Return to the Chiltern Hills

Saturday 23rd June 2018

Last summer, several months after my Easter holiday in the Chiltern Hills and beyond, I returned to these fabulous rolling wooded hills. Parking in the village of Stokenchurch I immediately joined the route of the Chiltern Way that I had often followed the previous April, but after passing underneath the motorway I branched off and headed south through a wonderfully wooded valley that provided me with pleasant walking under tall trees with dappled shade and rich overgrown plants, even if mostly nettle. It was a great to be walking in such warm weather and bright sunshine through lush woodland. The weather last summer was great in its sustained, settled conditions that aided many walks to be done and I was eager to make the most of it. After a while I reached a crossroads of paths and even though I checked my map I still took the wrong one that gradually climbed out of the valley, which should have told me immediately that I was going the wrong way, but it wasn’t until I reached some houses on the outskirts of Ibstone that I realised I had gone completely the wrong way. Rather than retrace my steps back into the valley I walked along the road for a bit before descending back into the valley on another footpath to rejoin the bottom of the valley that I should never have left in the first place.

Eventually the valley began to the broaden and just before I reached the road at Gravesend I turned right and took a path that climbs steeply up over Turville Hill and steeply down the other side into the lovely little village of Turville. This descent was so steep I was worried about my knees after the pounding they had sustained while I was in the Lake District not long before, but I had such no problems with my knees as they failed to complain about such a short, though sharp descent. Upon passing through the beautiful village of Turville I was now back on the Chiltern Way (southern arm) as I gradually climbed beside a gorgeous meadow that was filled with many wild flowers especially ox-eye daisy that got me excited and full of joy to be back in the Chiltern Hills. The wonders came thick and fast but when I reflected back on the walk several hours later for this blog I wished I’d made notes of the highlights as I was passing them. It could be my age, though I’ve never had a great memory, but although this was an enjoyable walk I can’t remember much about what happened at this point in the walk.

This was a lovely walk with the weather not too hot, and certainly not as hot as it had been last summer, which made for a much more pleasant walk. Continuing along the Chiltern Way I passed Southend Farm and through the foxglove-rich Kildridge Wood to enter Stonor Park. The centrepiece of this deer park is the grand Stonor House that looks an amazing place and made me feel really inappropriately dressed. According to Wikipedia this was the location for the Bladen safe house in the Bond film "The Living Daylights", although I didn’t know this when I passed. It looked like it was being used for a wedding so even though I was on a public footpath some distance to the south of the house I still felt like I was intruding. Passing out of Stonor Park and through the village I eventually reached the point where I wanted to come off the Chiltern Way and onto the Oxfordshire Way heading north through Pishillbury Wood. Further on, after passing through meadows rich in wild flowers, I reached College Wood, which I had passed through a couple of months earlier when I remember it was full of infant bluebells, but these were all now sadly long gone.

Turning right I was back on the Chiltern Way (northern arm) and a route that I had taken previously, but just for one field. At Hollandridge Farm I kept on the Chiltern Way whereas previously, going in opposite direction, I had headed along Hollandridge Lane. Passing through Fire Wood and a meadow full of purple flowers that to me looked like some sort of vetch/pea I eventually headed into Blackmoor Wood and rejoined the route that I had taken at Easter. Ground that had been muddy just a couple of months before was now completely dry including the rutted path in Commonhill Wood that I remembered previously straddling either side of a deep mud-filled rut was now an easy walk uphill. This path brought me up to Ibstone Common not far from the point where I had come into Ibstone by mistake earlier in the walk, but now no mistake was made as I continued along the Chiltern Way retracing my steps of last Easter to head down into Hartmoor Wood and eventually back to Stokenchurch.

This walk wasn’t particularly long, but it was good taking advantage of the good weather and to reacquaint myself with the delights of the Chiltern Hills especially the wild flowers that grow abundantly in this area. It was amazing to see the difference in the condition of the paths between Easter when the ground was very muddy and on this walk, just a couple of months later, when the ground was bone dry. It was the woods that were the delight in spring, but now as summer had come it was the turn of the meadows to show their best and in the Chiltern Hills there are fabulous displays of wild flowers that will always keep drawing me back.

