Walk 5 : Great Missenden to Amersham

Little Missenden & Penn Wood

Length	16.3km (10.1 miles), 5 hours: The length given in the published version of the book is a serious underestimate! For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 8 hours.
Maps	OS Landranger 165, OS Explorer 172 and 181. Great Missenden, map reference SP893013 is in Buckinghamshire, 8km north-west of Amersham.
Toughness	5 out of 10: three fairly long hill climbs.
Features	Only 40 minutes from London by train, this makes an easy outing at any time of year, though note that in January and February one section of the bridleway just before point [6] is invariably flooded. The route is more open than most Chilterns walks, but there is one large beech wood – Penn Wood – which produces fine autumn colours. Other attractions include four interesting churches, the ancient village of Little Missenden, and Amersham’s surprisingly unspoilt old town, which is approached over a ridge with fine views. After tea, it is a 20 minute walk up through a wood to reach the station.
Shortening the Walk	The easiest way to shorten the walk is to carry on along the road past The Crown Inn at point [5] and follow the well-waymarked South Bucks Way into old Amersham – a distance of 3.6km (2.2 miles) compared to 9.4km (5.8 miles) by the main walk route. The only disadvantage of this short cut is that it is close to the busy A413 throughout. Taking it reduces the walk to 10.5km (6.5 miles). The bus from the Squirrel pub in Penn Wood no longer operates. There is an hourly bus into Amersham from point [6] (see walk text for details of the exact location of the stop: for bus times, call Traveline on 0870 608 2608 and ask for times from Holmer Green), but this is a disappointing place to finish the walk. Another option would be to carry on the short distance to one of the lunchtime pubs and call a taxi from there.
History	The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul in Great Missenden was built mainly in the fourteenth century. It is located on a hill outside the town because when it was built Great Missenden was only a collection of scattered farms, and the hilltop location made a good focal point. St John the Baptist Church in Little Missenden has a giant thirteenth-century mural to St Christopher carrying the Christ child across the waters. Part of the church was built in the tenth century. The gatepost is in memory of Dunkirk in 1940. All Saints Church in Coleshill is a neo-Gothic church designed by Street, whose work was praised by Betjeman. The stone for the church, completed in 1856, was brought by river to Windsor and then by cart. The building of the Parish Church of St Mary in Amersham started in the early 1100s. The window glass is mainly from the nineteenth century.
Saturday Walkers' Club	Take the train nearest to 9.55am (before or after) from Marylebone Station to Great Missenden. Journey time 42 minutes. Great Missenden is one stop outside London Transport zone nine, and Network card holders can get a discounted London Transport zone 1-9 travelcard at weekends and on bank holidays (£5.90 at time of writing) from any Underground ticket office up to a week in advance. You then only need to buy a one stop extension from Chiltern Railways from Great Missenden to Amersham. This approach has the advantage that on the return journey from Amersham you can use the four Underground trains an hour (45 minutes to Baker Street) as well as the two hourly Chiltern Railway trains to Marylebone (39 minutes: only one train an hour on Sundays). By contrast, a normal day return to Great Missenden is only valid on Chiltern Railways.
Lunch	The recommended lunchstop is the Squirrel pub (tel 01494 711 291) in Penn Street, 10km (6.2 miles) into the walk, which serves food from midday to 2pm daily. But you really are spoiled for choice for pubs on this walk, all of which have some outside seating on fine days. 100 metres down the road from the Squirrel, the Hit or Miss Inn (tel 01494 713 109) – the name refers to cricket, in case you were wondering – has a broader and more gourmet menu, and plenty of seating. It serves food till 2.30 daily and all afternoon on Sunday, and is open in the afternoon for drinks, including tea and coffee. For slower walkers or late starters, Little Missenden, 6km (3.7 miles) into the walk, has two characterful old pubs, though their food offering is more limited. The Red Lion (tel 01494 862 876) serves basic meals till 2.15pm daily, while the Crown (tel 01494 862 571) offers pies, baked potatoes, sandwiches and soup from midday to 2pm Monday to Saturday. Lastly, The Furrow in Winchmore Hill (tel 01494 721 001) – 11.7km (7.3 miles) into the walk – is a more modern-style pub which offers an inventive menu till 3pm daily, and is open for drinks, including tea and coffee, all afternoon. It has some outside tables. This could even act as a tea stop for slower walkers or on a fine summer afternoon.
Tea	The recommended tea stop is Seasons Cafe Deli in Old Amersham, which is open until 6pm daily. This has limited seating, however, so groups might like to explore other options nearby. These include a number of ancient pubs – including the Crown Inn Hotel 50 metres to the west of Seasons, which offers afternoon tea, or the Kings Arms 100 metres beyond that. Just before Seasons on the route there is also the Saracen’s Head Inn and the Nags Head. Alternatively, 100 metres in the other direction, on the left hand side of the road, is Il Bertorelli, a chain restaurant which nevertheless also offers tea and coffee in the afternoons. There are slim pickings up by Amersham Station, but if you are desperate, there is a Tesco Express just up the road selling snacks and a Subway beyond that which sells tea.

