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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday, 22 March 2026

Sunday Walk - Great Missenden to Wendover via Swan Bottom and The Lee (with short option) [SWC 140a in reverse]

With the closure of The Old Swan in Swan Bottom, which came halfway through this walk, we are left with The Cock and Rabbit, which comes inconveniently early. So, let’s walk it backwards. Always opens new perspectives anyway…

Length: 21.6 km (13.4 mi) 
Ascent/Descent: 296m 
Net Walking Time: ca. 5 hours 
Toughness: 5 out of 10
 
or 

Length: 16.4 km (10.2 mi) 
Ascent/Descent: 230m 
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 hours 
Toughness: 3 out of 10
 
Take the 09.57 train from Marylebone to Aylesbury Vale Parkway (Harrow-on-the-Hill 10.09), arrives Great Missenden 10.40. 
Return trains: xx.27 and xx.57. Buy a Wendover Return ticket.
 
This walk combines some of the finest elements of the Chiltern Hills, while having very little overlap with other walks in the area. After leaving Wendover in a south easterly direction on the Ridgeway the walk rises into woods. It then passes along fields to get to the picturesque green in The Lee, a conservation area village. From there it continues through woodland and the beautiful Lee Common to a 16th century lunch pub at Swan Bottom. The afternoon offers constantly changing scenery. It completely avoids settlements and roads, mostly following grassy fields, while still passing through a variety of varied and characterful woods. Several beautiful valleys are crossed in between and the finish is a scenic descent into Great Missenden.

Lunch: The Cock and Rabbit Inn (14.3 km, food to 14.30) in Lee Green. Picnic lunch on the short walk!
Tea: Plenty of options in Wendover, incl. several pubs (some with decent food), cafés, a chocolatery, a tapas and wine bar, restaurants…

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.140.a

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