A variant of the Saunderton/West Wycombe Circular
You follow the standard walk as far as the Hellfire Caves (scary, huh?) and then branch off to Wheeler End. The return takes you through a small nature reserve before rejoining the main walk.
Transport
9:52 Aylesbury train from Marylebone, arriving Saunderton 10:51
Return trains at xx:57. Get a return to Saunderton.
Lunch
You could stop earlier at the Le De Spencers Arms or the cafe at the entrance to the Hellfire Caves, but the suggested stop is the Chequers at Wheeler End 01494 972446, (the 07538 number on our page is obsolete).
The Chequers' history has been - er - chequered, with periods of closure, but they have confirmed they are open. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to investigate further and report back. 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Dun durr de de, Dun durr de der, derweedle oo…𝅘𝅥𝅲
Tea: The Golden Cross is handy for Saunderton station. On the main road, just past the station turn-in.
Information here
If you use written directions, you'll need two sets.
Wheeler End option (kicks in from point 8)
Both routes shown on the GPS track
t=2.3.variant
2 comments:
N=6 on a w=cloudy-cool-humid day.
After a brief stop for tea in Bradenham church, ithe shorter morning was taken (something the walk poster hadn’t picked up on. Luckily someone a bit cleverer had). That route was a little hard to follow at times, with obscured and occasionally overgrown paths. But they got through, reaching the Hellfire Caves, where the Wheeler End version started. That route was a bit longer and more arduous than the poster remembered (if you can call it remembering).
But , lo and behold, there was the Chequers, open and selling food, which 2 partook of.
Not exactly a huge range of beers, 1, not counting keg, but it was Side Pocket, which strangely, was the logo on the walk-poster’s T-shirt. The food was said to be good.
The return to the standard route involved a. steep climb up to the ridge. (incidentally, it’s worth noting that the path between overgrown hedges at the start of the climb can be avoided by walking along either side. There’s a gap at the far end, not visible till you get there).
Although cohesion had been good, the remaining group (1 had left the pub early) fragmented at the top.
A brief reunion at the Golden Cross, then 3 took the 17:57, 2 lingering for more beer.
A grand day out.
I've added some pix ..... and yes, it was a good day out, if a little demanding for some. We were a little off the route just after Bradenham Manor, the sign and gap for the path a little obscured, but we didn't stray off the right bearing and were soon on the right path. Tring Brewery's Side Pocket for a Toad at the Chequers was good, and the two who had food there rated it good, and definitely worth going back again.
There were three climbs after lunch, and it might have been wiser not to have lingered over that second pint ..... the five remaining (one having gone ahead and must have made the train back just before 5) spread out a little, blackberrying seemed a diversion, and we got to the Golden Cross a little spread out. The pub had changed very much for the better since I was last there, and the Wye Valley HPA was very good.
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