath on the right. This passed a house on the left, then continued between the fence of a paddock with a solitary white horse and a tall hedge on my right. The path then entered a wood, again with a good selection of wildflowers including Yellow Pimpernel, Woodruff and Wood Speedwell. The path rose uphill through the wood, and on the far side I turned left, alongside the wooden fence of some paddocks on my left. I passed a farmyard on the left, and followed its drive to a road in Prestwood.

The name Prestwood is a corruption of Priest-Wood and dates back to Saxon times. Prestwood was originally a large common, spread over several different parishes, and the village only acquired parish status in the late 19th century. The village grew throughout the early 20th century, but the biggest expansion came in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee once lived in Prestwood, before moving to nearby Great Missenden.

I turned left, and soon came to a crossroads in the village where I went straight on. After another hundred yards or so, I turned left along a narrow alley. Where it ended, I continued along a narrow street ahead of me. Ite ended at a T-junction on the edge of the village, where I turned right but very shortly turned left, along the drive to another farm. I was now on the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail again. Before reaching the farm, the path went right, through a metal gate and continuing between a garage and garden on the left and some orchards on the right. Through another metal gate, I turned left to follow the edge of a large arable field. This turned left and then right, and took me to Atkins’s Wood. I followed the path through this beech wood for about 100 yards, then forked right at a junction marked by arrows painted on trees. The path descended gently through the trees, the route indicated by further white arrows. On the far side of the wood I went through a metal kissing-gate in a fence, and turned right on a bridleway. This ran along for some distance between hedges on either side, to reach a tarmac farm drive which I followed to a lane.

I turned right – the lane was narrow with no verges, and I had to press myself into the hedge when cars went by. But I only had to follow it a short distance as it currved round to the left, before I took a path on the left. This followed a hedge on my right for a while, then continued on across a field towards a corner of a wood, where I went half-right on tractor tracks through an arable field with woods on three sides of it. In the field corner I continued for a short distance through the wood, then the path ran between hedges and fences again, with more fields speckled by yellow buttercups and Dandelions on my right and cattle pastures on my left. The path ended at a pub on a road in Little Kingshill. I crossed over and took the path on the other side. This ran between two houses and then along the right-hand edge of a playing field to reach another road. At this point I met the route of my previous walk (which had just passed the Baptist chapel along the path opposite me).

I turned right here, leaving the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail which went left (as had my previous walk). I crossed a road junction by a pub and after another 100 yards turned right into a small modern close called Shepherd’s Gate (the footpath sign here was half-buried in a holly hedge). The path went over a stile and continued beside some small paddocks or enclosures on the left, then reached a very large field. I followed the hedge on my right, until it turned right, at which point the path went half-left, crossing the large field diagonally to a distant corner. The first half of the field had a young arable crop in it, but the second half of the field seemed to have been left fallow this year – there were numerous wildflowers amongst what looked like last years crop, including beautiful Field Pansies everywhere – there must have been thousands of them in this field.

In the field corner the path passed between some bushes to reach a wide track, where I turned right. After a short distance I turned left through a gate, the path running along a hedge on my right through a large area used for market gardening. There were numerous different crops here in small strips, including cabbages, blackcurrants and strawberries (covered in straw, appropriately enough). I saw a Green Woodpecker here, as I followed the boundary on my left as it turned to the right, now with a mixture of small conifers (presumably future Christmas Trees) on my right. I reached a gate in the fence on my left, and went through it into a wood, almost immediately turning right at a junction and following a path through the trees to a minor road.

Across the road I followed a bridleway for about half a mile through another beech wood, the edge of the wood being a short distance to my left. The bridleway wasn’t too bad today, but had been pretty muddy when I came through here on one of my exploratory walks. On the far side of the wood I turned left, following a fenced path between paddocks obn my left and another wood. This soon came to a drive, beside a stables on my left, which I followed a short distance to a road. This was another bit of Prestwood, with the village church and an infants school on the opposite side of the road.

I followed a path that started beside the infants school. It soon reached an attractive meadow that went up and down either side of a small valley – I spotted a couple of Muntjac deer in the meadow, one quicly ran off but the second remained stationary as I followed the edge of the meadow on my right. The path then went through another small wood – as I reached the far side I saw another Muntjac running off through a field on my right. There were nice views to my left now, as I followed a wire fence along a headland between two fields – the cattle pasture on my left sloped downhill between woods, and I could see across to the far side of a distant valley. I then reached yet another beech wood. Here the path initially went to the right, before turning left alongside and old fence and descending very steeply. This was quite painful for my old knees, but I soon got to the bottom of the slope (probably the steepest section on the Chiltern Chain Walk) and followed the path through a meadow to a lane.

