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 walkDownload GPX file of the walk
I did this circular walk of about 14.8 miles on Saturday, March 25th, 2017. It was largely based on a circular walk from Amersham Old Town that I did in May 2016 but I ended up adding in several new paths that I'd never walked before.
I parked by the ancient church in Little Missenden (grid reference SU 921989), and before setting off I paid a quick visit to the church just to photograph the mediaeval wall paintings there. I started walking about 9.55am, going a few yards towards the centre of the village, then turning right at a lane junction. When this lane turned right, I took a path going half-left, which rose gently uphill across a large arable field (passing a lone tree in the middle of it).
Little Missenden church
Mediaeval wall paintings inside Little Missenden church
The lane I took after turning right in Little Missenden
The path from Little Missenden to Toby's Lane (which runs along between the hedgerows on the skyline)
Looking back to Little Missenden from where I joined Toby's Lane
On the far side of the field I turned right and continued slightly uphill along Toby's Lane, an old track that initially had tall hedges either side. After about half a mile, at a point where where Toby's Lane turned slightly right I took a public footpath on the left (I'd only walked the route so far once or twice before and this path was new to me). The path crossed a corner of a ploughed field to a hedge gap, continuing in the same direction across another similar field. On the far side, the path turned half-right to follow a farm track alongside a hedge on my left. As the track drew near to Mop End Farm, the path went over a stile on the left into a paddock. As I walked through the paddock I gradually moved slightly further away from the fence on my right, and eventually reached a gate hidden in a corner where two hedges met.
Toby's Lane
Toby's Lane
Toby's Lane
The start of the path from Toby's Lane to Mop End
The path from Toby's Lane to Mop End
The path from Toby's Lane to Mop End
I then went a few yards down the lane through Mop End (here I was very briefly on the route I followed last May) to where two footpaths went off on the right. I took the left-most one (last May I took the other one), which went straight across an arable field. On the far side I rejoined Toby's Lane, turning left and following it a short distance to where it ended on the A404 main road.
The lane from Mop End
The path back to Toby's Lane, from Mop End
Toby's Lane, from where I rejoined it
The end of Toby's Lane, where it meets the A404