Bridgewater Monument walks

The Ridgeway the other way. The NationalTrail from NE to SW. This Stage 1 goes over the Chilterns, across the Grand Union Canal, past Tring, through the Three Hundreds of Aylesbury to reach the market town of Wendover.

Starting from Hemel Hempstead Station this is a walk which can be enjoyed without a car. The station is right on the edge of the town so virtually all the route is through the open country, much of it through Boxmoor Trust land, on the plateau of the Chilterns and along the Grand Union Canal. There are lots of reminders of the history of the area from 1594 through WWII. If you are lucky you may see a couple of rare farm breeds kept on Trust land and some interesting birds along the canal.

This section of the walk takes you from Wendover down to Buckmoor End (where there is a pit stop and possibly a bacon sarnie!) across in front of Chequers through the nature reserve and over to The Plough at Cadsden.

The Ridgeway the other way. The National Trail from NE to SW. This Stage 2 is the most undulating with several climbs in and out of valleys and is, therefore, the most strenuous part of The Ridgeway. The route climbs Coombe Hill, passes by Pulpit Hill fort and over Lodge Hill. Goes around Bledlow Great Wood near Chinnor to go along a disused railway and go underneath the M40. It goes along the bottom edge of the Chilterns scarp and passes Watlington Hill.

A linear walk from Chesham to Wendover climbing to the top of the Chiltern escarpment with spectacular views over the Oxford plains from the top of Coombe Hill. The Chiltern Hills are the main point of interest - you walk up one side, to the shoulder, then back down to civilisation. The physical nature of the geography and geology makes this walk feel bigger than it is.

Follow an ancient trade route from Wendover to Chesham through open fields, lovely beech woodland and the peace and quiet of classic Chilterns countryside. Thanks to the Chiltern Society’s Donate-a-Gate scheme you can enjoy your walk without the need to clamber over stiles.

The Ridgeway is linked at Ivinghoe Beacon by the Two Ridges Link (8 miles and included on OS mapping) with the Greensand Ridge Walk that in turn also connects with the Icknield Way Path. The Link uses the Grand Union Canal North from near Slapton. This route shows the link from North to South.

Starts at Two Brewers Inn, Chipperfield. Passes thru' Kings Langley where we join the Grand Union Canal for a short distance. Then thru' Bedmond & Potters Crouch before descending past the Roman wall into Verulamium Park and past St Albans Cathedral to finish at St Albans Abbey Station.

The final stage crosses the Chequers estate along the Ridgeway westward for a short distance, then descends down the Chilterns to Little Kimble station for rail or bus services back to High Wycombe.

This Chilterns walk takes in parts of the Chess Valley walk at the start and end of the route and a section of the Chiltern Way in between. There is a variety of scenery with undulating landscapes, pastoral scenes of grazing animals, fields of wild flowers in summer, a cricket pitch, a golf course, a quarry, two churches and the shallow chalk stream of the River Chess.