Pete's Walks - Bledlow Ridge, Bradenham, West Wycombe (page 1 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 did this circular walk of about 13.5 miles on Friday, 20th July 2018. It was a repeat of a walk I first did in December 2011.
I parked in a side road (a cul-de-sac) off the main road through Bledlow Ridge, about a quarter of a mile south of The Boot (Grid Reference SU 796978). Starting walking about 10.10am, I went back up the main road towards The Boot, but turned right along a footpath (part of the Chiltern Way) that went down a drive with a few houses off it. At the end of the drive the path continued between hedges, with a mown meadow to my left. Where the meadow ended I came to a path junction where I turned right, following a hedgerow to my right as far as a metal kissing gate. Through this the path dropped steeply downhill through a huge meadow (that had also been mown), with an expansive view ahead of me over the Saunderton Valley.
The path from Bledlow Ridge
The path from Bledlow Ridge
The path after I turned right, on the edge of Bledlow Ridge
View from the top of the next field - you can see the path dropping downhill to the conifers, where it turns left. Lodge Hill is on the left of the photo.
At the bottom of the slope I went through another metal kissing-gate, and turned left behind a short row of conifers. The path continued along the edge of a large corn field (to my right) for several hundred yards to reach Lodge Hill Farm, where I turned right along the farm drive. Where this turned right, I turned left and followed a bridleway on a track alongside a hedgerow on my left, heading towards Lodge Hill. After several hundred yards I came to a bridleway T-junction where I went right for a short distance before turning left down another bridleway (so this was more or less a 'staggered crossroads' of bridleways). This bridleway ran for several hundred yards through trees at the bottom of the southwestern slopes of Lodge Hill.
The path after it turns left behind the conifers
The path continuing towards Lodge Hill Farm
The bridleway from Lodge Hill Farm to Lodge Hill
The bridleway from Lodge Hill Farm to Lodge Hill
The bridleway running along the bottom of Lodge Hill
The bridleway running along the bottom of Lodge Hill
Eventually the bridleway left the trees and continued through a stubble field, initially with a short hedgerow on my left. Towards the far side of the field a path crossed the bridleway and I turned right. Through a gate at the edge of the field, the path turned right and then bore half-left as it rose up the wooded western end of Lodge Hill. I continued along the top of the hill, admiring the far-reaching views in several directions.
The bridleway running along the bottom of Lodge Hill
The path after I turned right in the middle of the stubble field
The path continuing to Lodge Hill
The path continuing up Lodge Hill
The path continuing along the top of Lodge Hill
View looking right from Lodge Hill
View looking left from Lodge Hill