Pete's Walks - Chenies and Ley Hill (page 3 of 6)
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.
Google map of the walkDownload GPX file of the walk
I followed the road for several hundred yards until it turned right (to go uphill to Flaunden), where I turned left onto a bridleway. This was quite steep for a few yards, until it got round a bend to the right. It ran almost imperceptibly uphill for a while, before another brief steep bit where it turned left and then right. Further on it ran just inside a wood extending to my right. Soon after leaving the wood it flattened out, as it then continued on for several hundred yards between fences and intermittent hedges. I spotted a Roe Deer across the field on my right at one point (I've had some nice wildlife sightings along this bridleway over the years, it's where I saw my first Whinchat and my first Silver-washed Fritillary butterfly). Eventually the bridleway turned left and soon ended when it came to a lane.
The road through Flaunden Bottom
The start of the bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill
The bridleway to Ley Hill, just before it reaches the lane
I turned right and followed the lane into Ley Hill. After going straight on where another lane went left, there was a golf course on either side, and then a cricket pitch on the right. I decided to stop and eat most of my packed lunch on a seat here, as it was 12:30 and I didn't think there'd be anywhere to stop between here and Latimer, which I though I'd reach in about an hour (just as well I stopped, it took very close to two hours!). On then continuing a short way to a road junction in Ley Hill, I turned left down Kiln Lane for a few yards then turned right along a drive or track with houses on my left. Just past a Primitive Methodist chapel I took a footpath on the left. This started as an alley between gardens, before following the right edge of a couple of paddocks to reach Cowcroft Wood.
The lane through Ley Hill
The lane through Ley Hill
Primitive Methodist chapel, Ley Hill
The path to Cowcroft Wood
The path to Cowcroft Wood