Pete's Walks - Buckland Common and The Lee (page 3 of 3)
We took the lane continuing ahead of us, which after a quarter of a mile or so came to a T-junction by the entrance to a mobile home park in St Leonards. We followed the road to our left for a few yards, then took a path on the right, to continue along the line of Grim's Ditch. The path went down a driveway, continuing beside a fence on the left and then ran through a small area of bushes and trees. It then followed a left-hand hedge through two paddocks to reach another lane, opposite what is marked as Leylands Farm on the OS map. A track started across the lane, to the right of the farm, and we followed it, again on the line of Grim's Ditch and also along the Herts-Bucks county boundary.
The lane into St Leonards
The path approaching the lane by Leylands Farm
The track from Leylands Farm
After about three quarters of a mile, the track ended at Shire Lane (obviously once part of the boundary between Herts and Bucks). A few yards to the left a path continued on the other side, running beside a right-hand hedgerow at first and then through a belt of beech trees (where Grim's Ditch was once more in evidence). At the end of the tree belt, Martin and I finally left Grim's Ditch behind as we turned right onto a byway called Browns Lane. This soon took us into Shrubbs Wood, and then a little further on into High Scrubs. At one point Martin spotted a fungus which he correctly identified as a Porcelain Fungus (I later had the ID confirmed on a website).
The path on the other side of Shire Lane
The path along Grim's Ditch, in the tree belt before Browns Lane
Browns Lane, heading to Shrubb's Wood
The byway in Shrubb's Wood
Porcelain Fungus in High Scrubs
The byway in High Scrubs
After almost a mile along Browns Lane there was a field close by on our right. At a path crossroads we turned right, leaving the wood of High Scrubs and following a hedgerow between two grassy fields (there were horse jumps in the fields and in the hedgerow). The path took us back to Shire Lane where another path started almost opposite, next to a property called 'Montana' (I inevitably joked that we'd walked further than we'd thought!). The path ran between fences and entered a wood, with stables and then paddocks on the left. At a path crossroads, we turned left, passing through the end of a paddock into another wood, and through some waste ground.
The path back across Shire Lane
The path to Cholesbury Camp
The path to Cholesbury Camp
We then came to the large ditch and embankments of Cholesbury Camp, and Iron Age Hill Fort. We followed the path straight across the camp, passing the village church on our right and emerging by the village school. We crossed the road through Cholesbury, and took a path almost opposite, which lead between garden fences and then through an empty pasture that dropped down into a valley. At the valley bottom, we went through a kissing-gate and turned right along a fence. We followed the valley bottom through another pasture and then through two ploughed fields, before the path turned right between fences to reach the road again. We turned left, and followed the road the short distance to the end of Bottom Road again, where we turned right to return to the small car park in Buckland Common.
Ditch and embankments, Cholesbury Camp
The path south from Cholesbury - we turned right along the fence in the valley bottom
The path going west towards Buckland Common
It had been a really lovely day for walking, with blues skies all the time, although I'd worn my fleece for most of the day (though mainly because I'd still got the remnants of a cold). It was good to see Martin again, and made a nice change to walk with somebody else. The walk had followed a very pleasant but undemanding route, with relatively few ups and downs but a nice mixture of woods and farmland. I need to check my records again, I'm sure it's not three years since I last did this walk - and I'm sure it won't be three years before I'll want to do it again.