Length: 21km (13m)
Toughness: 8 / 10
Transport: Take the 9:27 train from London Marylebone to Wendover. Return trains at xx:54
This is a great walk in the autumnal Chiltern Hills passing an iron-age fort, several viewpoints and a very cosy pub for lunch. Wendover has many options for after-walk refreshments from chocolate indulgences (Rumsey's) to cheese and wine shop (No 2 Pound Street) and good traditional pub (Shoulder of Mutton).
1 comment:
N=10 on this walk. W=A-cloudy day.
I am the wrong person to do the walk report since I was left behind 45 minutes into the walk and next walked with anyone from the group about half an hour before its end.
This solitude gave me time to study the autumn colour, which was impressive. Not down to path level in the woods yet (this only happens at the very end of leaf fall) but already excellent on external surfaces. Beeches all aflame with gold and brown, bright yellows on ash, spindle bushes red and pink, surprising amounts of yellow on sycamore and hazel, maroon dogwoods. Despite a lack of wind there was a gentle drizzle of leaves falling from the trees. On the fungi front some huge outbreaks of honey mushrooms.
After being abandoned I made a beeline for the lunch pub, finding some interesting new paths on the way. At least some of the main group did the short walk shortcut and then cut across to Whiteleaf Hill to do the main walk route. They apparently encountered lots of cyclists, who proved very trying.
Getting to the lunch pub first, at about 12.40, I was glad to find it open and serving food (there had been some doubt about this). This is still a “mom and pop” operation, with a limited menu, but their chilli con carne is sensational, served on chips, smothered in cheese and chopped onions: very tasty.
Just after I got to the pub one of our faster walkers came past. He said something incomprehensible and was not seen again. Inspired by a slight brightness in the sky, I had decided to sit outside to eat. (It was also quite busy inside, unusually for this pub.) After a while four other walkers turned up. They went inside to eat and did not emerge, so I finished my meal alone. Four picknickers never came to the pub: presumably they ate their lunch on Whiteleaf Hill. One of the missing was a German guy who has done our walks solo for many years but was trying his first group walk. I am not sure if he hooked up with the other picknickers or what happened to any of them later.
After finishing my lunch I went inside to get a tea, planning to consume it while the others had their lunch. But the landlady told me they could not do hot drinks while cooking meals (boiling a kettle and putting a tea bag in a cup apparently being too much of a logistics stretch). So I carried on, planning to dawdle along and look at nature (a rare treat on an SWC walk!!) and let the others catch me up.
But people who speed ahead in the morning turn out to be slower at catching up in the afternoon!! The four diners left the pub 30 minutes after me, but waited 15 minutes on Whiteleaf Hill while one of their number went back to the pub to retrieve a water bottle.
So I was alone until the outskirts of Wendover and only then met the others because I sat on the grass and waited for them to catch up. We all went to Rumseys and had tea and cake (or vegan banana bread in one case). Two then dashed for the 16.54 train, while three of us went to the Shoulder of Mutton and got the 17.54. Back to London in the dark: nights are drawing in!
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