Stokenchurch to Redland End

Our motivation for starting the Chiltern Way today was to get a walk of a reasonable length, with some ascents and descents, prior to our walk on the Cumbria Way in June. It was a lovely day for it - dry and sunny but not too hot, with some cloud in the afternoon - and a glorious walk. It was just what I needed after a difficult time at work. The walk was entirely in Buckinghamshire, but we went briefly into Oxfordshire when driving between the end and the beginning. We'd driven over to Simpson (Milton Keynes) the previous evening and we left the flat around 8 am. We drove in two cars to the Chilterns, with Richard catching me up from time to time then appearing to disappear in Aylesbury (it later transpired that this was because his phone took him a different route). We'd agreed to meet at a small parking area at SP836023, marked on the OS map as Redland End. The approach to this was along the A4010, passing the B&B at Askett where we stayed when on the Ridgeway, then turning left and climbing steadily, through attractive woodland to a lay-by at Redland End (with the name also marked on a signpost). We left one car here and then drove together, by way of Princes Risborough and Chinnor, to Stokenchurch, where we left the other car in the car park by the King's Hotel at SU761963 (yes, it really is a public car park, not just for hotel patrons).

The Chiltern Way leaves directly from the car park and after passing a pub and unusual church, we were soon in delightful rolling open countryside. It was time to get out the new walking poles! After a mile or so we climbed up across Andridge Common to Andridge Farm, with lovely views behind us. We descended slightly and meandered our way to the hamlet of Radnage.

We walked right past Radnage Church then through a field of sheep and (black) lambs, and began the ascent to Bledlow Ridge. This took us through beautiful woodland and into Yoesden Nature Reserve, which comprises the wood and a swathe of chalk grassland which we then walked beside. The Nature Reserve's website talks about the rare wildflowers and butterflies on the grassland; we didn't notice these as the path was to the side of the grassy slope, but we certainly crossed some delightful meadows elsewhere on today's walk and there were wildflowers everywhere, including cowslips in the woodland and cow parsley by the path. It was a real "good to be alive" sort of day.

We crossed the road in Bledlow Ridge and descended gradually to Rout's Green, and through another pretty wooded section. The signposting (generally excellent) was a bit confusing around Callow Down Farm, though it is a most attractive building. We emerged into a more open section to the east of Bledlow Great Wood, and our route was shared with the Ridgeway on a couple of occasions, though I'm afraid I don't remember it from when we walked this section of the Ridgeway in June 2013.

We'd hoped to get to Bledlow for lunch - and did - and, as we had also hoped, there was a convenient bench by the Church. As we ate our lunch we were passed by several groups of cyclists; we later discovered that some had come from Westminster Abbey on the 70-mile "Islip Big Bike Ride" whilst the family groups were on a shorter circuit. We saw more groups of cyclists as we continued, with marshals directing them at road junctions.

We were in a less hilly section, with the wooded ridges of the Chilterns visible in several directions, and after passing the nice little Church at Saunderton we crossed two railway lines - the first was a single track line which the footpath traverses at a crossing point (but there were no trains in sight). The second line is in the Saunderton Tunnel at the point where the Chiltern Way crosses it, but we saw trains in the distance from time to time.

Leaving the railway(s) behind us, we headed back towards the hills, crossing two crop fields on dead straight paths, then climbing up to and through Loosley Row, initially on a track and then on a road through a residential area. This brought us out opposite Lacey Green Windmill, apparently the oldest smock mill in the country. We used to live close to Willingham Windmill (also a smock mill) and for the past 30 years have lived down the road from Denver Windmill, through thick and thin as its sails were replaced then lost in an accident when the mill was being visited by a group of schoolchildren. We therefore have an interest in windmills, so dashed down the track to this one, which was just opening, only to be told by a woman running a plant stall in a Gazebo by the mill that the Chiltern Way does not go this way! Ah well, at least we got some photos of the mill, which seems to be in a good state of repair.

We retraced our steps the short distance to the road and noticed that the signposted route of the Chiltern Way was very clear; we'd just missed it. We found the correct path a few yards along the road, by the bus stop and followed that route. We were soon very close to the plant stall etc., there is just one narrow field in between which they clearly don't want the pesky public to cross. We continued across open countryside, complete with paddocks and horses.

Eventually we reached woodland again, though to our surprise the first bit of it was mostly coniferous. Soon we were back in deciduous woodland and we walked through it, first on a path and then on a minor road, back to the car, which had now been joined by several others in the useful little lay-by. The phone took us a very minor, narrow twisting route back to the other car, but fortunately Richard was driving. I was somewhat relieved that the route back to Milton Keynes was more straightforward, though we were again sent different routes around Aylesbury.

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