Pete's Walks - Wigginton and Wendover Woods (page 1 of 4)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
Google map of the walk Download GPX file of the walk
I did this 12.6 mile circular walk on Saturday, 18th August, 2012. It was the reverse of Walk 5 of my Chiltern Chain Walk, this time I was walking in the clockwise direction.
Coming out of the car park by the playing fields in Wigginton (Grid reference SP 938099), I turned right and followed the road out of Wigginton. Just past a traffic-calming barrier I took a footpath on the right, which crossed a cattle pasture (with some inquisitive bullocks in it). In the next field I turned right for a few yards to pass through a gap in the corner, then turned left alongside a line of gorse bushes on my left. I was now on the line of an ancient earthwork called Grim's Ditch, which I would be following southwest-wards for several miles. Beyond the gorse bushes the path continued through the middle of a long thin belt of mature trees and bracken (where I spotted some Lesser Stitchwort growing), before running through a beech wood, Wick Wood.
The road through Wigginton
The start of the long, long section following the course of Grim's Ditch - this is just outside Wigginton, just beyond the initial cow pasture
The footpath continuing towards Wick Wood
The footpath continuing towards Wick Wood
The footpath continuing through Wick Wood
Across a lane, the path continued straight on (another went half-left) through the northern edge of another wood, called High Scrubs. I then crossed an arable field (it was an unusual crop, but I've forgotten what it's called) to reach Brown's Lane, a track going south from Hastoe (I'd pass it's start point in that village much later on the walk). Beyond that the path continued through another long belt of trees, now with clear evidence of the ancient earthwork called Grim's Ditch. At the end of this tree belt, the path went a few yards right, then continued in the same direction as before as it followed the edge of a stubble field to reach a lane (Shire Lane).
The path through High Scrubs
Approaching Brown's Lane (a byway going south from Hastoe)
The path continuing southwest-wards through the belt of trees beyond Brown's Lane
I was a little taken aback here, because I was expecting to come out somewhere else - despite having walked this route numerous times, I'd quite forgotten about the next mile or so! Anyway, I went a few yards left, then turned right along a bridleway along a private drive. I passed some cottages on my left and continued on - the track here was not only on the course of Grim's Ditch, but was on the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. I passed Leyland's Farm at the end of the track, crossed another lane and continue on a footpath on the other side. This passed through a couple of meadows or paddocks, then went through a small wood or copse. Beyond an area of mown grass, I joined a driveway and reached a minor road just west of St Leonards (I was now actually at the point I'd expected to reach a mile earlier!).
The private drive heading southwest towards Leylands Farm
The private drive heading southwest towards Leylands Farm
The path continuing across the lane from Leylands Farm
The path continuing towards the edge of St Leonards
I went a few yards left, then turned right into a recently re-surfaced lane. On reaching a T-junction, a path continued ahead into Baldwin's Wood. I went straight on where another path forked left and continued on through the next section of the wood, soon rejoining the line of Grim's Ditch once more.
The lane from St Leonards
The start of the path from the lane junction into Baldwin's Wood
Looking out from Baldwin's Wood
Baldwin's Wood
Baldwin's Wood