Pete's Walks- Chenies, Ley Hill, Chipperfield Common (page 5 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 walked through the churchyards, turning right by the church door, and took a footpath on the other side of a drive. The path crossed another drive and entered a large field sloping down into the Chess Valley. There were several other people going down this path, including a couple of families with children. At the bottom of the slope, I turned left along a roughly surfaced track or drive to reach New Road. Here I went right and soon crossed the river Chess at Sarrattmill Bridge. I then took a footpath on the right, which ran along the left edge of a cattle pasture, with the river beyond the trees on the right side of the pasture. The path then continued onwards to reach a path crossroads at Sarratt Bottom.
The path from Sarratt church descending into the Chess Valley
The path going southeast along the Chess Valley
The river Chess from Sarrattmill Bridge
The path going northwest along the Chess Valley from Sarrattmill Bridge
The path going northwest along the Chess Valley from Sarrattmill Bridge
A view across the Chess Valley at Sarratt Bottom
I went straight on at the path crossroads, soon entering Mount Wood. The lengthy path through the wood followed the bottom of the valley as it turned left (westwards). On leaving the wood, I continued straight on along Holloway Lane.
Another view across the Chess Valley at Sarratt Bottom
The path continuing through Mount Wood
The path continuing through Mount Wood
The path continuing through Mount Wood
Holloway Lane
After a quarter of a mile or so, a footpath went half-left, following a fence on my left gently uphill (this fence was new since I was last here, it has divided a large paddock in two) to a gate - here I rejoined Holloway Lane, the path having cut a corner from the old lane. I turned left, but the lane soon turned right and very soon brought me back to Chenies, with the village centre where I'd parked just a short distance to my left.
Holloway Lane
The path that cuts a corner off Holloway Lane
Holloway Lane again, heading into Chenies
A view across the Chess Valley from Holloway Lane
The pump on the green in the centre of Chenies
It was over four years since I walked this route, and many of the paths on it I hadn't walked since then. So it was nice to revisit these paths, which I'd only ever walked two or three times before. But the paths that I was more familiar with were also a pleasure to walk again, because most of them were in and around the Chess Valley which I think is one of the prettiest parts of the Chilterns. I certainly chose a nice day for this walk, as after a rather chilly start it became warm and sunny - it was hard to believe it was the beginning of October!