Author: neil.baldwin

Snow was forecast for today so I planned my day around a walk towards the end of the dump. It turns out I got my timing just right, I left the house at about 14:00 then snow seemed about 6 inches or so deep.

I headed out up the main road past the village shop, the road was no longer clear and traffic was slow. Up to Stablebridge I headed along the canal towards Wendover then took the footpath that brings you out at the golf club junction. Then I headed into the woods and onto the entrance road to the woods. There was a single car track but it was about 3 inches under the snow. I had the woods to myself there was not a sound of foot print to be seen.

The going was hard as the snow was quite deep and it was all up hill. There was the odd animal footprints in the snow, it was fairly easy to tell the difference between fox, rabbit and deer. By the time I reached the cafe in the woods (which was shut!) I had a real sweat on. I took a rest under the porch of the cafe where there was a table a chairs with no snow on them. I had to take my coat off I was so hot. I sat around for a while watching the birds on the feeder,  mainly tits, I have never see so many coal tits at one time.

After a rest I headed back down the hill, by this time a group of kids turned up they had walked up from the direction of the houses near next the Halton. On the way down I came across a couple (he had a massive beard) they had walked over from Tring. I headed back via the Chalet then the golf club, when I got to the Icknield way I started to see  more people, it seemed loads of people had come out to see the snow.

I dropped in at Hillside on the way where the path was being cleared and the women were inside keeping warm. I then headed back home. At the bottom of the hill at the Royal Siam roundabout the traffic was at a stand still I guess they were having trouble getting up the hill. The local farmer was out with his tractor and snow plough attachment.

All in all well worth the effort of dragging myself out of the warm house.

and by the time I was most of the way up to Wendover woods the snow had just about stopped.

Here is a video I prepared earlier

Office xmas party last night we went to the White Hart, which is an improvement over Chicago’s. Did not an early start but have decided to walk to Tring over the hills and get the bus home.
The start was all up hill, through the village, up stablebridge then along the canal, up the hill to Wendover woods cafe where I am sat now typing this, eating fruit cake and coffee. Helen went for hot chocolate and carrot cake.
After the coffee stop we headed towards the ridgeway but got diverted by a possible Waxwing, we did a bit of trespassing to quickly get the the edge of the field but by the time we got there there was no sign of any bird!

That little foray diverted us from our planned route so we nipped through dancersend nature reserve then up the steep road called the Crong, to the top of the hill where we joined the ridgeway again. It would be all down hill from now on. The aim was to keep high for as long as possible so that we would end up going down the hill from high above Tring which we would enter via the Natural History museum. There we had some great views of both Tring and Yellowhammer.

Once in Tring we did a spot of shopping and a coffee before getting the number 500 bus back to Aston Clinton.

After shopping Friday due to weather we thought we would make the most of the day on Saturday. The temperature was warmer and the frost had all gone from the trees, but the mud was still hard under foot. We parked up at the picnic site at Cobblers hill, for some reason the turn off sign has the picnic symbol blanked out, but the car park is still there. We were going to do a reverse circuit of roughly the walk I did last weekend.

From the picnic site we headed up the hill on the right of the parking, hoping to take a right hand turn if one presented. It did and we entered a plantation of fir trees where we came across some badger tracks. Throughout the whole walk we kept our eyes open for animal tracks, and it is surprising how you come across, the snow made it very easy to see them.

At the top of the hill we headed down towards Little Hampden, but took a right at the bottom of the valley. This took us towards the Coombe hill and eventually we came to a horse stables, where we took a right up the hill towards the Ridgeway runs close to Coombe hill. Before we got to the Ridgeway we took a left which would steer us back from where we came via the Rising Sun pub, now a private house, at the end of the road that turns into a track that links it to the road the other side of Coombe hill that goes past Chequers, the prime-ministers country retreat.

From the ex-pub we headed left down the hill to join the path at the bottom of the valley where we took a right on the way out. Then all we had to do was follow our tracks back to the car park. However I had a better idea lets try the other footpath down and see where it comes out. We tried to find it but to no avail so wasted some time back tracking, but we did some some coal tits and a couple of treecreepers. Once we were back on familiar ground it was easy to find our way back to the car park.

It was a great walk and we hardly met a should so we will surely return at some date.

The weather remains very cold and sunny, so to make the most of it I decided to get out early for a walk then get a haircut (not sure it was the right weather for that) then see if there was enough time to get another walk in later before Helen got back from her shopping trip to Burford with the cousins. My morning walk was to start at Dunsmore.

