Pete's Walks- Ashridge and Aldbury (page 3 of 3)
I chose to take the second footpath on the right after passing the pond. This went through a gate and turned right alongside a hedge and then a fence. I then had a steep but short section, rising up the wooded slopes of Ashridge (part of the Chiltern escarpment). The path ended at the bridleway from Aldbury to the Bridgewater Monument at Ashridge, and I turned left to follow it to the Monument (I soon kept right at a bridleway fork). On such a gorgeous Sunday afternoon it was hardly surprising that there were masses of people on the grass around the monument and in the tea-room. The ice-cream van was doing a good trade, too.
Near the start of the path I took from from Aldbury to Ashridge
Approaching the wooded slopes of Ashridge
The path climbing up the wooded slope
The path climbing up the wooded slope
The main bridleway from Aldbury to the Bridgewater Monument at Ashridge
Near where the surfaced drive from the monument started, I took a bridleway that forked left into the woods (so it was gradually diverging from the drive, over to the right) - it was soon running along a broad gap in the trees. I ignored a few turnings on either side, then followed the bridleway as it forked right from the broad gap (a blue waymark indicated this point) and gradually grew closer to the drive over to my right (despite the hundreds of people parked along the drive, which was never more than a hundred yards from my route, I saw very few people along this bridleway). The bridleway was very muddy in places, the worst of any of the paths or bridleways I used today.
The bridleway to the left of the drive from the Bridgewater Monument
The bridleway to the left of the drive from the Bridgewater Monument
The bridleway now heading towards the end of the drive from the Bridgewater Monument
The bridleway now heading towards the end of the drive from the Bridgewater Monument
The bridleway ended where the long straight drive from the monument reached a road (from Ringshall to Northchurch). I crossed the drive and went a few yards down the road, then turned right onto another bridleway. This gradually went further left and away from the drive to the monument, and again was muddy in places. There are many unmarked paths in the woods of Ashridge, and I ignored the first big crossing path and turned left along the second one, which is the public footpath shown on the OS Map (about a third of a mile from the road). This is a very familiar path to me, I use it on most of my walks from the monument. After a while I passed the large field on my left that today was unusually free of deer - it's normally a very reliable place to see them.
The next bridleway, on the other side of the drive to the Monument
Further along the same bridleway
The footpath going south from the drive to the Monument (the path I take on most of my walks from the Monument)
The footpath going south from the drive to the Monument
When a bridleway crossed the path, I turned right along it, but very quickly came to a footpath waymark on a post where I turned half-left. The path wasn't too clear, but I passed another waymark on a telegraph pole. Further on I reached a post with three footpath waymarks, but I could only see one of the two paths that should have gone roughly half-right here. I decided to simply go straight on in the same direction before, and could soon see the car park across the road ahead of me (if I'd followed the clearer path that was waymarked, I'd have come out a little to the right of the car park).
Where I turned right of that footpath - I would soon head half-left through the trees
No real sign of a path, but I made a bee-line in this direction ...
... and managed to make my way back to the car park
I enjoyed the walk, but it's not a route I'd especially recommend. I was simply trying to link up a few paths in the area that I'd not walked before, there are certainly better routes to walk around Ashridge and Aldbury. But at least it was quiet on such a sunny Sunday afternoon, apart from the area around the monument I didn't see too many other people at all. And it was great to some butterflies and wildflowers, Spring has definitely arrived (though the pessimist in me thinks Winter will come back with a vengeance sometime - I can't not see any snow for a whole Winter, surely!).