A lovely day for a stretch of The Ridgeway, and a view of the future

It was a perfect sunny and warm day for this walk between three of the highlights of The Chilterns, starting from Combe Hill and then taking The Ridgeway to Pulpit Hill and Whiteleaf Hill.

From Combe Hill, Rosie was able to point out the route of HS2, heading west of Wendover, south of Stoke Mandeville and west of Aylesbury. I daresay this will be a subject of some discussion in the Brake/Jackson household in the next few months.

This was yet another walk from our Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book. It was rated there at 8 miles, and seemed longer. In fact, Rosie said that if it was only 8 miles, then she is a Dutchman. She measured in on the map and will subquently be known as De Heer Brake.

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A non-pub walk from Penn

Another cold and dry day, and another walk from the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book  - this time from Penn. We had an appointment to review the plans for our kitchen re-fit in the early afternoon, so had to forgo a pub lunch and pick up a sandwich at M&S. Once again, this book took us on paths we hadn't explored before, including a long Rhododedron-lined  path in Penn Wood. Would be nice to repeat this walk when they're in bloom.

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Cookham and Boulters Lock before the snow

It was cold day, with snow forecast for the evening, so we donned our scarves, silly hats and, in one case, long johns and headed for Cookham for a route we'd walked a few times before. It took us along The Thames to an icy Boulters Lock, and then back along the 'Green Way'. We took a small diversion to Raymill Island to inspect the site of a planned bridge.

We went with Steve and Jennifer to see Three Bonzos and a Piano at Norden Farm on Satuay evening, with Jennifer driving. When we emerged after 10pm, the snow was a few inches deep and driving was difficult. A car had failed to get up the short slope joining to the A4, so we headed the long way around to the A404 in very slippery  conditions with poor visibility. Surprisingly, the A404 was no better and we struggled along at 15mph. After some debate, we decided to brave the Marlow ramp, and got to the top without trouble, and then slithered up to our house in Marlow Bottom. Well done Jennifer! It was clear that trying to get to Wycombe was not a good idea, so Steve and Jennifer stayed over with us.

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Stokenchurch and Bennett End without soup

It was a grey day (with what our boys call a 'Tupperware sky'), and pretty cold. We planned a shortish walk from Stokenchurch. As we were planning an early dinner, we decided to take a picnic rather than have a pub lunch, so I filled a flask of tomato soup for Rosie and me. By the time we got to Stokenchurch, the soup had leaked into the rucksack. I was glad that I had put in in a carrier bag. I was despatched to the local shop to buy a couple of Snickers bars. Alison and David has taken a more conventional (and leakproof) approach, and made filled rolls.

We did stop at The Three Horseshoes at Bennett End for a quick drink. It's quite up-market and we weren't sure we'd be welcome on a Sunday lunch time. However, the bar area was very cosy, and even had an inglenook fireplace. Good beer too. The Sunday lunch menu wasn't cheap (£27 for 3 courses), but the food on offer was tempting.

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Testing the new cagoule from Lane End

Having got wet too many times in the Alps while those about me stayed dry, I asked for a GoreTex cagoule for Xmas, and Rosie duly came up with a Berghaus Cornice. It had spent a couple of short walks in the rucksack, but not been used in anger until today.

As we were heading to Derby & Nottingham to see Martin later and hadn't walked much recently because we'd been recovering from our Xmas chest infections, we squeezed in a  short local walk from Lane  End despite the weather not looking great. We started from Lane End and took in Frieth via several paths we'd not walked before. The cagoule was duly tested by a shower, and it performed well.

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Bagnor and The Blackbird for David's birthday

It was David's birthday, so he chose the route and we did the driving. We headed towards Newbury for this nice route around Bagnor, near The Watermill Theatre and in the Lambourne and Winterbourne Valleys.

Lunch was at The Blackbird at Bagnor. There was a good selection of pub food - nothing fancy but large portions of very tasty fare. It being a celebration, we ventured to have pudding. I'm very glad to have shared an excellent fresh waffle and ice cream with Rosie rather than having one to myself. Excellent local beer too.

The post-lunch route took us to the 14th century Donnington Castle.

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A full day, starting at Marlow Common

As David and Alison are joining The Bottom Line on New Years Day at The Dog and Badger, we thought it might be good  to practice together before the event and arranged it for early Saturday afternoon. That just about gave the four of us time or a decent-length walk nearby.

I choose one just under 7 miles long, heading North from Marlow Common from The Handbook of Chiltern Hill Walks that we've had for ages - some of the walks are annotated with 1987 dates. It's not actually a great book - the descriptions are sometimes hard to follow and not much effort was spent on design. However, it certainly has hills.

After a 'shall we, shan't we' conversation prompted by some sleet, we went ahead ahead and had a lovely walk, albeit with some gratuitous ascent and descent.

We got back in time for an excellent practice. It was clearly a long day because I fell asleep sitting up in an armchair in the evening.

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