I turned right here – the lane was reasonably wide, but there was no verge so I needed to be careful about the occasional vehicles that passed. I didn’t have far to go anyway, before turning right along a tarmac farm drive. I stayed left at a fork, to pass the farm on my right, and a bit further on continued ahead on a footpath when the drive turned right. I was now following the edge of Nanfan Wood, generally with meadows just a few feet to my right. Again there were a variety of wildflowers in the wood – Greater Stitchwort, Bluebells, Herb Robert, Wintercress (at the start, by the drive), Wood Avens, Yellow Archangel, Woodruff. This was a very pleasant part of the walk, as the path almost imperceptibly went uphill along the bottom of a very shallow valley. Beyond the wood I continued through two very charming and colourful meadows, full of buttercups and Dandelions, most of the latter having turned to seed heads. The path then crossed a more overgrown meadow to reach a lane, where I turned right for a couple of hundred yards to reach a minor junction, in a part of Prestwood once again.

I turned left, and followed the road a short distance, passing some interesting cottages on the right. Beyond the village, a wood started on the right with a fingerpost indicating tow paths going through it. I took the leftmost path through the trees, and followed it for about half a mile. It very gradually started to descend, usually staying close to the edge of the wood on my left. I ignored several paths going off on either side, just kept straight on along the same path. Eventually it turned to the right and a few yards further on reached a path crossroads in the trees. Here I sat on a convenient bench to eat my lunch, before continuing on my way, turning left and following a new path further downhill through the trees. Near the bottom of the hill, I left the wood and crossed a narrow strip of grass called The Glade, with Hampde Housen visible along it to my left.

On the far side I entered another wood, where I was delighted to see a solitary Lesser Celandine flower. For days now I have only seen their dying-off leaves – like the fading Bluebells, an indication of the passing of the seasons. I can’t believe summer is almost upon us – the years just go by quickere and quicker! There are two paths through the samll wood, but today I only saw waymarks for the leftmost one, the one I wanted (though both end at the same point on the far isde anyway).

I turned left along a minor road, the one that runs through the wide valley of Hampden Bottom (I’d crossed the same road earlier just before reaching Prestwood for the first time). There was a good wide verge, recently cut, on the left. After a few hundred yards, where a wood ended on the right, a footpath went right, initially alongside the wood and continuing beside a left-hand hedge, very gradually going uphill. I saw a Red Kite quite nearby here, but failed to get a decent photo. It was a long steady plod, the path beside the hedge very gradually going uphill. After a while the path switched to the left of the hedge, but continued slowly uphill. There were nice views back over Hampden Bottom to the partially wooded hillside beyond, and also over to my left to a wooded hill between Little Hampden and Cobblershill. The path eventually levelled out and reached a track or drive between houses where I turned right to reach the single dead-end lane that services the remote village of Little Hampden.

I turned left, and followed the lane for about a quarter of a mile to near its end. Opposite the Rising Sun pub I turned right, and followed a footpath descending quite steeply through another wood. The narrow path twisted and turned between the trees as it went downhill, then turned right and rose again slightly to reach the edge of the wood. Here I followed a hedge down into the valley bottom (there is a good track to the right of the hedge, but the right-of-way is actually on the left). I saw some more Wintercress growing close to the far end of the hedge, where I entered yet another wood. A good path carried on here, going up the opposite side of the valley, climbing quite steeply through the trees. There was again a very good collection of wildflowers here – Herb Robert, Garlic Mustard, Bugle, Yellow Pimpernel, Bluebells, Woodruff, Wood Spurge, Greater Stitchwort and Germander Speedwell (which is now possibly the flowere I am seeing most often). Near the top of the slope, I crossed another footpath, and a few yards further on reached a bridleway running along the top of the hill, just inside the edge of the wood.

I went left for a few yards, then went over a curious double-stile arrangement to enter a corner of a very large meadow. As usual, this was yellow with buttercups and Dandelions. There was a very attractive view, across the sloping meadow and over the continuaution of the Misbourne Valley to the hillside opposite. The path now followed the left-hand hedge of the meadow for several hundred yards as it gently descended into the valley. About 100 yards before the end of the meadow, the path went over a stile on the left and crossed an artificial horse gallop.

