Pete's Walks - Shortened version of Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail (page 2 of 5)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
On the far side of The Coombe I went through a gate, and carried straight on across an area of long grass for about a hundred yards before turning right at a waymark post. This path soon went through another gate, and continued along the right edge of a corn field. When the line of trees on my right ended, the path carried on across the corn field to reach a hedge corner, where it continued beside the hedge with a smaller corn field on my left. I then turned left along a track heading to the lower end of Gallows Hill (where there is a prominent tumulus or burial mound). At the top of this slope, I turned left and made my way to the top of Gallows Hill, continuing along a grassy ridge, with views over The Vale of Aylesbury on my right, to reach the top of Ivinghoe Beacon.
The path continuing from The Coombe (I turned right at the white marker post)
The path after I turned right, running parallel to the Gallows Hill ridge across the field on my left
The path up Gallows Hill after I turned left
The tumulus on Gallows Hill, with the line of Dunstable Downs and Whipsnade Downs in the background (the White Lion at Whipsnade Zoo has been recently restored with 50 lorry loads of chalk)
The path up Gallows Hill after I turned left
The path up Gallows Hill after I turned left
The path from Gallows Hill to Ivinghoe Beacon
View over the Vale of Aylesbury from Ivinghoe Beacon
I then turned left, and followed a path down Ivinghoe Beacon and on to reach a road (shortly before the road I spotted a Dark Green Fritillary). Soon after crossing the road, I followed the white acorn sign of The Ridgeway as it forked slightly right (just behind a bush). The path rose very slightly across the scrub-covered slope of Steps Hill. Immediately after going through a gate I stayed with the Ridgeway as it turned left, following a fence-line uphill and then continuing through a small area of small trees and bushes. Beyond these the path continued across the grassy top of Steps Hill. By a gate at a fence corner, the path joined a chalky track (I saw another Dark Green Fritillary here) and started to descend, soon turning right with the steep-sided valley of Incombe Hole on my right.
The start of the path from Ivinghoe Beacon to Steps Hill
Where the path from Ivinghoe Beacon to Steps Hill crosses the road
The path on Steps Hill
The path on Steps Hill after I turned left
The path on Steps Hill
The path continuing across the top of Steps Hill
The path (part of the Ridgeway) as it starts to descend Steps Hill
View right, across Incombe Hole
The path descending from Steps Hill (I turned left where the field starts)