Length: 16 km (9.9 miles) with options to shorten
Toughness: 5 out of 10 Several steady inclines but nothing too strenuous
London Marylebone: 10-27 hrs Chiltern Railways service to Aylesbury
Arrive Chorleywood: 10-54 hrs
Return: Chesham LT Metropolitan (branch) Line to Chalfont & Latimer, changing for main Met Line or Chiltern Railway service back to Central London. Trains from Chesham are every half an hour.
Rail ticket: options set out in Directions
Covid-19 Compliance: please note the current guidance on this website and observe social distancing. You should all come prepared to exchange contact details for track and trace purpose. You can either pre-register for this walk (not essential ) by e-mailing me at swc-marcus@walkingclub.org.uk or, if you prefer, please write your name, e-mail address and contact 'phone number on a small piece of paper for handing to me on the train or when we assemble at walk start. Thank you.
My walking notes tell me the only time I have been on this walk was in January 2012. I can recall the lovely views along the Chess Valley, and some opening fields prone to becoming waterlogged: I hope after the rain during May footbeds are not too damp today.
Lunch is best taken in the pretty village of Chenies, just over 4 miles into the walk. I dined at the Red Lion back in 2012.
There are several good tea stops in Chesham, per the walk notes. I recall the Drawingroom is popular with SWC walkers
T=swc.81
Rather than witter on, I leave it to you to read the description of the walk's highlights in the Walk Directions here L=swc.81
3 comments:
You can also catch the Piccadilly line to Rayners Lane and change to the metropolitan line for Harrow on the hill direction Chorleywood if living near a west london tube line.
n=15 of us showed up for this walk on a day which w=started-overcast-and-cool-but-improved-cum-lunchtime when the sun broke through, making for a very pleasant afternoon.
The Chess Valley was green and lush with fields blanketed with buttercups. Lots of cow parsley and other Spring flowers - someone please help me identify the little blue jobbies which accompanied the buttercups in some fields - to add a lovely additional splash of colour.
Some twenty minutes after we arrived at the Red Lion in Chenies, with five of us sitting down at a comfortable table inside and looking forward to a pub lunch, the entire village suffered a power cut - and the pub's all-electric kitchen went down. The pub's manager could have suggested we left but full marks to her and her chef for improvisation - they "borrowed" the gas stove of their neighbour and our orders duly arrived without too long a delay. Some of us left a generous tip as a thank you.
Meanwhile our sandwichers, some of whom had stopped for a drink at the Red Lion or at the more up-market Bedford Arms Hotel down the road, had moved on, most I believe on the main walk to Chesham. Four in my group took the short-cut walk to Chalfont and Latimer, leaving four of us to tackle the main walk. Once again we were lucky with the weather - the rain forecasted for late afternoon never arrived save for the few drops which fell on us on reaching Broadwater Bridge.
Waitrose in Chesham was our stop for walk-end drinks - and the 16-57 hrs Met Line train took us back to London. To our amusement, our train started as a semi-fast service to Aldgate, then a fast service from Moor Park to Harrow-on-the-Hill when it changed to an all-stopping service. The indicators could barely keep up with these changes.
Possibly because of the inclines along the way which kept us honest all day the main walk seemed longer than the stated 9.9 miles but no matter, it is a delightful walk through some glorious countryside. Note to self: do not wait another nine and a half years before posting it again.
The little blue flowers were speedwell - not that they’ve ever had any effect on me.
I staggered off from the Red Lion suffering from the effects of a pint of Old Rosie. Will I never learn? Might as well have been hit over the head with a hammer. And because of the power cut I had to pay with real money. It’s a nice walk but one thing I’ve said before and no doubt will say again. That ‘bravura’ finish should come in the middle. You’re tired, you can almost smell Chesham, your poor little legs are dreaming of a comfy seat on the Metropolitan Line /- and what happens? “Go uphill 600 metres” . 600 metres?!? (insert emoji) That’s just psychologically wrong. Who are we? The SAS? And there’s still a bit more up and down. The finish is ‘bravura’ though.
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