I am fairly sure I recognised this spot on an episode of Midsomer Murders recently – ITV have just been repeating numerous episodes in the afternoons, and I’ve recorded and watched most of them (well, there’s been nothing else worth watching on the box!). It’s not the best of Detetctive series, but it’s interesting to me as much of it is filmed in the Chilterns, so I enjoyed trying to recognise the locations used. Bledlow has appeared in several episodes, as has The Lee and Chenies Manor (which I went past on Walk 8).

I went through a gate on the opposite side of the gallop, and turned right and followed the fence beside the gallop – there were about four black cattle some way away in the buttercup-filled meadow I was walking through. After a few hundred yards, I went through another gate and re-crossed the artificial gallop to a stile. It was then just a short stroll to the right to return to the car park, and I got back to my car about 2.15pm.

This was another very enjoyable walk, on a very fine day indeed. A really good mixture of field paths and woods, alternating in quick succession. The variety of colourful wildflowers at this time of year added to the pleasure I got from the walk, and the yellow meadows and pastures considerably enhanced the attractions of the scenery.

Total distance: 133.4 miles

Below is a draft copy of my journal entry for Walk 10 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did yesterday.

Walk 10 19/05/08 – Old Amersham and Little Kingshill (11.8 miles approximately)
Parked in Pay-and-Display car park in centre of Old Amersham.

As I started walking at about 9.50am, it was cool and cloudy – not overcast but more clouds than blue sky, the way it would remain for most of the day. I turned right out of the car park into the attractive High Street with its numerous old and characterful houses, with the market hall ahead of me. Before reaching it, I turned left into Whielden Street, which also contained attractive old houses. I soon turned left again into Whielden Green, a cul-de-sac mainly of modern bungalows. Near its end, I turned right on to a footpath into an L-shaped meadow, extending in front of me and then going to the left. I followed the left-most of two paths through the grass here, which led slightly uphill to path junction in a hedgerow, where I turned right, between the hedge and some garden fence on my left. At the end of the hedge I emerged back into the meadow, where I went left for a few yards and then joined a surfaced path between the meadow and some houses on my left. I soon came to a path junction, where I turned right to reach a bridge over the Amersham bypass. If I’d taken the rightmost path when I first entered the meadow it would have brought me straight here, but I chose to stick to the official right-of-way shown on the map – if the meadow was an Open Access area, it might have been different.

Across the footbridge, I spotted some Dovefoot Cranesbill. I soon turned right, along the edge of a huge corn field, initially with gardens to my left. Where they ended, the path continued beside a wide ditch on my left, very gradually going uphill. The path was familiar to me, as it is part of the Chiltern Heritage Trail which I would be following for much of today’s walk. After a third of a mile or so, I turned right on a path that led to the start of a small embankment running through the corn field. The path continued to the right along the top of the embankment (though the map shows the right-of-way going along the bottom). After a few hundred yards I reached the end of the embankment, and at last came to the end of the huge cornfield and the top of the hill. I went through a gap in the hedgerow ahead of me, and continued into a large meadow. On reaching a massive pylon, where there were nice views ahead, I turned left through the hedge, and followed a fence on my left through a small meadow or paddock, where I met a man using a metal detector. The path continued on and down a farm drive to reach a road on the edge of Coleshill.

The Civil War poet Edmund Waller lived in the manor house at Coleshill. His family had lived there since the early 1500’s. He used to write his poetry under an oak tree, which is thought to date back to the Norman Conquest. There is a house called Waller’s Oak, and another house, Stock Place, incorporates a wing of the old manor house (Stock was the name of the village in the middle ages). The parish church has a modern Lych Gate, made of English Oak on a brick base, with a tiled roof.

I turned right and followed the road for about half a mile through the village. Opposite the Red Lion pub, I turned right beside the church – the Lych Gate here is one of the Millennium art works created along the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail. I was now also joining the route of the Chiltern Way, so the next section as far as Winchmore Hill was very familiar to me. At the end of the alley beside the church, I crossed a road and continued down a gravel drive between houses. The path continued beside a small field on my right and reached a fork, where I went left on a path between a hedge and a fence on my right beside another small field. The path then went over a stile into a large meadow, with nice views across the woods and rolling hills to my right. I followed the path half-left, passing a clump of trees on my right – I saw a buzzard ahead of me over a wood, but it was soon chased off by a crow. I passed through a narrow section of the wood on a wide and rutted track, and continued on beside a hedge on my left. I could see ahead to some cottages in Winchmore Hill and across the fields to my right I could see the spire of the church at Penn Street rising above some woods. The path eventually became a track between hedges, where I saw Yellow Archangel, Herb Robert and Bluebells, and emerged in Winchmore Hill opposite a Methodist Chapel.

