Length: 17km / 10m or 26km / 16m to Wendover
Toughness: 4 / 10 or 6 / 10
Transport: Take the 9:57 train from London Marylebone, arriving in Amersham at 10:32. Alternatively, you can take the Metropolitan line at 9:30 from Baker Street and arrive at 10:24. Return trains from Great Missenden at xx:03 and xx:33. Return trains from Wendover at xx:27 and xx:57. Buy a day return to Great Missenden if not walking to Wendover, otherwise buy a day return to Wendover.
This is a nice walk in the Chilterns through woodlands and across fields with a plethora of pubs to choose from for lunch. The mid walk options are in Penn Street with the Squirrel pub and the Hit or Miss Inn, a later option in the charming village of Little Missenden is the quirky Red Lion with pond, ducks and chickens in the garden (if warm enough). There are multiple options for tea and stronger stuff in Great Missenden. Note, that this is the reverse of walk 1.5 in the book.
A few years back some extended the walk to Wendover which adds another 9km. This is a lovely stretch mostly along the South Bucks Way. It just so happens that the moon is 3/4 full and should be high up in the sky when walking from Great Missenden to Wendover. All we need is a clear day. A GPX for the extension is here.
This is a GPX for a small detour after Penn Street to visit Penn Street Holy Trinity Church.
2 comments:
A Poem rendering of the walk by ChatGPT
"A Chilterns Stroll"
Take the 9:57 from Marylebone’s grace,
Through rolling green fields at a leisurely pace.
Or the Met from Baker at half past nine,
To Amersham’s platform, right on time.
Step from the train, the city behind,
A ramble ahead through nature's design.
Woodlands whisper, fields stretch wide,
Footsteps echo where seasons collide.
Through Penn Street’s heart, a tempting view—
The Squirrel calls, or Hit or Miss too.
Later, in Little Missenden’s charm,
The Red Lion waits with rustic warm.
Ducks by the pond, a pint in hand,
Stories drift like grains of sand.
And onward still, past hedge and tree,
To Great Missenden’s hospitality.
At xx:03 or xx:33,
A train returns to set you free.
Or Wendover’s way at xx:27,
If legs still long for country heaven.
Day return, a simple fare,
To Great Missenden—if stopping there.
But Wendover’s path, if walking on,
A ticket grants the journey’s song.
So take the walk, the path is true,
The Chilterns waits with skies of blue.
A day well spent in ramblers’ cheer,
With pubs and fields and countryside near.
6 at the start of this walk. We were a bit lacking on the distaff side (ie they were all men - Ed) but mid morning at the church near the Squirrel pub we ran into a woodland nymph who it turned out had caught an earlier train, so thereafter we were slightly more gender-balanced, and N=7 in all.
The weather was w=drizzly. A greater contrast with the bright sunny weather midweek could not be imagined. The mud was…pretty much what mud should be in February, I guess. Not too serious.
We got very strung out, as hares raced ahead. In fact one walker I never saw after the start. Another was lost to view in Little Missenden - last seen heading for the church and muttering about walking to Wendover. Four others of us ate in the Red Lion there - good proper nosh with veg and mash: none of your gastro nonsense. We were joined for drinks by a fifth (he arrived tragically just too late to enjoy some leftover chips).
In the afternoon, we passed where HS2 might have been but isn’t (they extended the tunnel), and descended to Great Missenden church, whose churchyard was awash with snowdrops. It turned out, in fact, to be Snowdrop Saturday, which included the serving of tea and very nice homemade cakes in the church itself, which we ate to a (non-religious) keyboard accompaniment.
It was now 4pm and yours truly would have got stuck straight into the Wendover extension. One walker (apart from the church goer mentioned earlier) did indeed do just this. The other three of us went to the George, where a fourth was already sampling the cider. We were there an hour and a half, various tipples and the rest of the daylight being consumed and some sporting event or other playing on the big screen.
Two then went for the 6.03 train. Two others, one enthusiastically and the other slightly less so, set off to walk to Wendover. It was still drizzly and overcast but there was a rather compelling slate-blue light at first. Then in the woods it was dark, and indeed misty, and torches were needed. Walking in such conditions was strange, but not uninteresting: the torch did not illuminate far ahead before it was blocked by the fog, so we looked mostly at the ground. We got to Wendover at 7.40 and went straight for the 7.57 train, glad to be warm and sitting down at last…
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