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.