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Leg 2 Trail Description

Saunderton via West Wycombe Circular Trail 

( This is expected to take us right through The Chilterns, interspersed with woodland and picturesque meadows)

AONB Designation ; Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty   

Distance : ~ 20km  

Weather Forecast:  Expected to be windy/cloudy (Acorn Delight)  

Saunderton
It’s village in the Desborough Hundred of Buckinghamshire. It lies within the Saunderton Valley in the Chiltern Hills (north-west of High Wycombe). Saunderton is recorded as “Santesdune” in the Doomsday Book of 1086, leading most scholars to conclude that, the name is 

derived/originates from “Saints Hill”.   

Start Point ; Saunderton Train Station
The trail will then head south-east and then roll across the Chiltern Hills to Bradenham…weaving through Naphill Common and then via woods (Flagmore, Great Cookshall, Oaks and Park) to  Hughenden Manor.  

We will then head west across Downley Common and return through the woods and across farmlands to West Wycombe Caves(site of The Hell-Fire-Caves) and then climb up the hill to Dashwood Mausoleum and The church of St. Lawrence and then through Hearton Woods and along the ridge back to Saunderton Train Station (End Point).

 

Leg 3 Trail Description

Old Amersham, Penn Wood and Royal Standard of England Circular. 

AONB Designation : Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty   

Distance : ~ 22km  

Weather Forecast:  Expected to be cloudy (Acorn Delight)  

Amersham
A market town in Buckinghamshire in the Chiltern Hills. It lies north-east of High-Wycombe, south-east of Ayelsbury and north-west of Central London. It has two(2) parts;   

Old Amersham (which forms a part of Leg 3)
This is set in the valley of the River Misbourne and has sundry old pubs, coaching inns and 13th century *St. Mary’s parish.     

⁠Amersham-on-the-Hill
This is the modern part which developed circa early 20th century around  Amersham station served by:
(a) Metropolitan Line and 
(b) Great Central Railway

Amersham derives its name from the Old English for Ealhmund’s village . During the Anglo- Saxon period, it was known as Agmodesham (circa 1460), but by the time the Domesday  Book was written(circa 1806), it had become known as Elmodesham.

Start Point: Cherry Lane, Amersham 
The trail heads into Parsonage Wood before making its way through rolling green fields and farmlands, traversing Coleshill, Winchmore Hill and Penn Street…The trail turns into a section of Penn Wood (exceptionally beautiful during spring with bluebells carpeting the 

forest floor) before making its way back to Amersham… 

Main Trail Attractions:  

• Shardeloes: A large Grade I listed country house constructed between 1758-1766 for Sir William Drake (18th Century MP for Amersham). An architectural masterpiece by Stiff Leadbetter  with Robert Adam (Interior) and Humphrey Repton (Landscape) 
• Shardeloes Lake: Humphrey Repton whilst designing the grounds in classical English landscape fashion, dammed the River Misbourne to form the beautiful man-made Lake between the villages of Old Amersham and Little Missenden. 
• Penn Street - Holy Trinity Parish: Penn is a village in Buckinghamshire that covers Penn village and the hamlets (Penn street, knotty Green, Forty Green & Winchmore Hill). The name Penn means “hill top/end” in Welsh(note: Penn is reputedly haunted by the ghost of an 18th century farm labourer, who appears laughing on a Phantom horse🏃🏿‍♂️). A beautiful 19th century (circa 1849) church built by the first Earl Howe on a promontory . It’s claimed it’s possible to see several counties from the church tower.  
• Penn Wood: The largest single ancient woodland in the Chilterns (AONB) and once part of a large common called Wycombe Heath. It derives its name from the Old English term for “enclosure” and dates back to the time when it was used as a deer enclosure during the Anglo-Saxon period. A herd of cows is still used to manage part of the woods today as “wood pasture”…a continuation of traditional management used in the past. The wood contains beautiful bluebell areas during springtime. 
• ⁠ Royal Standard of English Pub: A magnificent pub located in Forty Green. It’s reputedly the Oldest Freehouse in England. Dates back to circa 1100. Previously, it was known as “The Ship” from 1213-1663. It adopted its current name following the restoration of the monarch Charles II who allowed the name change as a reward for offering his father’s (Charles I) supporters, a safe haven during the English civil war. There is a room within the pub called “Lower King Charles room”….where Charles II is thought to have stayed with a mistress.  Will The Acorns pass through for a pint 🍺? 
  
  Well…first…#We-Move…..and Then, we will find out …😊  
  

 

Leg 1 Trail Description

Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover (The Ridgeway)​ 

Distance : ~ 18km   
  ​The Ridgeway National Trail is an ancient, prehistoric route that takes you through a mix of  scenery and past a number of historic sites. This long distance trail can be linked to a other ancient trackways and paths to connect other parts of the countryside.  

