A short walk from West Wycombe

We had an weekend visit from Stuart, our younger son. This was  a nice surprise, but not good for our waistlines. Firstly, we only took a short walk on Saturday - while Stuart slept after an all-night gig. Secondly, we had a traditional Sunday roast rather than the less calorific meal we'd planned.

The weather forecast had accurately predicted that it would turn sunny and cold overnight on Thursday. These conditions continued into Saturday, so scarves and beanie hats were in order for our walk from West Wycombe Garden Centre. We climbed up to the mausoleum and then walked rather further along the ridge than Rosie had planned as we missed the path down to the Chinnor road and had to re-trace our steps. That path, once we'd found it, was mostly on exposed chalk and very slippery. Only one of us made contact with the path with her bottom.

Having descended to the road, we immediately climbed up to Coxshoots Wood, and then diagonally back down to the A40 and to the garden centre. After changing  out of our boots, we took a tour around the 'deli' attached to the garden centre to look at the pies, cheese and bread that we're not eating at the moment.

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Ivinghoe Beacon and Ashridge Estate

With no other plans this weekend, we decided to tackle one of the further-afield walks in Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns and settled on the one starting at Ivinghoe Beacon.

We didn't have a good start - the car park signposted as you approach  Ivinghoe Beacon is not the one from which the walk starts, so we were a bit confused for a while and need to consult the O/S map to find the real start. After an initial section through woods, the joined the ridge and climbed northwards a short way to the Beacon itself. We had overcast conditions  but still had a wide-reaching view. I didn't take any photos because they'd have featured the attendees of a photographic club or course who were swarming around the trig point.

The next part of the walk was along the ridge heading East, and then back westwards along its  base before heading South. This was all pleasant, but I don't see why a perfectly nice-looking path heading South-West wasn't used.

After a wooded uphill stretch, we struck out across a series of fields until we got to Witchcraft Bottom - timely for a late-October walk - and arrived at The Bridgewater Arms at Little Gaddesden. This was busy and comfortable, with excellent Greene King beer and a wide selection of food, with the healthier options marked with calorie values. We were good, and choose calorie-avoiding sandwiches. However, when my 'ham sandwich with onion chutney' arrived, the bread was smothered with spread (margarine I think).  Even if I wasn't watching  my weight, it would have been far too much, so I scraped almost all of it off. Once I'd done that, the sandwich was enjoyable.

Most of the rest of the walk was in the woods of the Ashridge Estate, owned and managed by the National Trust which was supported by a public appeal to buy the 1700 acres of the estate in 1921, thereby stopping a piecemeal sell-off for development.  As you might expect from the NT, the estate is very well maintained, with a great network of paths. There was even a route for mobility scooters!

We passed the 108' high Bridgewater Monument, but declined the opportunity to climb it, but did buy a very small bar of  chocolate from the busy  NT cafe. The way back to the car through the woods was very simple but rather more uphill than we expected. We got views of Pitstone Windmill - another NT property worth visiting.

This was a good walk at this time of year for fungi!

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Autumn leaves in the Wormsley Estate

As we'd performed Autumn Leaves at The Dashwood Arms on Wednesday, it was nice to have a bright and sunny Autumn Sunday to catch up on some walking, having skipped last weekend because we'd visited my parents in Bristol.

We chose the Wormsley Estate walk from the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book, and were walking from the car park at Stokenchurch before 9:30, soon heading over the M40 and soon entering the Wormsley Estate. This was bought by Sir Paul Getty in the 80s. He then spent some of his fortune building a cricket ground (having been introduced to the sport by Mick Jagger), and restoring the estate to a very high standard. He lived here from 1986 until his death in 2003. It's easy to see why he was so attracted to the area - there are superb views along and into the valley, and the woods are lovely too.

Having descended into the valley, we then climbed up to Christmas Common. Our early start meant that we got the The Fox & Hounds at 11:00, and they weren't even open for coffee. So we carried on, joining the Oxfordshire Way and heading to North End.

The return route was a sequence of ascents and descents, all in great surroundings, but still tiring. The Fox at Ibstone was just off our route, but we pressed on to get back to the car via the tunnel under the M40 after four hours.

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