Pete's Walks - North from Little Missenden (page 1 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.
I did this walk of about 8 miles on Saturday, 18th January 2020. It was a repeat of a walk I did in September 2017.
I parked by Little Missenden church (grid reference SU 921989), and started walking about 11.30am. I started by taking a path immediately west of the church which headed north along the right edge of a cattle pasture. Partway through this pasture I went over a concrete bridge over the tiny river Misbourne, which was much more impressive than when I did this walk in 2017 (it had then been just a string of large puddles). I then crossed over the A413 road, and continued northwards, uphill across a field to reach Mantle's Wood. Inside the wood the path went a few yards right, then went left over a railway bridge. The path then continued its northerly direction through the wood. After a few hundred yards I reached a path junction, where I went half-left. This path descended very slightly and soon reached the edge of the wood. The path was now heading more northwesterly, as it crossed a ploughed field to reach another part of Mantle's wood. It continued between the ploughed field on my left and the wood for a few hundred yards, then when the edge of the wood turned right, the path went left across the field to another wood (the only name on the OS map is Hedgemoor).
The start of the path from next to Little Missenden church
The path from next to Little Missenden church
The river Misbourne, from the concrete bridge
The start of the path going north, after I crossed the A413, heading to Mantle's Wood
The railway bridge in Mantle's Wood
The path continuing north through Mantle's Wood
The path continuing north through Mantle's Wood
The path after I forked left in Mantle's Wood
The path between two parts of Mantle's Wood
The path continuing along the western edge of Mantle's Wood
The path approaching Hedgemoor
The path followed the edge of the wood on my left for a little way, then cut through a small corner of the wood. Over a stile, it continued northwards through a large grassy field. In the next field the path soon went left round a corner. It then went over a stile and on through another grassy field, staying close to the tall hedge on the left (the OS map shows it running through trees to the left of the field). In the corner of the field I went through a metal kissing-gate, beyond which I turned right along the road through the hamlet of Hyde End. Just after a junction where another road went right, I took a path on the left. This started down a drive, then after a hundred yards or so went slightly right (at a waymark post) through a corner of a small wood, then crossed a drive and went straight on through a scrapyard (another waymark pointed the way). Where the roadway through the yard turned left, I kept straight on to reach a stile in a fence.
The path continuing north from Hedgemoor
The path continuing from Hedgemoor
The path continuing from Hedgemoor, approaching the road at Hyde End
The road through Hyde End
The path from Hyde End, where it cuts through a tiny corner of woodland to reach a scrapyard
The path continuing through the scrapyard (the stile is behind and just left of the dark blue lorry with yellow writing, just left of centre)