Pete's Walks - Ashridge, Frithsden, Ward's Hurst Farm (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.
The path continued across four sheep pastures, following the edge of a wood on the right in the last of these fields. It continued under a 'green tunnel' of overhanging branches for a short way, then continued along the edge of a meadow. Through a gate it continued by the wood, then turned right (near a small reservoir), and joined a drive which it followed to a road on the edge of Ringshall.
Sheep near Ward's Hurst Farm (I've often seen them sheltering under that tree)
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm
The footpath to Ringshall from Ward's Hurst Farm, after it turns right and passes a reservoir
Across the road I was back in the woods of Ashridge. A path went straight on, close to a large parking area on the right, for about a quarter of a mile. I then turned left at a path T-junction (or maybe the path just turns left, the path coming in on the right is much smaller) for a short distance, then soon went right at another path T-junction, before going left at a path crossroads. This path led through the woods for about a quarter of a mile and brought me back to where I'd started at the small car park south of Ringshall.
The footpath after crossing the road at Ringshall, now back in the woods of Ashridge
The path after I turned left
The path after I turned right and then left again
Further along the same path, heading to the car park where I'd started
I really like this route, it seems to currently be my 'go to' walk when I don't want to travel far to the start of a walk. Despite having walked it four or five times in the last couple of years or so I didn't find it at all boring. But I did get a bit fed up with the mud today, there were some long sections where I was weaving in and out rather than walking in a straight line, and constantly just looking at the ground in front of me . The walk took me four hours and twenty minutes, ten minutes less than when I did it in January (probably because it was even muddier then!).