Nuffield after the gales

We're getting  close to completing all of the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns, and had planned to tackle the one based on Nuffield, on the North West of the area - quite a drive from home. It had rained for most of Saturday and then blown a gale for much of Sunday night. It was only when we started the walk that we noticed that the description said is "especially suited to winter...." with "good firm walking".

The outward leg was straight-forward on an unsurfaced road , taking us to the King William at Hailey (bottom left of the map and picture on the right) that we'd visited with David and Alison on one of our early walks with them. This is an attractive pub with good food, but not our stopping spot today.After two right turns, we gained height and could see familiar parts of the Thames Valley before entering Mongewell Woods and then heading towards Nuffield village and golf course to find The Crown.

This Brakspears pub obviously focuses on food, and has a separate dining area. However, they've keep a proper cosy 'pub' area with an open fire, and a mixture of tables & chairs and sofas. The menu was promising too - just a few choices, all of which were sounded good. As I was cooking duck for dinner, we were restrained and shared a home-made mushroom and sweet corn soup (OK but not 100% successful) and creamy mushrooms (very nice). Worth a visit for a proper meal. It was fun to see another couple carrying the same book in the pub. It turned out that there had been a short shower when we'd been in the pub - there only rain of the day.

After more golf course, we entered a wood that had obviously suffered from the previous night's gales - there was a fallen tree across the path. From there, we descended back to the car and headed home for dinner which, though I say it myself, was good - and left us with duck fat for the Xmas lunch roast potatoes,

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Pitstone Hill, The Grand Union Canal and a noisy pub

A lovely sunny day with no other plans gave us the chance to tackle another of the further-afield walks in the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book - this one based around Pitstone Hill.

Although the walk in the book started near Pitstone, that would have put the pub stop too close to the start, so we chose to start at Tring station, were the is allegedly some parking. It turns out that there are three staff/contractor space and two public spaces - all full. Luckily there was some on-road parking nearby.

The first stretch was along the Grand Union Canal. As usual, you descend from the road onto the towpath. With the leaves still on the trees, it was still quite shaded. I remarked that it felt like entering an alternative world - maybe lie something from His Dark Materials.

We then went across the railway and along a series of paths and drives to the side of Pitstone Hill and walked on a fairly level and slippery path along the fence parallel to the ridge. This eventually turned to ascend to the ridge. After a swift detour to the top to photograph Pitstone Windmill (apparently the oldest in the country and one of a very large number of windmills we visited with our boys), we found a nice spot surrounded by great Chiltern  views to eat our picnic. It as almost warm enough not to need to wear a fleece. Not bad for November.

The route then followed the ridge (indeed The Ridgeway) to a stile where the bridleway turned into a footpath. A couple of cyclists were waiting to lift their bikes over the stile. I pointed out that cycling is not permitted on footpaths. 'Who said I was going to cycle?' said one of them. We walked along the path for while and and were soon caught up by the same two, peddling away. They passed us, but not before Rosie had insisted that we hold hands walk side-by-side....

We descended to Aldbury and The Valiant Trooper. This is a nice country pub that we'd previously visited with David and Alison. Today it was packed.... The bar was full of men in blazers who'd clearly been there since opening time and were singing rugby songs. It was warm enough for us to sit in the garden, but that too had another crowd shouting at each other from two feet away. My theory is that they'd all been to the local Remembrance Day service, and adjourned to the pub to fill the time before the rugby started. The Chiltern Ridgeway beer was excellent, but we didn't stick around. We could hear the garden conversation from some distance away.

The next stretch was towards and alongside a wood and then re-crossing the railway. It was around 2:30  at this point and we came across a man without a map who asked us the way to the monument - he meant the Bridgewater Monument that we visited a couple of weeks ago and had seen in the distance earlier in the walk. Rosie showed him the route on the O/S map and hinted that it was perhaps too far to go in the remaining daylight. However, he asked to photograph our map (an interesting idea) and went on his way. We hope he found his way there and back.

We then re-joined the Grand Union at Cow Roast Lock, which is the highest lock on the canal and so-named a a corruption of Cows Rest - where drovers rested their cattle en route to London. It was was a short walk along the canal to the car - but seemed longer than it was.

Great Missenden to Wendover and back

It was bright and chilly start to the day, so we filled the flask with tomato soup and made some rolls, wrapped up well and headed for Great Missenden for yet another long walk from Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns - to Wendover and back.

 It had clouded over  while we were driving to the start of the walk, but brightened up as we were gaining height heading North West. The route took us in and out of woodland, with impressive selections of fungi and typical Chiltern views emerging from both sides. After passing through Dunsmore, we descended towards Wendover and passed where HS2 will cross. The phrase 'Not In My Back Estate' sprang to mind.

On reaching the main road, we resisted the temptation to pop into Wendover town centre for a visit to Rumsey's coffee and cake shop, but came across a park with a south-facing (and dry)  bench on which to eat our very welcome lunch.

The return route started with an uphill stretch of the Ridgeway, heading along a very muddy and slippery path  to Old Swan at Swan Bottom. This is a proper country pub - a Free House with excellent Chiltern Brewery beer, exposed beams and a log file. The food looked good too.

The final leg of the route was notable for passing the cottage in the photo on the right. This had popped up in New Tricks recently, and was also in The Meaning of Life (when Eric Idle, as Gaston the waiter, walks out of the restaurant and expounds on his philosophy. 

After 11.5 miles, we were ready for  dinner with Rosie's 'Walking Ladies' group and partners at the excellent new Italian restaurant in Marlow.

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