Winchmore Hill is a hamlet in the parish of Penn. It is often confused with another Winchmore Hill, not too far away in North London.

I turned left along the road, and soon came to a junction where I turned right, with the large village green on my left. When another part of the green started on the right of the road, I followed its right edge down to another road (I passed a gentleman with a fork other his shoulder, obviously on his way to the allotments on the other side of the road). I’d now departed from the Chiltern Way but was still on the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail. The path continued between hedges, with the allotments to my left and further on a corn field to my right. It then crossed a grassy field and continued through a wood. I saw some Wood Speedwell here, as the path continued close to the left edge of the wood. Further on, and area of the wood had been felled and replanted, the young trees still surrounded by plastic tubes to protect them from nibbling deer. Beyond the wood, the path went slightly to the right, across another large corn field (this had been rough grass when I did the Chiltern Heritage Trail, and the previous field had then been a cattle pasture). The path then passed through some bushes, where I saw some Cuckooflowers, and along a broad drive between houses to reach a road in Penn Street.

Penn Street is situated on part of the former Wycombe Heath, and probably dates back to the thirteenth century when the Penn family established a manor house here, having moved from Penbury. The oldest house dates to the fifteenth century, while several others go back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with most of the village lying within a Conservation Area. The church is relatively recent, having been built in 1849.

I had a look at the pond on the opposite side of the road, on the large green here. When I was here before, I thought the pond looked newly dug, but an information board said it was an old one. I turned left along the green, where there were more Cuckooflowers amongst the Buttercups. I passed the village War Memorial and continued along the edge of the green towards the village cricket pitch. At a road junction I turned right, and soon came to an entrance into Penn Wood.

Penn Wood is one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the Chilterns AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). From before the Norman Conquest until the middle of the nineteenth century it was a wood pasture common. In the 1850’s it was enclosed and converted to ‘high forest’. It became an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) in 1950, but in subsequent decades almost half the wood was felled and it lost this status in 1979. More felling took place in the 1990’s in preparation for a proposed golf course, but this was vigorously and successfully opposed by a group of locals. The wood is now managed by the Woodland Trust (this external link opens in a new window).

I took the leftmost of two paths starting here, and followed it for about half a mile through the wood. I recognised beech, oak and silver birch trees as I went along – the path was broad and straight, but I had to weave in and out to avoid muddy patches. On the far side of the wood, I crossed a main road and went down the minor road opposite. I soon came to a junction where I forked right into Beamond End Lane. After 50-100 yards I went right again along a private drive, and continued on a path between fences and hedges at its end. This took me to a gate and a grassy field, part of which to my left had been ploughed up. On the far side I went through another metal gate into Toby’s Lane, a hedge-lined track. I followed it to the left – it was very muddy in places, in fact it had been almost impassable when I last walked here a few months ago. After a few hundred yards I turned off it, turning left onto a footpath – here I finally left the route of the Chiltern Heritage Trail which I’d followed since Amersham.

The path ran between a hedge and the high wooden wall of a farmyard on my right, and soon ended at a lane (Beamond End Lane again). I crossed over and continued on a footpath opposite through another grassy field. Where the hedge on my right turned right, the path continued downhill through the grass to a metal kissing-gate on the edge of a wood. I followed the clear path through the wood, descending slightly further then rising again briefly. I spotted Bluebells, Greater Stitchwort and Herb Robert beside the path here. The path then continued between hedges, with paddocks either side – I saw a very young foal with two horses in one of them on my left. Further on the path had a amature hedge on the left, with the branches of trees overshadowing the path, with a yellow-spattered meadow beyond the fence on my right. There was some Garlic Mustard and Woodruff growing near the end of the path, which ended by running between garden fences to reach Holmer Green.

Holmer Green was originally a hamlet in the parish of Little Missenden but is now a village in its own right. The ‘Holmer’ part of the name was first recorded in the 13th century as ‘Holeme’, while the ‘Green’ refers to the large and ancient green that was here from the 13th century onwards – it had been reduced to a mere 4 acres by 1854, however. The oldest houses here date to the 16th century, when the hamlet thrived on sheep farming. In the 19th century, the poet Christina Rossetti and her poet/ painter brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti visited their grandfather in Holmer Green – it is said that Christina drew poetic inspiration from the surrounding countryside. From about 1850 to 1950 the village was famed locally for its cherry orchards. The entire nature of the village was changed by a wave of building here in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and the population now totals 4000.

