Pete's Walks - The Lee and Chesham Vale (page 2 of 3)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps.
After a couple of hundred yards or so I turned left down Chapel Lane, a track immediately left of the small Mission Church in Chartridge. The track soon ended and a narrow path continued between overhanging hedges containing a lot of holly. The path dropped down into a small valley and partway up the opposite side, before turning right. This now level section of the path was quite attractive, with a view along the valley that was now on my right. After some distance the path went through a few bushes then followed the right edge of a meadow. On reaching a hedge gap, the path went through it, dropping a little way into a valley bottom and then rising steeply up the other side (this steep bit, and the nice view left along the valley, were the only bits I could remember from when I walked this particular path in 2006). Towards the top of the slope, the path reached a hedge corner, where it went straight on, following the hedge on my left, to reach the road through Asheridge.
The Mission Chapel, Chartridge
The start of the path from Chartridge to Asheridge
The path from Chartridge to Asheridge
The path from Chartridge to Asheridge, after it turns right
The path from Chartridge to Asheridge, after it turns right
The path to Asheridge continuing around the edge of a field
The steep climb up to Asheridge
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Looking back towards Chartridge, from the top of the steep hill just before Asheridge
Looking right, along the valley, from the same point as the previous valley
I turned left, quickly passing The Blue Ball pub on my right, and followed the road for about three-quarters of a mile - I remembered from 2006 that there was a long road section here, but nothing more than that. The road was quiet, there were only a few cottages along the way, and the hedges and trees by the roadside were in their golden Autumn colours, so this wasn't too redious a section as I'd feared it might be. Eventually the road turned right, but I went straight on down a drive and then took a path continuing ahead next to the sign for Asheridge Farm.
The Blue Ball at Asheridge
The road through Asheridge
The road through Asheridge
The path ran between hedges and fences for a while, passing a house and large garden on the right. It then followed a hedge on the left through an empty pasture, continuimg alomgside a hedgerow through the next large stubble field. I could see a party of walkers aheda of me now, and I gradually drew closer to them as the path went straight on where the hedge turned left, crossing the field to reach a wood. The path followed a fence on the right as it cut through a corner of the wood to reach a stile, where I caught up with the walking group. The chap leading the group was very friendly, and when I asked about the group he explained they were in training for a trip to Nepal. Apparently there were several such groups, staying at a Scout centre that I'd passed along the road through Asheridge. I overtook the group as we followed the path which now turned right alongside the wood. On reaching Oak Lane, I went a few yards left, then took a path on the other side that crossed another stubble field, gradually approaching the trees on the left of the field, to reach that side of the field just a few yards before the field corner.
Near the start of the path from near Asheridge Farm
Further along the path from near Asheridge Farm
Further along the path from near Asheridge Farm)
Further along the path from near Asheridge Farm
The path continuing through a wood
The path continuing through a wood, heading towards Oak Lane. The group of walkers I passed here were training for a trip to Nepal.
The path on the other side of Oak Lane