Helen and I did a really nice walk in the Chilterns yesterday, from Coombe Hill down to Wendover and back. This is a loop of about 6km, with maybe 130m down and then up, offering a good variety of terrain and views.
We followed the route described in this "Views of the Vale of Wendover" pamphlet, but started in the car park at the top of the hill so we could break the walk with a sit down lunch in Wendover.
Proceeding clockwise, the walk begins on open tops around the Boer War memorial, where the Chilterns escarpment offers fantastic 270 degree views to the east north and west. It then descends along the Ridgeway to Wendover. We didn't venture far into the town, but had lunch in the No.2 Pound Street wine shop/cafe and picked up some chocolates from Rumsey's; sadly there is no bookshop.
Coombe Hill
|
old cottages in Wendover
|
The walk back up the hill was very different, much of it under trees, with fields and sheep and rolling hills, then carpets of bluebells and some lovely beech forest. It's a steady climb, and with breaks for tired little legs it took us an hour and a half.
 |
|
 |
After the walk we managed to fit in an hour at the Bucks Goat Centre, where Helen fed some baby goats with a milk bottle and some bigger goats with pellets, but also had the energy to climb around the small playground.
In May, ten years ago, Vera and I greatly enjoyed a very similar walk to Ivinghoe Beacon, starting and ending at, I think, Tring, where we stayed the night. Steep slopes, wonderful views and amazingly few people.
PS It was, in fact, Wendover that we started from, walking up past St Mary's church and along a beautiful lane under tall beech trees to the Ridgeway. We spent the night at the Red Lion in Wendover. We'd looked for B&B signs without luck, and the information centre told us such places no longer needed to put up signs because their clientele all had the information on their programmed telephones.