I continued on in the same direction along a residential street, and then on a footpath which carried on as the street went right. This very soon came to a path junction, where I turned right and followed the path between garages and a hedge to reach a road. Here I turned left, and followed the road for over half a mile through the large village. I soon passed the Bat and Ball pub on the left, as the name suggests adjacent to the village playing field. Further on I passed the Village Centre (presumably similar to a village hall) and then the Royal British Legion building, both on my right. Eventually I came to a mini-roundabout on the edge of the village, where I turned right.

After a short distance, I turned left on a path along the right edge of another paddock, with a couple of horses in it. In the far corner I went over a couple of stiles in quick succession, with a house close by on the right. I was surprised to see some young calves in the next small enclosure, as I’d thought this was another paddock when I’d been here before. I had to squeeze between the calves and their anxious mothers, who were looking over a gate into the adjacent field on the right. Over another stile, I followed a hedge on my right through another couple of paddocks, descending into a slight valley. I crossed another couple of stiles in quick succession, and then walked round two sides of another grassy field, following hedgerows on my right.

There was then another pleasant walk through a wood, the path descending at first into another slight valley, then turning left with the edge of the wood just feet to my left. On the far side of the wood I came to a T-junction of paths, where I turned right, initially alongside the wood. The path continued between hedges and fences, with meadows and small enclosures (one containing goats) either side, passing the Baptist Chapel in Little Kingshill to reach a road.

Little Kingshill lies in the parish of Little Missenden, though it is larger than its parent village. The ‘King’ in the name is thought to be King John.

I turned right, and had another half mile of road walking through the village – not the most interesting part of the walk, especially as I’d done it before on both the Chiltern Heritage Trail and the South Bucks Way (which I’d now be following most of the rest of the walk, apart from a slight diversion through Little Missenden). But it was soon over, and as the road turned to the left, I continued along a footpath going on ahead. This passed through a small area of trees and continued across another huge corn field, with an impressive view ahead over Little Missenden and the Misbourne valley. It took some time to cross the field, descending slowly on tyre tracks through the green crop. On the far side, I went through a hedge gap and continued through another corn field, still going gently downhill and still admiring the view ahead. The path was soon running alongside the edge of the field on my left. In the next field corner, I stopped to eat my lunch on a stile, as it was now about 1pm. I then carried on, across another stile the other side of a hedge-lined path, and across a large paddock, yellow with wildflowers. In the far corner I went over another stile, to reach a lane on the edge of Little Missenden.

Little Missenden lies in the Misbourne valley, about three miles west of Amersham. The name ‘Missenden’ comes from the Saxon for ‘valley where marsh plants grow’, and the village church dates back to the time of the Saxons. It contains some mediaeval wall paintings, and is well worth a visit. The village is quaint and attractive, and has been used as a setting for films and TV.

I turned right, and walked for about half a mile or so through the charming village. I passed the historic church on my left (which I visited when I walked the Chiltern Heritage Trail, see Day 5 of my journal for that walk), and went by several attractive houses and cottages. I was quite happy to do this bit of road walking, as Little Missenden is one of my favourite villages. I passed a wooden fingerpost on the right, and then the first of two pubs. Just after the second pub, the Crown, I took a path on the right, initially along a gravel track. There were meadows to my left, and I could occasionally glimpse the small river Misbourne running through them. There were Canada Geese, Mallards and Moorhens in one of the meadows.

Where the gravel track turned left, the footpath carried on along the valley, now on a stony track beside the right-hand hedge of a long narrow valley. A man taking photographs here came over and asked, in a foreign accent, what was beyond the trees he could see ahead of him – he seemed disappointed when I told him it was the village of Little Missenden. The track carried on beyond a gate, now in what was obviously parkland, with some mature trees dotted about the grass. I noticed a large amount of the dark blue Germander Speedwell growing here. The sun came out very briefly around this time, and for a few minutes I walked in bright sunshine for the only time today. The stony track eventually turned left to go uphill, but I continued ahead on a path through the grass. The path continued along the valley, edging closer to the river on my right. Soon the river opened out into a small lake where it had been dammed – obviously for the benefit of the owners of Shardeloes, the grand white house on top of the hillside to my right. There were Tufted Duck and Coots on the lake.

