Pete's Walks - Alternative Ashridge Walk (page 3 of 4)
At the end of the path from Aldbury, I turned right along the lane into the hamlet of Tom's Hill. As soon as I entered the hamlet I turned left and headed back into the woods. I followed paths and bridleways close to a fence on my right, gradually curving right in a semi-circle. I spotted a small group of Fallow deer here, shortly before I emerged at the hamlet of Norcott Hill.
The path from Tom's Hill to Norcott Hill
The path from Tom's Hill to Norcott Hill
The path from Tom's Hill to Norcott Hill
I turned left along the lane through the hamlet - where it turned sharply right I continued ahead back into the woods of Northchurch Common. I turned right at a couple of path junctions in quick succession, then followed a long path along the western or south-western edge of the common. This went up and down a couple of times, crossing a drive to a house called Gorseside at one point, before after about a mile I reached the Ringshall to Northchurch road.
The path from Norcott Hill along the south-western edge of Northchurch common
Looking out towards Berkhamsted
View towards Wigginton
The path continuing towards the Ringshall-Northchurch road
I turned right along the road, following it left round a bend, then cutting across grass to reach a private drive that led uphill through trees to an estate of bungalows. A good track led on, with paddocks to my right, then beyond the state the track continued beside the playing fields of a school on my right (I'm sure it's a very good school, but for some reason I always think of St Trinians as I go by!). At a path junction I turned left, the new path following a hedgerow on my left through a large empty pasture, then switching to the left of the hedgerow in the field corner and continuing past a large ploughed field. Part way along the broken hedgerow here I stopped on a convenient bench to eat my lunch, admiring the view towards Berkhamsted and watching a distant Buzzard. The field path then took me past another ploughed field (where I looked for and found some lovely Field Pansies, which I'd seen here a few times before), then followed the hedgeline through a huge open field containing a few horses. the path here descended quite a steep hillside, before climbing part way up the opposite slope to reach the woods of Berkhamsted Common (I would later pass through BerkhamsteAd Common, with an 'A').
The path beside the school at Northchurch
The field path heading northeast from Northchurch
View towards Berkhamsted from my lunch spot
The path approaching the woods of Berkhamsted Common (near Brickkiln Cottage)
I turned right, following a very pleasant path just inside the edge of the wood. After almost a mile the path (the latter half not shown on the map) ended at a junction where I took the path going left, rising slightly uphill to reach a bridleway just as it reached a minor road on my right. I turned left, and followed the bridleway through part of Berkhamsted golf course. After about half a mile I turned left at a crossroads of bridleways, going straight on a few yards later at a similar crossroads. I was now on a bridleway going north through the woods towards Frithsden Beeches.
The path along the bottom of the woods, Berkhamsted Common
The path along the bottom of the woods, Berkhamsted Common
Near the start of the bridleway going back northwest past Berkhamsted Golf Club
The bridleway continuing northwest
The path north to Frithsden Beeches