Travel by Train	Out: (not a train station) Back: (not a train station)
Travel by Car	Start: Great Missenden Station is near : HP16 9AY [gmap] Finish: Amersham Station is near : HP6 5DW [gmap] Return to your car by train: (park at the start) at 4pm (park at the end) at 10am
OS Explorer Map	172 : Chiltern Hills East [Amazon] 181 : Chiltern Hills North [Amazon]
Revised	This walk was fully revised in : Mar-09. Download the PDF (link above) for the revised instructions, but for the map, you'll still need the book.
Other Chilterns Walks	Beaconsfield (round walk), Tring to Wendover, Gerrards Cross to Cookham, Princes Risborough to Great Missenden, Princes Risborough to Wendover, Wendover Circular, Saunderton via Bledlow Circular, Saunderton via West Wycombe Circular, Chesham to Great Missenden, Tring Circular, Little Kimble to Saunderton, Amersham Circular via Chalfont St Giles, Chorleywood to Chesham,

Walking Instructions 

[Numbers in square brackets refer to the map in the book]

1. [1] Coming off the train, cross the footbridge and leaving Great Missenden Station building, turn left, your direction 20 degrees. At the T-junction, turn right downhill, your direction 50 degrees.
2. In 60 metres, at the next T-junction go left, your direction 320 degrees (to the right is the High Street).
3. In 25 metres, turn right onto Walnut Close, your direction 50 degrees. In 60 metres, at the end of this, take the tarmac path going to the left of the double garage of house number 18.
4. In 40 metres ignore a footpath to the left and a car park to the right to keep straight on, initially with a green metal fence to your left. In a further 100 metres, pass through a metal kissing gate and turn right, your direction 160 degrees.
5. In 40 metres go through a metal kissing gate to the right of a wooden fieldgate. Cross the main road and continue straight on, on a tarmac path down the left-hand side of an green space, signposted South Bucks Way, your direction 160 degrees.
6. In 300 metres you emerge onto a road, with a residential cul-du-sac to your right. Keep straight on, and in 70 metres you come out into an oval-shaped green [2].
7. Turn right to follow the edge of the green for 40 metres until you are in front of a brick and flint house on its far side (bearing 160 degrees from the point you entered the oval-shaped green). Pass to the right of this house up a tarmac lane signposted South Bucks Way (Church Lane, though the signpost is not that visible. The first cottage on the left is called The Pound).
8. Follow this lane as it climbs uphill. In 200 metres, ignore the South Bucks Way footpath off down the right, to continue on a bridge over the A413 to the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (see History).
9. If you want to visit the church, its entrance is on its left-hand side, but otherwise pass to the right of the church. 30 metres up its right-hand side, look out for a rusted kissing gate in the fence to the right (it may be hidden by foliage in summer).
10. Turn right through this kissing gate, and then turn left uphill, ignoring a faint path straight ahead if you can see one. Aim to the right of a clump of three large trees 80 metres ahead, and towards an electricity pylon high on the ridge in the far distance (again, this may be less visible in summer), your direction 80 degrees.
11. In 450 metres, at the top of the field, go over a stile (a nice view backwards here), across a car-wide track, and over another stile to continue in roughly the same direction as before (now 100 degrees) across an open field, heading to the right of the nearest pylon ahead.
12. In 250 metres, go over a stile to continue with a hedge on your left-hand side, your direction 130 degrees. In 250 metres, pass under electricity pylons and in 300 metres, at the far end of the field, cross another stile to continue straight on, now with the hedge on your right.
13. In 160 metres, go over another stile to continue along the field edge, with a house visible ahead. In 100 metres, before you get to this house, turn right over a stile, and carry on down the path, with a garage shed on your right hand side. In 50 metres, you emerge onto a road opposite Rowen Farm, and turn right, your direction 200 degrees [3].
14. Pass the timber-framed Chapel Farm on your right, with lighthouse lamps on either side of its front door. 20 metres beyond this, turn left on a concrete track, signposted Circular Walk, your direction 100 degrees.
15. Follow this track for 300 metres all the way to the bottom of the dip, ignoring ways off, and carry on uphill as it bears right and starts to climb again, by which time it has become a gravel track.
