Pete's Walks - Coombe Hill and Great Kimble (page 1 of 4)

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 walk

I did this 11.8 mile circular walk on Sunday, 6th February 2011. The title I've given the walk is a little misleading, as the route follows a very indirect route from Coombe Hill to Great Kimble, which comes only about a third of the way into the walk. The rest of the walk is largely through woodland without visiting any more villages, so I couldn't come up with a better title. This was a walk I pieced together by looking on the map and linking up two lengthy stretches of paths I'd not walked before, and combining them with a stretch of the Aylesbury Ring (which I walked about five years ago). To see this walk done in the opposite direction in November 2011, click here.

I started walking from the car park at Coombe Hill (grid reference SP 852063) about 9.45am. Through the gate from the car park I took the middle of the three paths, going straight ahead (a tree trunk had been left across the start of this path, as if to encourage people to take the recently surfaced path on the right). Through a small area of trees, I turned right to follow a broad swathe of grass to the tall monument that commemorates the men of Buckinghamshire who were killed in the Boer War. It was a grey overcast day (yet again - I'm still waiting for a decent day weather-wise to continue the Berkshire Loop of the Chiltern Way), so the views out over the Vale of Aylesbury were not at their best.

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The path from the car park at Coombe Hill

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Approaching the monument on Coombe Hill

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Looking out over the Vale of Aylesbury from Coombe Hill

I turned right at the monument, and followed the Ridgeway path on a very long and very gradual descent down over Bacombe Hill to the edge of Wendover - this is always an enjoyable way to start a walk, with the views left to the flat area around Aylesbury and ahead to Wendover Woods, but in these grey conditions I tried to remember what it's like on a lovely summer's day.

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Looking towards Wendover Woods from Coombe Hill

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The Ridgeway path on Coombe Hill (or possibly Bacombe Hill, I'm not sure where the boundary is)

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The Ridgeway path descending Bacombe Hill, looking towards Wendover with Wendover Woods beyond

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The Ridgeway path descending Bacombe Hill

When the path eventually reached a road, I followed it right towards Wendover. I passed a row of cottages on the left, and immediately beyond the last one I turned left onto a track (leaving the Ridgeway for the Aylesbury Ring at this point). After passing a cricket ground on the right, the footpath left the track and went half-left across a very large arable field. It then went half-left again, running along the edge of some paddocks, one of which had attracted a large number of gulls. It then turned right, following a headland between fields to Wellwick Farm.

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The start of the footpath to Wellwick Farm

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The footpath to Wellwick Farm

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The footpath to Wellwick farm, running through some paddocks (with Coombe Hill in the background)

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Approaching Wellwick Farm

I went through the farmyard (ignoring a path going left as I reached the farm), then turned left (by a huge arrow sign on a telegraph pole) across a grassy area and then crossed a muddy paddock behind the impressive old farmhouse. The path then briefly ran just inside the farmhouse's garden, before continuing south-westwards through a series of fields. I would be going in this direction for  a couple of miles, parallel to the Chiltern Hills on my left. Part of Ellesborough Golf Course was soon visible on the left too. As I reached a minor road in Butler's Cross (part of the parish of Ellesborough) I spotted a sign announcing soup and rolls at the church in Ellesborough.

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Near the start of the path from Wellwick Farm to Butler's Cross

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Looking towards Butler's Cross, with Beacon Hill and Ellesborough church beyond

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The footpath approaching the road in Butler's Cross

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I was an hour or so too early to take them up on their kind offer!