Wednesday October 5th Long walk led by Libby & Ger
13 walkers came along – unlucky for some, but not us. We had a super 6 mile walk along the Wendover canal, with swans and moorhens gazing at us as we walked past. We continued until near Halton House and struck off through the woods towards Wendover Woods. Reaching the woods we took the less travelled lower paths around the base of the woods, just skirting the RAF camp. The trees stretched over us and sheltered us from the gusts up above. We passed a lump of concrete on a bit of metal and Ger said it was Disraeli’s dogs grave – but perhaps his nose was growing! The weather began to drip a bit on us so we took a path down back to Wendover and headed for the pub, passing a garden replete with Daleks and toy figures – lady inside cheerfully waving at us. We put the world to rights in The Shoulder of Mutton.
Monday October 10th stroll led by Carole Barfoot
Wigans Lane layby to Bledlow village circular walk
5am Monday morning I stuck an arm out of the bathroom window-it was raining….that’s ok because the BBC Weatherman on Countryfile had told me the rain would go through during the morning and it would be a fine day. And thus it was! A bit on the chilly side to start with, which brings its own problems in what to wear, but armed with all my trusty anti-rain devices I was confident all would be well.
We met at Wigans Lane layby , well 10 of us did, and counter-intuitively we walked away from Bledlow towards Lodge Hill. This was purely to ensure we didn’t get mown down by the Lewis Hamiltons taking the bend on two wheels. The path doglegs back towards the road which is then crossed safely from one gate to the other. Here is the second layby where we met 2 others of our party and Pippin the pretty Jack Russell. Following the Ridgeway path, believed to be more than 5000 years old and which stretched from the Wash to the South Coast, we continued into open pasture recently grazed by sheep. It’s strange to think this path has been walked by Neolithic nomadic hunter gatherers, Bronze Age farmers, Iron Age peoples walking between hill forts ,the Marching Romans scattering civilians from their path and now us in such a peaceful setting. What tales it can tell as the wind whispers through the trees.
Idly chatting I nearly missed the gate on the right into the downward sloping field where we paused briefly to take photos across to Whiteleaf and Lacey Green. So clear now we could see for miles. At the foot of the slope we climbed through a small copse of trees across the field to another sheep pasture which this time was occupied by tasty legs of lamb in woolly jumpers. Pippin on lead. On the right of the path is a lovely hedge which has been left to mature and where the autumnal colours had begun to appear. When I did this walk in Spring the considerable number of crab apple trees in the hedgeline were in full blossom with various colours to the petals, white to pale pink to rosy pink and some blossom much larger than others. Gorgeous. At the bottom of the slope the backs of the houses of Bledlow village spread linearly to the left and as we exited the alleyway the Church and Lyde Garden were on the right. Turning left we quickly passed The ‘Lions Of Bledlow’ public house , keeping an eye on Brendan in case he was sorely tempted inside. Soldiering on with the Chinnor Steam Railway line to our right in the valley and Chinnor Hill with its tumuli in front of us we followed the well-made track which climbs in a more leisurely way to rejoin the Ridgeway than the path behind ‘The Lions’ which is steep and treacherous when wet, walking on exposed chalk. At the top of the track we paused again for a group photo , turned left and rejoined the Ridgeway. Passing a £3million new build we pondered on ‘how nice’, ‘the wonderful views’, ‘when the Lottery comes sailing in’ and ‘when pigs can fly’ . A gate in the hedge on the right took us into our first sheep pasture , lovely open walking where again hedgelines had matured. A discussion ensued at one tree with a leaf form we were unable to identify. Modern technology leapt to our aid in the form of the Plantnet app on Chris’s mobile . This gave us the best bet as Sorbus intermedia-Swedish Whitebeam. Checking it later on Wiki that seemed to be a correct ID. Clever.
Continuing on the path we were soon back to the laybys and looking forward to a cup of tea and lunch. If you enjoyed this walk try it in the Spring when the apple blossom is out and check out the crab apple trees.
Friday October 21st medium walk led by Peter West
Our first act on assembling at the Swan at Great Kimble was to choose our lunch from the pub menu, a very important activity!
Fourteen people set out from the pub on a day on which thundery showers had been predicted. However, the weather was fine as we headed west to cross the railway line and headed up to Great Kimble School. Crossing the main Aylesbury Road, we met Janet Edmonds who had opted for a shorter version of our walk. Taking the Wendover Road which we soon crossed and took the path across fields and through a garden to meet the Aylesbury Road again. Turning off the road onto a footpath through Brooksdide Farm, we crossed fields and over a spring to meet the Aylesbury Ring. Here we had fine views of Ellesborough Church. We met the road that took us by the house which was thought to have belonged to David Jason, or maybe still does.
Arriving at Butlers Cross, we continued on the Aylesbury Ring and then turned off to cross the Ellesborough Golf Course watching out for flying golf balls as we went! We crossed the road and continued south on the track along the bottom of Coombe Hill. For no apparent reason, for the first 200 mtrs, the track had been recently widened and excavated down to its chalk base. Now back to its usual surface, we carried on and eventually turned right and crossed the road to Chequers and started off on the long path across the cultivated field, which thankfully was not muddy, to meet the track down to Ellesborough Church. Passing through the churchyard,
we descended to meet the Aylesbury Ring again. We turned left across fields and behind houses to meet the Wendover Road. Janet left us at this point, and we picked up the footpath off the Aylesbury Road by Little Kimble railway station which brought us back to the path which led back to the Swan. Luckily, the rain had stayed away accept for a very brief shower.
Ten of us stayed for a very enjoyable meal sitting together at a long table. Light lunches were available to suit all tastes, and we noted the pub as being suitable for future walks. As a bonus for walk organizers, the landlord was very flexible about the time the group arrived back after the walk.