28/09/2020
Looking for a walk on line I found this one
https://chilternsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Commons_Series_Chesham_to_Chipperfield.pdfOnly when I had decided to definitely do it did I realise that I don't have the maps for the bottom of the walk but I risked it using the tiny map on the leaflet and the instructions. This worked OK but there were times when I got nervous waiting for what was in the instructions to appear in reality.
I parked in Latimer and then the route goes to the edge of Chesham, Ley Hill, Flaunden, almost to Chipperfield, Sarratt and back to Latimer. Almost 15 miles by my reckoning.
Setting off past The De Vere Latimer Estate (posh hotel and wedding venue) as Latimer House is now called it was quite cool and I pulled on my fleece and wondered if I had enough layers with me.
Today was the usual Chilterns countryside of rolling fields and pockets of woodland.
As soon as the wind dropped and the sun came out the day really started to warm up.
The rivers here are incredibly clear.
The remains of Canon's Mill on the edge of Chesham. This reminded me of where I played as a child on the edge of Sheffield where abandoned water mills have been incorporated back in to the woods.
Leaving Chesham was a point where the walk instructions got a bit vague. Having said before that I should follow a path through through 3 gates etc. it now just said 'continue up hill' neglecting to say that I would cross a number of roads, turn right and left, that the path would become the pavement of a street at one point. I persevered and it all came out OK.
Clay pits in Tylers Hill Wood.
Following the Hertfordshire Way through Woodman's Wood.
The day was getting very warm by now and I began to worry if I had enough water with me. As luck would have it I found an establishments in Commonwood selling liquid in imperial measures and I sensibly re-hydrated.
It looks like there has recently been a wedding in the tiny church in Sarratt.
Walking by the river Chess again I passed a watercress farm which had a sign saying that they had closed down because Thames Water had 'poisoned the watercress beds'.
There was a whole family of swans out but they refused to get all together for a photo.
It was a nice day out, squeezing the last bit of warmth from the summer.