The trail is a walking route in a surprisingly remote part of southern central England. It travels in a northeasterly direction for 87 miles (139 Km) from its start in the World Heritage Site of Avebury. As Britain’s oldest road The Ridgeway still follows the same route over the high ground used since prehistoric times by travellers, herdsmen and soldiers. 

Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover the most wooded section of all The Ridgeway.  Here you’re deep within the Chiltern Hills, justly renowned for its wooded landscape which looks particularly spectacular at the end of October and early November when autumn colours are at their best.  However the last couple of miles are a complete contrast; an open landscape reminiscent of the rolling downlands west of the River Thames. 

From Wendover as far as Wigginton you are almost always either passing through woods or along the edges of them.  In many places you’ll be surrounded by magnificent beech trees, their smooth, straight, silver trunks reaching upwards towards the sky.  In other woodlands 

you’ll find there’s a greater variety with a mix of broadleaf and coniferous trees .

As you descend from Wigginton you’ll find that road, water and rail transport routes are all squeezed into a valley, as they were in the Goring Gap earlier.  First you reach the busy A41 trunk road, but you cross it high above on a footbridge built specially to carry The Ridgeway 

and it’s soon forgotten.  Next comes the Grand Union Canal, once a thriving commercial waterway but nowadays primarily a peaceful recreational route for boaters and walkers, and finally the railway at Tring Station. 

The last few miles are delightful.  After Tring Station you’ll pass through Duchies Piece nature reserve and Aldbury Nowers wood before emerging onto Pitstone Hill where, in good weather, the views of the rest of your journey to Ivinghoe Beacon are outstanding.  From here The Ridgeway undulates for the next two miles on springy turf until the final climb to the top of Beacon Hill itself.  Managed by the National Trust as part of its Ashridge Estate this is a splendid place to finish and to savour the views of the Vale of Aylesbury, or to look back from where you have come. 

This description is an extract from  www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/the-ridgeway/route/

Leg 4 Trail Description

Dunstable Downs and St Mary the Virgin loop from Studham 
— Chiltern Hills  

AONB Designation : Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty   
Distance : ~ 20km   
Komoot “expert” completion time : 5hrs 09 mins
Weather Forecast:  Expected light rain showers with a gentle breeze (Acorn Delight)  

Studham
Studham(recorded as Estodham in the Doomsday Book of 1086): It’s a village in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies in the wooded south-facing dip slope of the Chiltern Hills.

Studham has two pubs. The Bell pub (the older of the pubs) is recorded as being in existence before the English Civil War(circa 1642-1651).

Dunstable 
Dunstable( known as Durocobrivis in Roman times) A Market town in 

Bedfordshire, characterised by several steep chalk escarpments. The name was derived from Dunum/hill and staple/marketplace. It’s the fourth largest town in Bedfordshire  

⁠Start Point ; Studham Sports & Social Club..

The trail then heads north-east, passing through Dunstable , the hamlet of Holywell and the village of Whipsnade(Tree Cathedral). The trail then bears east, heading over the Dunstable Downs and across the Kensworth Chalk Quarry. It continues eastwards, winding its way through woodlands and farmlands via Kensworth (St. Mary’s the Virgin), Hertfordshire (St. Albans and Markyate), before heading back to the Start Point...Studham Sports & Social club 
 
   Main Trail Attractions:  

• Whipsnade Tree Cathedral: *4km ; 9.5 acre garden in the village of  Whipsnade, planted in the form of a cathedral by Edmond Blyth (Soldier) as a WWI memorial. The first religious service was held there in 1953 and services continue till this day.
  
• Dunstable Down: *8km ; They are a chalk escarpment, forming the north- east reaches of the Chiltern Hills. It’s named after the town of Dunstable , and are the highest point in the county of Bedfordshire.  Due to its elevation, it hosted a station in the Telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty(London) to the naval ships(Port of Great Yarmouth). The London Gliding Club is located at the foot of the downs. It’s home to a variety of wildlife including rare wild flowers.
  
• Kensworld Chalk Quarry: 9km ; 324 acre geological site of special scientific interest. It’s a large working quarry(the biggest employer in the village, owned and mined by Cemex ) which exposes  fossiliferous chalk rocks of the late Cretaceous, with many rare fossils including ammonites. It’s currently a Geological Conservation Review Site, described as an unrivalled locality for stratigraphic studies in the Upper Cretaceous.
  
• ⁠St Mary’s The Virgin : 10km ; A Grade I listed church located at Church End in Kensworth (Bedfordshire). It was built circa 1100s and became listed in 1967. It originally had a flat roof which was rebuilt in 1854. One of the statues found in the church is that of “Madonna and Child”.

Things to note: 

* Potential livestock along trail sections

* ⁠Summer periods…mammals such as badgers, foxes and rabbits

* ⁠Great care should be taken along the road walking sections  and road crossings 

* ⁠Prepare for very muddy sections if wet