I was up at Dunsmore just after 9, and found parking difficult, not because there were lots of people (there were in fact none) but because there are no parking spaces at all. I found somewhere to dump the car on the grass verge and headed down the steep hill towards Coombe Hill parking but left the road at the bottom, and headed up hill to join the ridgeway. There were a few parties of scouts about all going in different directions, they were all either lost or all had different routes to take.

I followed the ridgeway for a bit then turned right to over a field toward the pub at Little Hampden. Turns out the pub is not a pub any more, it looks like a private dwelling. I am not surprised as the premises are at the end of a long country lane which is a dead end. You will not get passing traffic that’s for  sure, still it is a shame because the pub makes a great stop for a pint if you are doing a long circular walk. Helen and I would like to time it so the pub was 2/3 to 3/4 of the way round, taht way it was a welcome break and left not too far to go before the end of the walk.

From the ex-pub I headed left back across the valley towards the ridgeway, where I took a left which took me back to Dunsmore. The weather had been cold but crisp ideal walking conditions. I had seen a few yellow hammers and got fooled by my green woodpecker message alert on the blackberry!

Once  home I had a coffee started a new stored procedure to create requisitions from tasks (work stuff) and headed into Aylesbury for a hair cut. Silky Snips is my favourite barbers in Aylesbury they do a good job and there is never a queue on a Sunday. So number two on top and number round round the side it was all over in 10 minutes, and I was £7 lighter, and my head must 7 degrees colder!

Once back I did a bit more work on the stored procedure, then headed out to Dancersend for a quick walk round the valley in the hills above Aston Clinton. I parked up at the usual spot just before the grand manor house at the junction at the top of the hill. I headed up to the junction on foot took a right then the footpath on the immediate left, then headed down across the field. There is a local business that does shooting at the weekend and they must own most of the land in the valley. They have planted lots of sweet cord for the game birds and I was flushing pheasants and partridge left right and centre. I then headed up the hill towards the path that run along the base of the hill directly ahead and leads to the old water works.

Back on to the road I took the path on the right which leads directly up the hill to the local phone mast, then I took a right along the top of the hill before dropping down the hill to come out near the farm where the shooting is run from. The hill is called Hang hill at the end of the road are three cottages, that are really tucked away as they are at the end of a road that goes almost full circle  from the junction I set out from. From the cottages it is only about 200 yeards up a bridle path back to where I started.

The temperature was getting very cold by now as the valley is quite sheltered and the sun had gone down behind the hill, but I was well wrapped up and did not feel it. It is really great to get out and about on the fine cold days, much better than rainy or overcast days when the temperature is much warmer. I certainly felt I had made the most of my Sunday.

Helen was off at 11 this morning with the girls to Burford for a shopping and girly weekend. When she had gone I headed off up to the far end car park at Wendover woods where you on;t have to pay to park and is off the beaten track. I headed off along the Ridgeway toward Wendover but kept up in the hill heading towards Lording Woods.
The tops of the Chilterns were just in the clouds so the sun was always threatening to break and mists were always passing through. There were not a lot of people about, in fact when I got away from Wendover woods I saw no one for about an hour and a half, it was like I had the countryside to myself.
There is some strange country farmland furniture about up above the Hale, there are some old but expensive looking walls complete with narrow gaps lined with wood that act a styles. The sections of walls are all isolated from each other so I guess at some point there must have been fencing of some sort connecting them all up.
I head in the direction of The Gate and crossed a field which had obviously not had a crop for some time it appeared to be full of dead and dried up thistle plants, and it proved to be a great place to see some farmland birds. Flock of Yellow Hammer and great views of a fairly large fox who I spotted when a flushed a Pheasant, or should I say he/she spotted me. The fox ran off a little way but was then content to watch me for a while before walking off across the fields. That is what you can see if you get get away from the beaten paths that the general populous use.

I then king of turned back and headed back from where I came. As I got back towards the car I came across a flock of tits amongst them was a Treecreeper (one of my favourite birds), and a Green Woodpecker. There was also some strange ice formations on some chalk out crops near a big hole, I have seen them before and I think they might be caused a water is somehow squeezed out of the chalk by the cold.Once back to the car I headed over to M&S at Tring to get some lunch and tea, them home and back in the warm for the rest of the day.