The Ridgeway: Avebury

Friday 6th April 2018

Setting off from the Barbury Castle car park once again I began my last stage on the Ridgeway National Trial that I had started almost a year earlier in Wendover and was now nearing completion. After gorgeous weather for the previous day I now at best had rather dull, hazy sunshine but with a bitterly cold wind that forced me to wrap up tight as I made my way south along a byway. Compared with the previous day I only had a small distance left to walk along the Ridgeway, which was very welcome as my excessive walking of the past couple of days had left me feeling very tired and the ankle on my left leg was beginning to ache. The Marlborough Downs are covered in byways that are mixed in the quality of their surfaces with many having a firm chalky ground that is easy to walk upon, but some I found to be waterlogged and muddy. As I made my south many people were galloping horses in the nearby fields, making use of the forgiving ground in the area, but this has no interest for me so I left them behind until eventually I came across a road where I found a much nicer path to walk upon as it was narrower without the space for motor vehicles.

At the top of the path I found the route of the Wessex Ridgeway, which extends the Ridgeway south all the way to Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast and starts in the town of Marlborough not far from where I was now joining it. Heading west I entered the Fyfield Down National Nature Reserve where the ground is scattered with large sandstone boulders called sarsen stones, although these stones are known as Grey Wethers. My map indicates the area is full of ancient settlements and tumuli, but I could see nothing of interest except a few stones. Slowly the weather began to warm up and hazy sunshine was beginning to break through the clouds so by this point my fleece and woolly hat came off and the day slowly became quite pleasant though still with a cold breeze. It was a relief to be enjoying another day of good weather during this week of mixed conditions that had not been pleasant at times.

Eventually I crossed the Ridgeway and began descending into the village of Avebury where there are three stone circles including the largest in the world. These are not complete circles, and it is not as spectacular as Stonehenge, but it was still interesting to see these enormous stones standing on their ends, and to touch them and feel the history that has passed by in the view of these stones. I wondered what the country was like when these stone circles were being erected and what had provoked the ancient Britons to engage in such a monumental effort. Leaving Avebury I headed beside the River Kennet with the obviously man-made mound of Silbury Hill ahead of me. This is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and is one of the largest in the world, though its original purpose is unknown. I didn’t bother to investigate the mound but continued along the path over the busy A4 road and up to the West Kennett Long Barrow, but this ancient burial mound also didn’t interest me as I had my eyes only on the start, or end, of the Ridgeway trail, which lies near the tiny village of East Kennett.

The original Ridge Way, the ancient road that lends its name to the National Trail does not end at this point but continued south to the Dorset coast. The person who created the modern trail decided to start it beside the A4 trunk road half a mile north of East Kennett, so after crossing the road I set off along the Ridgeway passing tumuli and other ancient remains to head north along the trail and finally complete my trek. By now my ankle was really aching so I just hobbled along the generally good track slowly making my way back to Barbury Castle. Eventually I reached the Iron Age hill fort and although I had parked near it the day before and at the beginning of this walk I finally walked through the circular ramparts and on to return to my car. This was a curious holiday that failed to engage my enthusiasm. I had not originally planned to spend the whole holiday walking the Ridgeway and had actually planned some walks beside the River Thames through Henley. However, once I had completed the Ridgeway I didn’t stay in the area for the last day of my holiday and instead headed home stopping at Bletchley Park again on the way.

My walk along the Ridgeway had originally started as an excuse to see bluebells and became a way of doing some walking south of home when usually I go north for my walking. The Chiltern Hills are a fabulous place for walking, especially in late spring and summer when the area is full of wild flowers, but during my walking last Easter there were few, if any, wild flowers due to the late winter and this detracted from the walking for me. The North Wessex Downs were not able to engage my enthusiasm like the Chiltern Hills, but neither of them were able to interest me in the same way as a good rock-covered mountain. That is principally where my interest lies and there is nowhere south of home where such terrain can be found, so I think in future I will still almost always be found either north, or west in Wales.