A bit further on, the path left the parkland and reached an impressive cricket ground, with two pitches and several nets set up. I went round the right edge of one pitch, then behind the clubhouse and along the drive (there were no signs or waymarks, I think the actual right-of-way may be straight across the second pitch). I went through a gateway and along a short section of drive, then took a surfaced path that went between bushes and followed the river under a road bridge. The path then went right, and followed the main road for about a hundred yards before veering left through some bushes to reach the old road into Amersham. A short distance on, the road became the start of the High Street in Old Amersham. Again, it was a pleasure to walk down this long street, with several old coaching inns and numerous Georgian and older houses either side. Unfortunately, the effect of this grand street was as usual marred by the large number of cars parked either side and even down the middle. I took one or two photographs, and passed the Market Hall as I made my way back to the car park where I’d started.

This was an unusual walk for me in one respect – it started and finished in the town of Old Amersham and passed through no less than six villages, so there was a lot of walking along streets, interspersed with short stretches of no more than two miles through countryside. But it was still an enjoyable walk, only the lengthy stretches through Holmer Green and Little Kingshill being a bit dull. There were some nice views over the Misbourne Valley and over the rolling Chiltern Hills, and some nice stretches through woods to add variety to the numerous field paths. The church at Little Missenden is well worth a visit to those interested in history, and the walk probably saved the best for last, the walk along the section of Misbourne Valley being very pleasant indeed.

Total distance: 120.9 miles

I have just updated my web site, “Pete’s Walks”. I’ve added Walks 5-8 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, and some new bird, butterfly and wildflower photos.

This afternoon I walked round the two Nature Reserves at Totternhoe. Saw some Wild Mignonette and Sainfoin for the first time this year, lots of Germander Speedwell and Cowslips. Managed to photo an Orange Tip butterfly.

Below is a draft of my journal entry for Walk 9 of the Chiltern Chain Walk, which I did on Wednesday (14th May). Sorry, I know these entries are even more boring without the accompanying grotty photos, so you may prefer to wait a few days until I add it to the web site (I hope to add 3 or 4 more entries for the walk to the web site in the next few days). Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to write both a journal entry and then a shorter version for this blog.

Walk 9 14/05/08 – Chalfont St Giles and Old Amersham (11.2 miles approximately)
Parked in Pay-and-Display car park in centre of Chalfont St Giles.

I had a nice surprise at the start of the walk – for some reason, parking in the car park at Chalfont St Giles was free today! I started walking just before 10am. It was a much cooler day than on the last few walks, but still pleasantly warm and very sunny. I walked along the High Street, passing some expensive looking shops, and followed the road as it turned slightly right. I passed the Milton Museum (see note for Chalfont St Giles in previous entry) on my left, and soon after turned left onto a footpath opposite the Milton’s Head pub. The hard-surfaced path went slightly uphill between fences, with a small meadow on the left and further on a school on the right. When the path ended I continued on in the same direction, along the edge of some playing fields, following a hedgeline on my left. Beyond the playing fields I passed a Bowls club on my right, and then the path went up and down a small dip, through a grassy area that looked more like a park than a meadow. I spotted some Wood Avens growing here.

I crossed a gravel track or drive and carried on along a narrow path between fences and hedges. I passed some small paddocks on my right, and further on there was an old orchard on that side. To my left, the fields sloped down to the Misbourne Valley, running south between Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. The path carried on for some distance, between a hedge and a hire wire fence on the right, with a large pasture beyond. The path curved round to the right and eventually reached a lane. Here I crossed over, and continued on the path on the other side, which ran through a small area of trees and bushes. I went past one turning to the right and then took the second, the path here running between old overgrown hedgerows.

After a couple of hundred yards or so this path ended a t a junction, where I turned left on a path parallel to a farm drive on my right. There was initially a wood on my left, and then a very long but quite narrow pasture from which the path was separated by a wire fence. A few feet beyond the fence was a long line of oak trees – a cow and a calf, the sole inhabitants of the pasture, lay in the shade of one of the trees. Beyond a farmyard, there were empty pastures to the right of the fenced path. At the end of the long pasture on my left, I turned left on another fenced path along the end of the pasture, and then continued through a short sequence of paddocks, alongside a hedge on my right and with a row of giant pylons just to my left. The overhead wires hummed and crackled noisily.

In the third or fourth paddock, the path went half-left and I passed three or four horses as I made my way to the far corner. I crossed the drive to the farm or stables that was to my left. and continued across another paddock in the same direction as before. I’d had a problem here on my exploratory walk in this area – there was a tall and new fence along the far side, but no stile. The problem was now resolved – instead of a stile being installed, the new fence had been removed! Anyway, in the corner of the paddock, I turned sharp right and followed the edge of the paddock to a stile and the drive again. I followed the drive left, passing some Bulbous Buttercups, and at the end turned right along a narrow lane. This was surprisingly busy today (a confused taxi driver passed me three times!) and I had to keep squeezing into the hedges either side to let vehicles pass. I went past the entrance to a Youth Hostel on my right, and at the end of the lane I turned right into the village of Jordans, with the old Quaker Meeting House immediately on my right.

