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I did this 12 mile circular walk on Sunday, 15th November, 2009. It was a repeat of Walk 4 of my Chiltern Chain Walk, but in the opposite (clockwise) direction. Click here to see a rough map of the walk (but only if you have already read my disclaimer and notes regarding maps). I chose this walk to do as I really only had about four hours to spare, as there was a family gathering later in the day to celebrate my nephew's birthday.
I started walking about 9.am from the car park by Pitstone Hill, heading away from that hill towards Steps Hill. I turned right as I reached the foot of Steps Hill, following a path that climbed fairly gently uphill to reach the main track between Ivinghoe Beacon and the Bridgewater Monument in Ashridge. I followed the track a short distance to the right, before forking right immediately before the kennels on Clipper Down. As I followed the path downhill, there were nice views towards Wigginton and Aldbury Nowers, places I'd be visiting later on the walk.
Start of the walk, from opposite the Pitstone Hill car park, looking towards Steps Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon (left), neither of which would I visit today.
The path up towards Clipper Down
Start of the path down Clipper Down, from near the kennels
Looking to the woods of Aldbury Nowers, and Wigginton in the distance, from Clipper Down
Aldbury Nowers from near the foot of Clipper Down
From the bottom of Clipper Down, I crossed a couple of fields and turned left on a bridleway heading uphill into the trees of Ashridge. I stayed on the bridleway at a junction where a path continued ahead towards the monument, the bridleway now contouring along the wooded slope just below the Monument. After a while it joined the main track from the Monument down to Aldbury, which I soon glimpsed through the trees on my right.
Looking back to Clipper Down, from the start of the bridleway back up to Ashridge
The bridleway up to Ashridge
The bridleway contouring the hillside just below the Bridgewater Monument at Ashridge
The bridleway down to Aldbury from the Monument
Aldbury, glimpsed through the trees, from the bridleway from the monument
From the centre of Aldbury I turned left and then left again through the village allotments, to pick up a path rising back uphill through the trees once more. A short lane then took me into the hamlet of Toms Hill.
Aldbury
Aldbury from the allotments
The path from Aldbury up towards Toms Hill
The short lane into Toms Hill
Close-up of Wigginton from Toms Hill
Home Latest Walks Long-distance paths Lake District Chiltern Hills Photographs Links Huntington's Disease Association