Pete's Walks - Chesham Vale and The Lee (page 3 of 3)
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 followed the road through Chartridge for a short distance to reach the Village Hall (which doubles as the Reading Room), where I turned left into Cogdells Lane. I then turned right into a playing field, following its right edge to reach a metal-kissing gate in the far hedgerow, beyond which the path crossed a stubble field, passing close to a group of bushes on my right. The path then turned right, following a hedgerow on my right. After a couple of stubble fields I reached a large meadow, where the path finally moved a little left from the hedgerow to reach a gate. I then crossed Capps Lane, a track, and continued across a small meadow. The path then went over a couple of stiles and turned left to follow the edge of a larger meadow. Near the corner of the meadow the path went through some bushes and over another stile to enter a typical Chiltern beech wood.
The playing field, Chartridge
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, after crossing Capps Lane
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, approaching the wood
The path dropped downhill through the wood to reach a valley bottom, where it crossed another footpath, then rose up the other side of the valley, turning right part way up the slope and then left. On leaving the wood, the path followed the right edge of a pasture. Over a stile, the path continued straight on along an unusual 'avenue' of trees. There were gates or stiles in two or three wire fences along here, before after three or four hundred yards I reached a road. I went a short way left, then turned right into Oxford Street, in Lee Common.
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, entering the wood
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, passing through the wood
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, passing through the wood
The path from Chartridge to Lee Common, between the wood and the 'avenue' - this photo gives a good idea of how low the sun now was and how dark it was getting
The 'avenue'
I soon passed an old well on my right. After about a third of a mile I turned left down a path immediately after the village school, this soon brought me to a large area of park land (I couldn't see any cows here but there was plentiful evidence that they'd been here recently). The path went right here, but I first stopped to photograph the cottage I could see ahead of me, at the bottom of a small valley. With a hedge all the way around it and set in the middle of this park land, it's a striking residence and I've seen it on TV and in several photographs. The path soon brought me to a gate and a road, where I turned left and followed the road for about a third of a mile to reach the war memorial on the green in The Lee, and my parked car. Ever since leaving Chesham Vale this walk had been rather a race against time to get back to The Lee before it got dark, and I had no more than 15 minutes to spare (it was now almost 16.10pm) - the light was fading fast (I've had to brighten up some of my photos taken towards the end of the walk) and it soon became dark as I drove home.
The old well, Lee Common
Oxford Street, Lee Common
Near the start of the path from Little Kingshill to Little Missenden
The path after I turned left from Oxford Street
The cottage surrounded by park land
The road into The Lee
The road into The Lee
The war memorial, The Lee
I enjoyed this walk more than most of the other walks on the Chiltern Heritage Trail so far, largely because about two-thirds of it was on paths I'd not walked since I did this route eleven years ago. But it was a pleasant walk anyway, and it was a very nice day for a walk - I enjoyed the Autumn colours and there is something quiet and peaceful about the countryside at this time of year. There was only one steep hill (downhill in this direction) and just a few other ups and downs, so it wasn't the most challenging of walks, but there was a nice variety of wood, fields and villages. Even the long stretch along the road through Asheridge was quite pleasant, and so too was the even longer streatch along White Hawridge Bottom.