The Quaker Meeting House at Jordans is one of the oldest in the country, dating from 1688, but was badly damaged in a disastrous fire in 2005 and is currently being restored. It was an early centre for Quaker activity, and was visited by Charles Fox and William Penn. Indeed, William Penn and members of his family are buried there. Nearby is the Mayflower Barn, believed to have been built from the timbers of the ship that took the Pilgrim Fathers to America. There is also a Youth Hostel at Jordans.

I’d been disappointed that the Quaker Meeting House was being restored when I first went past here on the Chiltern Heritage Trail about 20 months ago. Sadly it was still being restored today, although at least the plastic sheeting had been removed so I could get a reasonable photo of the building. The fencing surrounding the building work also now included the graves of William Penn and his family, so I was unable to go and look at them this time. Also since that time, the Quakers have sold off some land and property, so I could no longer walk from the graveyard to the Mayflower Barn, but could just photograph it as I went past along the road.

I followed the road through the edge of the village for about half a mile – there were a couple of rather dangerous bends but elsewhere there was generally a path or verge on the right. I spotted more Wood Avens, some Herb Robert and some Green Alkanet beside the road. At the end of the village I turned down a cement farm drive on the left. Where this turned left, I went over a stile in front of me and turned right through a large meadow, full of yellow Dandelions and Buttercups. Beyond the meadow the path ran between wooden fences, with some paddocks on the right, and then followed the drive from a stables to a minor road. Here I went left – the road soon turned left, with a lane going straight on. Here I turned right onto a footpath.

The path went for a few yards down a drive, then ran between hedgerows. This went on for a considerable distance, the path often bordered by the white of Cow Parsley and Greater Stitchwort. One or two paths went off either side, and there were occasional gaps or gateways giving access to the adjacent fields, but I stayed on the path between the mature hedgerows. When these eventually ended, the path continued diagonally across another attractive yellow meadow to the far corner, where it entered Hodgemoor Wood. I followed the path running along just inside the right edge of the wood. There were several minor junctions, where small paths not shown on the map diverged, but I stayed close to the edge of the wood without ever actually leaving it. I then joined a surfaced track used by horse riders, which soon took me to the end of the wood and a lane.

I crossed over and continued across part of a corn field – I spotted some beautiful field pansies here, the first I’ve seen this year. I crossed the route of the Chiltern Way on the edge of the field, and continued on in the same direction along a farm track. I soon passed the farmhouse, where I saw an Orange-tip butterfly. The track now descended gently for some distance with a path on its right, which I followed. The path rejoined the track as it turned left – I met four ladies, all in red baseball caps, walking the other way here. The track went downhill beside paddocks on the right to Bottom House Farm and the lane that takes its name from that farm. I turned right for a few yards along the lane, with the farm buildings on either side of me, then turned right at a footpath sign (where I saw my first Red Admiral butterfly of the year).

Across the farmyard the path continued along a track, initially with a line of mature trees on the left, rising steadily uphill through large corn fields. There was a view towards the Misbourne Valley to my right. Towards the top of the hill the footpath turned left, leaving the track, and crossed the field to a hedge. I then had to go a few yards left along the hedge to a stile. The path then continued across another large corn field, the crop nowhere near as far developed as in the previous ones. Again there were views over the valley to my right, and I recognised the golf course I’d walked round on my last walk. The path crossed a corner of another field, then went slightly left, alongside Day’s Wood on the right. Where the wood ended, it continued a short distance beside a hedge, and went over a rather dilapidated stile in the field corner. It now followed a hedge on the left, with another enormous corn field sloping down to the valley on my right. I’d be returning along the bottom of the valley later on.

When the hedge turned left, quite close to a farm, the path continued across the corn field and then across another one, heading towards Rodger’s Wood with a view of Amersham ahead and across the valley. Looking across the Misbourne Valley to my right, I could see some of the yellow paddocks and meadows I’d been through on my previous walk. I passed through a corner of the wood, then the path started descending at an angle down into the valley, passing through two more corn fields. This path must be a popular route, as since leaving Bottom House Farm I’d met a total of six walkers coming the other way (and that’s on top of the four red-capped ladies I’d met just before the farm). On reaching a large empty pasture in the valley bottom, I turned left on a track. This went under a bridge carrying a main road, and soon led between houses (some posh barn conversions) to a main road in Old Amersham.

