Pete's Walks - Chenies and Ley Hill (page 6 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
Across the road, I followed a path alongside a fence on my left (another path went further right). On reaching West Wood, the path went half-left to rise steadily to the top of the wood, where I turned left along a bridleway. This ran just inside the edge of the wood, and after a few hundred yards brought me to Stony Lane. I crossed over and took a permissive path (now in Walk Wood) that ran uphill parallel to the lane a short way, and then I turned left along a bridleway that would take me back to Chenies.
The path after crossing the road through the Chess valley
The path rising up through West Wood
The bridleway through West Wood
The bridleway through West Wood
The permissive path on the far side of Stony Lane
The bridleway soon left Walk Wood and continued, in a straight line and almost perfectly flat, for another quarter of a mile, towards the end of which there were some nice views over and back along the Chess valley. The bridleway then ran through a small bit of woodland, before turning right as it neared Chenies Manor. It then turned left along another side of the manor's gardens. When the bridleway ended at a road, by the village school (where parents were collecting their children) I went straight on a short way to the village centre, and continued in the same direction to return to my car.
The bridleway to Chenies in Walk Wood
The bridleway to Chenies
View over the Chess Valley, from the bridleway to Chenies (the houses on the right are at Chenies Bottom)
View back across the Chess Valley towards Latimer, from the bridleway to Chenies
The bridleway after it turns right near Chenies Manor (it turns left in front of the hedgerow)
Chenies Manor
The bridleway after it turns left near Chenies Manor
I enjoyed this walk much more than I had expected to. It's a route that I used to walk quite often and got a bit bored with, but I hadn't walked it for over five years and so none of it felt at all overfamiliar this time. The cold and icy conditions also added some interest, especially early on. The best parts of the route were inevitably the first and last sections along the charming Chess valley, which is always a delight. The middle section suffered by comparison, but was not at all unpleasant - I even enjoyed the sections along Bottom Lane and Green Lane where there were very few views at all because of the hedges either side.