Pete's Walks - Bledlow Ridge and Aston Rowant (page 1 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.
I did this almost circular walk of about 12.2 miles on Tuesday, 27th August, 2024. It was a new route for me, though only about two miles were on paths I'd not walked before on other routes. It was 'almost' circular as the last half mile back to Bledlow Ridge was the same as the outward route. The route was designed so I could visit both the Yoesden and Aston Rowant nature reserves to look for butterflies.
I parked in Bledlow Ridge at my usual spot in a cul-de-sac in Bledlow Ridge (Grid Reference SU 796978, about a quarter mile southeast from The Boot pub), and started walking at about 10.15am. I walked northwestwards along the road through the village until I reached the point where the route of the Chiltern Way crossed the road (green fingerpost on left), where I turned left along a footpath (heading towards Yoesden nature reserve and Radnage). The path ran between a fence (and further on a hedge) on my left, with a tall hedge on my right that overhung the path, turning it into a 'green tunnel'. I was glad the path was dry, during the last winter it had been one of the muddiest paths I'd come across. The path was flat for several hundred yards, then started to descend slightly. By a noticeboard for the Yoesden Nature Reserve, the path turned right and ran through trees for a short distance to reach a gate. Beyond the gate I entered a more open area where the path descended quite steeply (there was a mass of Devil's-bit Scabious here, far more than I'd ever seen anywhere before). For some reason I always seem to come up this path (as I would at the end of this walk), I really can't remember when I last went down it (it could even be when I walked the Chiltern Way a second time in 2007), and I'd forgotten how nice the views were in this direction. The path turned half-right beside a fence on my left, continuing downhill to another gate with the main part of Yoesden (or Yoesden Bank) nature reserve stretching away to my right. It was a bit grey and rather windy, so I decided to wait until I returned in the afternoon before searching the nature reserve for Adonis Blue butterflies.
The path from Bledlow Ridge towards Yoesden nature reserve and Radnage
The path from Bledlow Ridge towards Yoesden nature reserve and Radnage
View left from the path from Bledlow Ridge towards Yoesden nature reserve and Radnage
The same path now descending into Yoesden nature reserve
The same path descending into Yoesden nature reserve
The same path descending into Yoesden nature reserve
Yoesden nature reserve
I continued more gently downhill across a meadow. After I went through a gate the path forked. I have always previously used the right fork here and followed the Chiltern Way past Radnage church, but today I went left just to walk a new path (I'd be coming back the other way at the end of this walk). This path went through a flat meadow, staying fairly close to a fence on my left. It then ran between a fence and a tall hedge on my right. On reaching a lane in part of Radnage, I turned left. When this turned left, I took another lane going more or less straight on, and when this then turned right, I took another lane going straight on (I rejoined the route of the Chiltern Way at this point). This went uphill, though not too steeply. After a few hundred yards, immediately before a house on the right, I went over a stile on the right and followed a footpath which soon brought me to the corner of a meadow. The path continued uphill along the edge of the meadow, which had a variety of wildflowers. There was a nice view too, back the way I'd come and along a valley leading towards West Wycombe. At the top of the hill, I followed a surfaced path past some buildings (I've always referred to this as Andridge Farm, because the Chiltern Way guidebook does, but looking on the OS map I'm not sure this is correct).
The path continuing from Yoesden nature reserve - after going through the gate, bottom left, I took the path forking left which was new to me, previously I've always taken the right fork to Radnage church (which would be the way I returned)
The path after I forked left
Further along the same path
The lane after I turned left at the end of the path
The lane after I turned 'right' at a junction (it was actually more or less straight on) - I turned 'left' (again almost straight on) at the junction shown in this photo
The start of the path to Andridge Farm
The path to Andridge Farm
The path to Andridge Farm
View back from near Andridge Farm