The market town of Amersham is split into two distinct parts, the larger and more modern Amersham on the hill and Old Amersham (which this walk passes through). The High Street in Old Amersham has been described as the finest in England, and it is certainly a very attractive street of mainly Georgian buildings – it has often been seen on TV and in films. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the manor of Amersham was held by Queen Edith, widow of Edward the Confessor, and later it was held by the Earls of Bedford. In 1521 seven Lollard dissenters were burnt at the stake in Amersham – a memorial was raised to them in 1931, with an inscription saying that “They died for the principles of religious liberty, for the right to read and interpret the Holy Scriptures and to worship God according to their consciences as revealed through God’s Holy Word”.

I carefully crossed the busy road and turned left, passing the entrance to a supermarket car park. I continued on down the very attractive High Street, with the market hall ahead of me. I then turned right into the churchyard, passing to the right of the church. My route now went over a small bridge over the river Misbourne, but before crossing it I went and sat on a bench in a grassy area by the river to eat my lunch, as it was almost 1pm. I then went over the bridge and turned right alongside the river – the water was very clear and I could see some small fish in it (I later had them identified as Roach – what would I do without ‘Wild About Britain’!). There was the wall of a cemetery to my left. Where it ended a path forked left, towards the Martyrs’ Memorial (see note above), but as I’d been there on one of my exploratory trips already, I didn’t bother to make the quarter-mile each way diversion today – also, the sky was turning a watery shade of grey and I was concerned about getting wet during the rest of the walk. So I carried on alongside the river, with another huge corn field sloping up the hillside on my left.

The path reached a main road (a main route between the two parts of Amersham) where I turned right, soon turning left at the roundabout at the end of the road. After a couple of hundred yards or so, I took a footpath on the right (just past a car showroom, the last building on this side of Old Amersham). This followed a hedge along the right of a meadow, then went through a gap in the hedge and continued through some scrubland between the hedge and the river on my right. It went under another road bridge, and soon entered the corner of another corn field, where I continued to have the river close by on my right. I started to feel the odd spot of rain here. At the end of the field the path ended at a junction, where I turned right, crossing a footbridge over the river and carrying on across another corn field. On the far side, I turned left, joining the route of the South Bucks Way which I would follow along the valley all the way back to Chalfont St Giles.

The path ran along the valley on a headland between corn fields – the huge one on my right sloped up the hillside and out of sight, I’d walked along its far edge earlier. Where the smaller corn field on my left ended, I saw a clump of Red Campion. I carried on, now with a tall hedge on my left, and more corn fields to my right. The odd spot of rain now turned to drizzle, and I put my camera away in the rucksack for a while. Eventually I reached a stile in a crossing hedgerow, and continued through a paddock (I met one of the walkers I’d seen earlier again here) to another stile and a lane (Bottom House Farm Lane again). The path continued along the valley bottom, through another paddock and then through a larger meadow. On the far side of this I went over a stile into a thin belt of trees – almost immediately I was retracing part of my previous walk, which turned to what was now my left here to shortly reach the golf course I’d sen from across the valley earlier.

The path went through the tree belt, with a pasture and then a donkey paddock on the left. It emerged from the trees to run between a hedge and an empty cattle pasture on the right. It then ran along a short section of lane between two bends, and then continued past a few houses on the right (I passed a lady walker here, who’d been visible ahead of me since just before crossing the lane). There was a view here forward across the large buttercup-filed cattle pasture on the left towards the edge of Chalfont St Giles where I had parked. The path entered another trree belt and a short distance further on joined a private drive between some large residences, which soon led to the centre of the village. I walked a short distance to the left to return to the car park. I spotted the ladies in red caps I’d seen earlier – I wonder if the surprising number of walkers I met today was anything to do with the free parking?

Another good walk – shame the Quaker Meeting House was still closed, I’d love to visit it sometime. The first part of the walk as far as Jordans was OK but nothing special, and the lane and road walking to and through Jordans wasn’t great (perhaps I should have thought of a different route here, but I was keen to pass the Quaker Meeting House). But the rest of the route was very pleasant indeed – and I didn’t notice so much road noise along the Misbourne Valley today as when I first walked there 2-3 years ago. The slight drizzle in the afternoon hardly affected me at all – I was lucky, as driving home it was evident there’d been heavy showers or rain just a few miles to the north of Amersham.

Total distance: 109.1 miles

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

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

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