Pete's Walks- Barton and Deacon Hill (page 4 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.
At the foot of the hill, I crossed a minor road and went down a short section of old road, turning left at its end. I then went straight on at a junction where a road went right (into the main part of Pegsdon). After about another quarter of a mile I turned left along a drive going to Green End Farm and Bury Farm. At its end a bridleway continued, following a hedgerow on my left. When I came to a bridleway junction I turned left, and soon reached an old mill, where I continued straight on along Mill Lane for almost half a mile to reach Hexton.
The road from Pegsdon
View right from near Pegsdon, the hillock is in the Knocking Hoe nature reserve, above it on the skyline is the Knocking Knoll long barrow
The bridleway from Green End Farm
The bridleway continuing towards The Mill, after I went left at a bridleway junction
The drive from The Mill
The drive from The Mill, approaching Hexton
I turned right (just before I'd have reached a pub), and soon passed the village cricket ground on my left. I then took a footpath going half-left, diagonally across a field. Over a small footbridge, the path continued alongside a hedge on my left, turning right in the next field corner for a few yards before turning left to head east once more, still following a hedge on my left. After a few hundred yards the hedge came to an end, and the path turned left for a short distance before turning right, now with a hedge on my right. This hedge soon ended, but after a while another began. On eventually reaching a field corner the path went a few yards left, before going down an alley to reach Manor Road in Barton.
The start of the road out of Hexton, after I turned right
The start of the path from Hexton to Barton
The path from Hexton to Barton
The path from Hexton to Barton
Looking left from the path from Hexton to Barton
Looking right from the path from Hexton to Barton
Approaching Barton
I turned left and followed this residential street to its end, where I went a few yards right then turned left along Church Road. When I reached the church I turned right, retracing my steps down an alley and back across the playing fields to where I'd started the walk.
Manor Road, Barton
The playing fields, Barton
This is still one of my favourite walks in the Chilterns, and the path over Deacon Hill and the Pegsdon Hills, continuing down to Pegsdon, is excellent. Once again, combining this route with a visit to the Knocking Hoe nature reserve worked really well for me today, and I think it's very likely I'll repeat this in future years, either at this time of year to see Autumn Lady's-Tresses or earlier in the summer to see Burnt-tip Orchids and Pasque-flowers.