Pete's Walks- Variation on 'Four Hills' walk from Whiteleaf Hill (page 2 of 5)
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.
I turned left between low wicker fences to enter the hill fort (its ditch and banks are far less impressive than those at Cholesbury Camp, a few miles to the east, that I also visit quite often on my walks). I followed the path straight through the fort, and on the far side turned right along a path that initially had a steep down slope on my left. I went straight on over a bridleway, soon leaving Maple wood and entering an area of scrub land, where the path led slightly downhill and gradually approached a fence on my right. On reaching a fence corner (where I crossed the Ridgeway) I went over a stile and followed a fence on my right, with views across Great Kimble Warren on my left.
View of the banks and ditch around Pulpit Hill fort
The path continuing through the hill fort
The path from the hill fort, after I turned right
The path continuing from Maple Wood
The path continuing after I crossed the Ridgeway and went over a stile
View left over Great Kimble Warren and out to the Vale of Aylesbury
On reaching a stile in the fence, I crossed it and followed a path close to the edge of a large empty field. In the next corner I went through a gateway, crossed a track and went a short way through Whorley Wood. The path then crossed a meadow, with a fine view left out over the Vale of Aylesbury. The path then continued through the wooded end of Ellesborough Warren to emerge on the grassy western flank of Beacon Hill. After a little while I turned right on an initially faint path that led straight up the steep slope to the top of the hill.
View over the Vale of Aylesbury from the meadow I crossed on the way to Beacon Hill
The path continuing towards Beacon hill
The top of Beacon Hill from the footpath - a few yards further on I took the path going straight up to the top, turned right along the top of the hill, returning along the path coming in on the right and coming back down to the footpath
The very steep bit approaching the top of Beacon Hill
View out over Ellesborough and part of the Vale of Aylesbury from Beacon Hill
After taking some photos I turned right along the top of Beacon Hill, to reach some trees and a fence (the boundary fence of Chequers, the Prime Ministers country residence). I dropped a few feet downhill to my right, then turned right along a path running across the side of the hill. After a while this brought me back to the steep path I'd taken up the hill, where I turned left to return to the footpath. I turned right to continue along the path which continued round to the north of Beacon Hill, then crossed an empty pasture to reach a road opposite Ellesborough church.
Coombe Hill from Beacon Hill (Wendover Woods on far left)
The path back down from the top of Beacon Hill (the footpath is the white line on the left)
Approaching Ellesborough
I went just a few yards right, then turned right along a track. After a couple of hundred yards or so the path forked left from the track and was soon crossing a very large arable field. On the far side I turned right along a road in the hamlet of Coombe, then turned left along a bridleway that ran along a track between fences and hedges. After reaching a crossing bridleway, a footpath continued very steeply up the wooded western flank of Coombe Hill. This is one of the steepest paths I know in the Chilterns (it just goes straight up the steep slope with no zigzags or turns to ease the gradient), but today I was possibly more concerned with how slippery it was than the steepness.
The path from Ellesborough to the road below Coombe Hill (and the hamlet of Coombe)
The way up Coombe Hill, just before it becomes very steep
The start of the steep section (much steeper than this looks!)
Near the top of the steep section (not so steep now, but still steeper than my photo makes it look)