Pete's Walks - Alternative Ashridge Walk (page 2 of 4)
I turned around and went back, keeping just left of the larger 'hillock' and crossed the road. I could see numerous people heading towards me on the Ridgeway, obviously people on the sponsored walk (a marshal was helping them cross the road safely), so I stuck to the path up Steps Hill that is slightly left of the Ridgeway route. The paths converge on the top of Steps Hill, just above the end of the deep hollow of Incombe Hole, and I met many walkers as I followed the Ridgeway down the southern side of Steps Hill. Beyond a path junction I was off the route of the sponsored walk and things quietened down as I carried on to the car park for Pitstone Hill.
Looking towards Steps Hill from Ivinghoe Beacon (I took the leftmost of the two paths going up Steps Hill)
Incombe Hole from Steps Hill
The Ridgeway starting to descend from Steps Hill, with Aldbury Nowers and Pitstone Hill in the distance
The Ridgeway approaching the lane between Ivinghoe and Aldbury (to the left), showing the hillock beyond the car park here
I climbed the small hillock beyond the car park and continued on up Pitstone Hill - a lady asked if I'd seen a flock of small birds, which I hadn't, but I'd heard the sound of Linnets so said that was probably what they were. From the top of Pitstone Hill I continued along the route of the Ridgeway National Trail, following it down beside the earthwork of Grim's Ditch to the woods of Aldbury Nowers. It was then a pleasant stretch of woodland walking for almost a mile, before I left the Ridgeway, going left and then right to reach the golf course at Aldbury.
Pitstone Hill from the top of the hillock, with Aston Hill in the distance
Grims Dyke descending Pitstone Hill towards Aldbury Nowers
Looking across the Tring Gap to Aston Hill, from the same point
The Ridgeway, Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway, Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway, Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway, Aldbury Nowers
A clear path crossed the golf course, continuing between hedges and fences to reach a stables on the edge of Aldbury. the path then skirts the stables by following the edge of a paddock, before I turned left along a lane to pass the village church and reach the centre of the village. By the stocks and village pond, I turned right, then took a path going left through the village allotments. On the far side of these I turned right to reach a steep village street where I turned left, soon joining a path leading uphill through woods towards the hamlet of Tom's Hill.
The path across the golf course at Aldbury
The path from the golf course to Aldbury, with the woods of Ashridge beyond
Aldbury church, with Ashridge beyond
Aldbury church
The obligatory shot of the stocks and pond at Aldbury!
The path up to Tom's Hill from Aldbury