Pete's Walks - Pitstone Hill and Wigginton (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 continued along the road through Tring Station, passing the actual railway station on my right and then crossing a bridge over the railway tracks. I continued along the road (though I noticed there was a permissive path running behind the hedge to the right of the road, I'll probably use that in future), going straight on at a junction where a road went left. A short way further on I followed the Ridgeway where it went half-left along a concrete drive (I checked that there was easy access from the permissive path to the right of the road here). When I came to a bridleway crossroads I turned left, this bridleway generally running between hedges for several hundred yards, though there was a short section with attractive beech trees either side. When I came to a junction where a footpath crossed the bridleway I turned right to follow the path a short distance through the Aldbury Nowers nature reserve (I felt a few bits of hail here).
The road out of Tring Station
The drive after I turned half-left from the road
The Ridgeway heading northwest towards Aldbury Nowers nature reserve
The Ridgeway heading northwest towards Aldbury Nowers nature reserve
View from where The Ridgeway turns right to pass through the Aldbury Nowers nature reserve
The Ridgeway passing through the Aldbury Nowers nature reserve
Just after leaving the open area of the nature reserve and entering the woods of Aldbury Nowers, I turned left at a path junction. The path started up a flight of 'steps', turning slightly left near the top of a bank and running between fences for a short while (with parts of the nature reserve either side), before re-entering the woods. There was then a fairly level section of about half a mile through the woods. On reaching the end of the woods, the path went through a small gate and continued gently up the western flank of Pitstone Hill, following part of the ancient earthwork called Grim's Ditch. The path curved right to reach the top of the hill, then continued almost imperceptibly downhill as it headed eastwards, with a good view ahead towards Ivinghoe Beacon and Steps Hill. I finally left the Ridgeway to go up and over a small hillock, reaching the car park where I'd started on the far side.
View from the Aldbury Nowers nature reserve, with Aston Hill in the distance
Flight of 'steps' after the Ridgeway turns left at a path junction
The Ridgeway running through the woods of Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway running through the woods of Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway running through the woods of Aldbury Nowers
View from Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway running through the woods of Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway rising up Pitstone Hill
The Ridgeway continuing over Pitstone Hill
The Ridgeway continuing over Pitstone Hill (in the middle ground is the 'hillock' by the car park, over-topped by Steps Hill and with Ivinghoe Beacon on the left)
Ivinghoe Beacon from near the Pitstone Hill car park
One reason I'd chosen to do this fairly local walk today was that the weather forecast predicted wintry showers from about 3pm - I often criticise the forecasters so it's only fair to say that they got it right today, the quite heavy showers starting on time just after I got home.
This is a walk that I've done many times. It's a bit shorter than most of the walks I do and it's only a 10-minute drive from my home, so I've often used it when I haven't got as much time as usual to go for a long walk. I think this is a case of familiarity breeding contempt as I've not given it any *'s in the ratings column of my Chiltern Walks pages, but its actually a very good walk with numerous good views and the usual mix of field paths and woods, plus the chalk downland of Pitstone Hill. I really enjoyed it today (the generally sunny weather probably helped!) but there was one thing I didn't like - I think this was one of the extremely few times I can remember feeling disgruntled about there being too many other walkers about! The section from Aldbury to Wigginton was fine, but walking along the Ridgeway I was meeting people every few hundred yards, something I'm just not used to in the Chilterns.