We had a lovely summer’s day for this Chilterns walk with 14 Poly Ramblers. After an hours delay having been ‘detrained’ at West Ruislip we set off from Saunderton up Smalldean Lane and through fields to the foot of the Chilterns Hills, with views across the valley to our return route.  We had a short stop at Bradenham Church where a couple of walkers took advantage of the generously provided tea and coffee. The walk then took us through woods up to Naphill Common where we had lunch on a convenient tree trunk.

The route to Hughenden Manor passes between Flagmore and Common wood with some lovely views before climbing up to the Manor House. There was time for a cup of tea and a quick look around the gardens of Disraeli’s former home, with gardens filled with colour.

Then we headed down through the woods and across fields, skirting around Downley. We crossed Downley Common, sadly having to miss out on the pub because of our late start. The path down from close to Cookshall Farm passed through a field of maize higher than all of us and then opened up to some lovely views of our next stopping point, the Dashwood Mausoleum on the site of an ancient fort and the current St Lawrence Church.

We broke the climb up from near West Wycombe at the Hellfire caves, where the loo and the ice creams were very welcome A small group who needed to get back a bit quicker peeled off here and successfully got a bus to High Wycombe. A steep but short slog got the rest of us up to the mausoleum and some gorgeous views. The last 3 miles or so took us along the ridge and then down through Hearnton Wood, coming down to Smalldean Lane again on the other side of the railway. The party made it back in time for our train.
Thank you everyone for coming along and to Ida for the photos.

Jo