Pete's Walks - Four Hills walk (page 2 of 6)
Again I admired the views on this glorious day, looking out over the Vale of Aylesbury and back over Great Kimble Warren to the 'ridge' and Beacon Hill beyond. I then turned back down the hillock to a kissing-gate where the Ridgeway crossed a bridleway. Here I turned left and followed the bridleway up the slopes of Pulpit Hill. The gradient was fairly gentle and I was shaded by trees. At a path crossroads I turned right and followed a path (this path is not shown on the OS map) to the rather indistinct Iron Age Hill-fort on the top of Pulpit Hill. I took a path in the southwest corner of the Hill fort, soon turning right alongside an area of conifers to drop down to a broad track, where I turned left. After maybe a quarter of a mile I came to a path junction, where I turned right (back on a footpath shown on the OS map). This path dropped steeply down the wooded slope to reach a small car park on a minor road.
Looking north from Chequers Knap, across Great Kimble Warren to the 'ridge' with Beacon Hill beyond
The Vale of Aylesbury from Chequers Knap
The bridleway up Pulpit Hill
The footpath on Pulpit Hill
Inside the Iron Age Hill Fort on Pulpit Hill
The footpath from the Hill Fort
The start of the footpath down Pulpit Hill to the car park
I turned right onto a bridleway along a good track, running along the wooded south-western flank of Pulpit Hill. After about half a mile I turned left at a gate, rejoining the Ridgeway national trail and following it slightly downhill through the Grangelands and Pulpit Hill nature reserve. The Ridgeway then continued through trees, close to a garden on the right, to reach a minor road at Lower Cadsden. I turned left, then almost immediately forked right to pass in front of The Plough public house, turning right behind it and following the white acorn symbols of a national trail, as the Ridgeway started the long and steady climb up Whiteleaf Hill. In fact for some reason it didn't seem such a long climb today, and I reached the top of Whiteleaf Hill quicker and with less puffing and panting than usual. The last time I was here I'd noticed that the long line of information boards had gone, and now the equally long line of seats had also gone. Still, no-one can steal the views, and they were as fine as ever, stretching over Princes Risborough and the Vale of Aylesbury once again.
The bridleway from the car park, along the southwestern flank of Pulpit Hill
The Ridgeway national trail, passing through the Grangelands and Pulpit Hill Nature Reserve, with Whiteleaf Hill in the background
The Ridgeway climbing up Whiteleaf Hill
The Ridgeway climbing up Whiteleaf Hill
Approaching the top of Whiteleaf Hill
The Vale of Aylesbury from Whiteleaf Hill
Looking across Princes Risborough from Whiteleaf Hill
The Neolithic barrow on Whiteleaf Hill