Dancersend Wildlife Walk

Start: The café at Wendover Woods. Nearest postcode HP22 5NQ. Grid ref: SP 890090.
An alternative start point is the Dancersend Nature Reserve car park at Waypoint (3) , Bottom Road, Tring HP23 6LB Grid ref: SP 904088

(S/E) Facing the entrance to the new cafe, go left past the toilets and turn right following the Firecrest Trail. After 80m turn left on the Easy Access Hilltop Trail to a wooden barrier directly ahead. Do not go through, instead turn left uphill and follow this path through the trees, bearing left at a fork to a bench. Turn right at the bench to meet the exit road for Wendover Woods (A). Turn right along the road for a few metres to a footpath left on the other side.

(1) There are two footpaths here: take the path to the right past the electricity poles and follow the winding woodland path. Bear left at a fork, continue forward, ignore the path to the left and go through a kissing gate into a field. Go straight across the middle and pass the next gate onto a road.

Turn left along the road for 140m to a gate on the right signed for the Icknield Way. Go through the gate and continue along the bridleway whilst taking in the lovely views on the left towards Dancersend, Tring and Ivinghoe Beacon. Pass through a gate and stay on the main bridleway to a lane.

(2) Cross directly over the lane into Pavis, Black and Northill Woods Nature Reserve (B) and follow the Ridgeway for 500m to where a footpath crosses. Turn left to join the footpath and, after 100m, join a sunken path. Follow it left down to the bottom of the hill.

Just before reaching a lane, turn sharp left on a bridleway for 300m to a 4-way path junction. Stay straight ahead on a footpath for a further 300m to reach a field gate. Go through into the yard of Dancers End pumping station (C). Turn right past the buildings, go through the brick gateway and bear right into the car park (alternative start point). Go through the gate on the right, walk through the meadow and bear left out of a gate into a lane.

(3) Cross directly over, through both the first gate and the second on the left to enter Dancersend Nature Reserve (D). Follow the permissive path along the valley floor, bear left uphill, staying in the same direction as the line of overhead cables. The path then bends right under the cables and down to a gate.

(4) Go through the gate, climb the steps ahead and walk along to meet a wide grassy track. Turn left up this track, follow it round the right-hand bend, go over a crossing footpath and gently descend to a T-junction.

(5) Turn right downhill for a few metres and fork left along a permissive path. Shortly after the path starts to descend fork right past a bench, go through a gate and turn right to a bench dedicated to Susan Cowdy. From the bench, continue straight downhill to the bottom past an information board for the Duke of Burgundy butterfly. Ahead is another information board explaining the grassland management that takes place in the meadow behind. If you have time go through a gate to the left and explore the meadow. From the board go right along the fence line and go through the right-hand gate ahead.

(6) Turn left across the wide track and go past the board on the left. After around 30m the Woodland Walk forks left. Continue straight ahead on the Permissive path along the edge of the wood to where the path ends at a wide track.

Turn left on the track along the valley floor, go through a metal gate and almost immediately bear right on a smaller path to pass through the next gate into a field. Bear half left up through the middle of the field, go under the overhead cables and head towards a fence line and the large nesting box at the top. Pass through a gate, turn right and continue to climb to the left of the fence through three further gates to reach a road.

(7) Taking great care, turn right along the road for 400m to a footpath on the left just after the entrance to Aston Hill Lodge. Take this path, go forward for a few metres to a driveway and turn right along it. Bear left at the gates to The Chalet, pass through a tall deer gate and continue on to the main entrance road for Wendover Woods.

(8) Turn left along the Wendover Woods entrance road for 120m and, just before the right-hand bend, bear left on a path up into the woods. Turn right at the fence and follow the sometimes overgrown path along the edge of the wood to a cairn which marks the highest point in The Chilterns (267m / 876ft).

Take the wide path behind the cairn and where it bends to the left, bear right, follow the path to right of the access road to a gravel crossing path. Turn left over the access road to return to the car park. (S/E)

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