Wandering near Wendover

Date: Sunday 14th April 2013
Route: Wendover Circular via the Icknield Way, the Aylesbury Ring and a rather nice pub
Distance: 8.4 miles

This is the first walk in the Time Out Book of Country Walks Volume 2, which they describe as "an exhilarating introduction to the Chilterns". Today "exhilarating" could be construed to mean "a bit strenuous and exposed in places", but we still enjoyed this walk a lot.

I know that we have walked this route several times in the past (the last time in very snowy conditions - click here to see some Narnia-esque photos) but I think today's trip was possibly the most heavy-going, mainly due to some very muddy fields and a bit more breeze than expected.

The walk is a nice combination of fields and woodlands, including Pulpit Hill Fort, until a certain point when you emerge from the trees to one of those rolling hillside views that never translate well on camera but are absolutely stunning in the sunshine and make you wish you had packed a picnic. The best bit of the walk is probably the section from the vicinity of Chequers, over Beacon Hill and down to Ellesborough Church, as this gives you great views over the open countryside of the Chilterns, whose beauty is only slightly undermined by frequent ugly and amusingly ungrammatical "Stop HS2" signs and banners.

From the church back to Wendover can become a bit of a trudge, mainly alongside fields of sheep, but we broke up this section today with lunch at the highly recommended Russell Arms - fantastic cheese & chutney sandwiches and chips refuelled us for the final section back to Wendover.

There is a fair amount of hillside walking in this one, so it is definitely a bit more punishing than the walks near Henley - and if you are feeling particularly energetic you can do the longer, 11.5 mile version (we didn't!). I would like to do this again when the ground is a bit drier so I don't feel as if there is a kilo of mud on the underside of each boot, though. I would also recommend the Wendover walk from the Rough Guide Walks Near London book if you want a less rigourous option.