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 walked a little way right, crossed the road and took a footpath on the other side (still following the Ridgeway). This path ran in a straight line for about half a mile, initially with woodland to my left and paddocks beyond a fence on the right, and then with paddocks either side. The path ended at a lane, where I turned left, soon reaching the end of the lane at Tring Station where I turned right and immediately crossed over the Grand Union Canal.
The path continuing from the A4251 to Tring Station
The path continuing from the A4251 to Tring Station
The path continuing from the A4251 to Tring Station
The Grand Union Canal at Tring Station
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, 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 wide strip of grass, with a row of trees and a fence on my right. 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).
The road out of Tring Station
The path 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
The Ridgeway running through nature reserve at Aldbury Nowers
Just after leaving the open area of the nature reserve and entering the woods of Aldbury Nowers, I turned left at a path junction (actually it was the second of two a few yards apart), still following the Ridgeway. 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.
The Ridgeway, after I turned left and went up a flight of 'steps'
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
The Ridgeway running through the woods of Aldbury Nowers
The Ridgeway rising up Pitstone Hill
The Ridgeway rising up Pitstone Hill
The Ridgeway continuing over Pitstone Hill, with Ivinghoe Beacon in the distance
View from Pitstone Hill
Ivinghoe Beacon and Steps Hill from Pitstone Hill - the Pitstone Hill car park is just behind the the 'hillock'
The weather forecast had predicted that it was going to be another grey day, and I didn't feel like driving far to do a walk in such conditions, so this local walk suited my purposes just fine. It's a walk I've done many times before, and I was a bit surprised to see that it was over two years since I last walked it (though I did a shortened version of it in April this year). I think it's a nice route, but I much prefer it in this clockwise direction as it gets most of the (fairly minor) ups and downs over with at the start of the walk, rather than leaving them to the end. It was nice to do this route on a weekday too, because the Ridgeway can be quite busy at weekends (it's the only path in the Chilterns where I've found this to be an issue) and today I didn't meet a single other walker along it.