Waddesdon to Great Horwood

It felt like too long since we'd been walking, and we hadn't been on the North Bucks Way since 9th October. In fact, we walked both the previous leg and this one on days following Newport Pagnell Singers concerts; when I am singing on a Saturday night we usually end up with an effectively free day in the Bedford/Milton Keynes area on the Sunday - this is good for a walk of a reasonable length, and it means that a fairly long drive from our usual Premier Inn and back is less of a problem than if we also have to drive from home. It was a lovely sunny morning and although it turned more cloudy in the afternoon, it stayed dry - unlike yesterday when it tipped it down all day.

We left one car in parking area alongside Nash Road on the way into Great Horwood (SP773314); we'd usually have left my car here but there lots of other cars here (presumably residents) so we left Richard's car which is smaller. We then drove by way of Winslow, Whitchurch and Oving to the A41, and left my car in the big lay- by to the east of Waddesdon (SP750168), where we parked last time. We were conscious of the fact that we didn't have many hours of daylight, and we started walking around 9.15am.

We walked along the main road into Waddesdon and turned right along a passageway. We were soon crossing fields which, thankfully, were not as squelchy as we feared they might be following yesterday's torrential rain. We were heading towards Quainton, and the village was clearly visible in the distance, with Quainton Hill behind. We crossed the railway (the line associated with the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre) and continued towards Quainton. As we entered the village we stopped to change maps (from Explorer Sheet 181: Chiltern Hills North to Sheet 192: Buckingham and Milton Keynes, thus immediately feeling on more familiar territory!) then we headed uphill, past the pretty green (complete with Christmas tree and remains of the village cross) towards the remains of a windmill which had been a landmark for miles.

At the top end of the Green, Richard realised that he had lost his gloves so headed back to see if they were on the bench where we had stopped to change maps (they were), giving me the opportunity to do photograph the attractive cross and houses.

We left the village on a passageway which continued to climb and soon we emerged onto Quainton Hill, with fantastic views behind us (though into the sun, so difficult to photograph). We continued along the ridge of the hill towards the radio mast, somewhat surprisingly with just one set of dog walkers (a mother and daughter) for company. Also surprisingly, the route was not entirely clear; in particular, after joining the Swan's Way and passing the mast, there appeared to be one route straight ahead and another heading steeply downhill, whilst we wanted something in between. Out came the i-Pad, on which we now track our routes using myTracks, and amazingly we were right on track. We descended to Fulbrook Farm and crossed a minor road, passing bullocks and lots of sheep and gulls.

There are many benefits of walking named but not over-walked footpaths in winter, but the perils include recently ploughed and recently planted fields. Paths across such fields have generally not had time to become established (so the correct route isn't always clear), you feel bad to be walking across crops, but most problematic is the speed with which your walking boots become encased in heavy mud. There were several such fields as we continued to East Claydon, though we were able to walk around the field edges on some occasions and the signposting was quite good, so at least the route was usually clear.

East Claydon is clearly an ancient hamlet and it was extremely attractive. However we were hoping to stop for lunch here, but there was nowhere obvious to sit down; we didn't have the nerve to sit in the Church porch on a Sunday. As we were leaving East Claydon we were passed, twice, by a horse and trap. We continued across undulating countryside towards Verney Junction, soon finding a relatively dry patch of ground on which to sit on our waterproofs.

Verney Junction appears to be a former railway junction and just afterwards we crossed the disused railway. There is talk of a reopening of the Oxford to Bicester to Milton Keynes to Cambridge railway line (hurrah - though I guess I'll be well retired before it happens so not able to use it in travelling between Norfolk and MK) and we wondered if this spot is on that line.

We crossed more fields to another pretty Church, this time on the Addington Estate. We passed the Church and several imposing houses; most of which seem to have been taken over by the Addington Equestrian Centre. We crossed the Cross Bucks Way and walked up the drive to the A413. We turned right and walked a short distance along the main road before taking a path to the north. This took us through the squelchiest section of today's path, a puddle in the middle of a maize field. After this we crossed more undulating countryside to emerge onto the road just on the edge of Great Horwood. The route of the North Bucks Way goes along the road through the village, passing yet another attractive Church, and taking us straight to Richard's car. We'd made good progress so we had about another hour of daylight to enjoy as we drove south to the other car and then back to Bedford.

Following leg