Long Walk June 4th led by Chris
Ten walkers met at KOC in Monks Risborough for a local walk via Cadsden, Ellesborough and then circumnavigating Chequers before going on down to Askett for lunch at the Three Crowns. After lunch there was a short walk back to Monks Risborough – 8 miles in all. It was a fine day, not too hot with lots of lovely views and the pub was very welcoming as usual.
Strollers June 9th – led by Ruth Shorttle
15 strollers met at Longwick village hall on a fine, bright day. The walk took us over fields full of beautiful wild flowers, especially clover in whites, pinks and a lovely deep red – to Ilmer, where we stopped by the church and village pond for a short break. We then continued on across more fields to reach North Mill road and site of 4 hundred year old paper mill – mill wheel still there! Then it was just another half mile or so back to Longwick – a very good 4 mile stroll.
Medium walk Jun 20th – led by Jenny & David Brown
Penn Street Circular Walk
Our party of 8 walkers approached this walk with some trepidation as the temperature was forecast to rise to 30 C, on the day, with a bright blue sunny sky. However, we were blessed with slightly hazy clouds which, together with the woodland shade, made for reasonably comfortable walking conditions.
We began the walk from Penn Street Common, at 9.30 am and walked on paths through cornfields via Priestlands woods to Winchmore Hill village. From here we walked past the children’s playground and through the kissing gate onto the Penn House Estate. Following the Chiltern Way Trail through wooded pathways we eventually entered open fields with good views down the valley to Penn Bottom, where we were ready for a water rehydration stop.
From here, we crossed the road to a bridle path towards Tylers Green, before ascending another cornfield path to the welcome breeze on the ridge leading to Puttenham Place Farm. From here we walked down the path to descend through Pugh’s Wood to the entrance to Common Wood, where we enjoyed a coffee stop sitting on felled beech boles, in the cooler shade.
Suitably refreshed, our mixed woodland route then joined Penn House Way, before joining the mile long avenue named the Chalk Track, which dates back to the 1855 Enclosure Act. This avenue, framed by magnificent tall ancient beech trees, is so named because in 1985 it was resurfaced with 18 inches of chalk to improve access for forestry service vehicles.
Our path continued along the Rushmoor path down to Justice Gate and into Penn Wood. Here we followed the easily followed permissive back to Penn Street and our destination for lunch, The Squirrel Pub. We arrived at around 12.30 pm enjoyed a friendly welcome and good food and drink