Pete's Walks- Barton and Deacon Hill (page 3 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.
On returning to the gate, I took the path up Deacon Hill. At the top, near the Trig column, a party of people were sat enjoying the views and eating a picnic. I turned left and followed the wonderful path to and over the Pegsdon Hills - this is one of my favourite paths in the Chilterns as it follows the top of this chalk downland with huge views to my right over parts of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. It goes through a gate close to some beech trees at one point, and after passing the head of a small valley there is a short steep climb up a grassy slope (I needed to look carefully for the left-fork at the bottom of this climb).
The path up Deacon Hill
View looking back from the path up Deacon Hill
View from the top of Deacon Hill
The start of the path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills
The path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills
The path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills
The path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills - this is the start of the short steep bit
A view right from the path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills
The path from Deacon Hill to the Pegsdon Hills, going round the end of the valley called Barn Hole
Kestrel
The path then went round the end of a valley called Barn Hole, going through a gate and following a hedge round to the right (I was very close to where I'd rejoined the track on Telegraph Hill here). The path continued to be utterly delightful as it gradually headed downhill to Pegsdon, initially with Barn Hole close by on my right. I now had the splendid far-reaching views ahead of me, and to my right were more good views looking back to Deacon Hill.
The start of the footpath down to Pegsdon
A view along Barn Hole
The path down to Pegsdon
The path down to Pegsdon
The path down to Pegsdon
Looking across Barn Hole, back to Deacon Hill (the lines across its slopes are strip lynchets, ancient farming terraces)
The path down to Pegsdon
The path approaching Pegsdon