16. In another 180 metres, at the top of the hill, and just before the wood ends right, ignore a stile to the left, but turn right opposite it, following an arrow on a post, on a path just inside the woodland edge, your direction 220 degrees.
17. In 60 metres veer left to leave the wood (a decaying stile here, but it may not last long), and turn right along the edge of a field, with the wood now to your right.
18. Keep to the edge of this field as it turns left in 80 metres (it can be very muddy here in winter) and then right in another 40 metres. In another 30 metres, at a footpath post, veer left on a faint path between fields, your direction 120 degrees.
19. In 60 metres, just before you get to the wood edge on the far side, turn right along the field edge, your direction 200 degrees. Keep to this field edge, with the wood to your left, as it descends the hill.
20. In 300 metres, where the wood edge ends at a line of mini-pylons, turn left with the path across the open field, your direction 130 degrees. In 150 metres, stay on a car-wide track upwards into the wood, your direction due south.
21. In 200 metres, you come to a track crossroads [4] with a sign 40 metres ahead saying “Strictly private: No thoroughfare” and large farm sheds beyond. Turn right here, your direction 210 degrees.
22. Stay on this track, ignoring ways off, for 400 metres, until you come to a car-wide wooden barrier. Here turn right to cross the railway on a footbridge. On the far side, follow the path to emerge into an open field in 30 metres. Carry straight on downhill, heading just to the left of the first mini-pylon, your direction due south.
23. In 150 metres, cross the A413 with great care, and go over a stile on the other side to continue down the left-hand edge of the field. In 90 metres, cross a stream on a concrete footbridge. In 140 metres, cross a stile and turn left on the road, into Little Missenden. Immediately on your left is St John the Baptist Church, which is well worth a look inside (see History).
24. Carry on along the road, past the church. In 100 metres, ignore a road to the right, and in a further 20 metres ignore Taylors Lane to the left. In a further 90 metres you pass the Red Lion, a possible early lunchstop.
25. Carrying on along the road, in 170 metres you pass Missenden House on your left: ignore a stile and footpath on the right here. In another 250 metres, the Crown pub is on your left, another possible early lunchstop [5].
26. Your onward route is to turn right on the bridleway 10 metres before the Crown, between Jug Cottage and the village hall, your direction south. In 60 metres, you pass Tobys Lane Farm on your left hand side.
27. You now stay on this bridleway between hedges all the way up the hill, ignoring ways off. At the top of the hill, the bridleway levels out, with open fields either side, and 1km from Little Missenden it passes under a line of electricity pylons, and in 250 metres another. The section after this second set of pylons seems to be invariably flooded in January and February, though it can be passed with difficulty by invading nearby fields.
28. 400 metres after the second line of electricity pylons, ignore footpaths left and right (a metal fieldgate to the left, a wooden fence to the right). But in another 250 metres, with the main road not far ahead, you come to a second crosspaths. Here there are metal gates left and right, and you turn right, following the footpath arrow across a field on a slightly raised bank, your direction 250 degrees. A main road, the A404, can be seen and heard away to your left.
29. In 250 metres, cross a stile and continue on past a white bungalow. In another 200 metres, you come to a driveway between houses, and 90 metres later this comes to a tarmac road, with the gates of Beamond Lodge ahead of you [6]. Turn left on this road, your direction 200 degrees.
30. In 70 metres, go straight on at a road junction. (To get the hourly bus to Amersham mentioned in Shortening the Walk turn sharp right here, to find the bus stop on the right-hand side of the road). In 50 metres, cross the A404 with care, to enter Penn Wood.
31. Keep straight on into the wood, ignoring a fork to the left in 60 metres, and passing through a wooden gate to the left of a wooden fieldgate in another 30 metres. In 40 metres more, ignore a fork to the right.
32. After this, keep straight on through Penn Wood. This path is broad and muddy in winter, and it can be a bit of an obstacle course. Be careful when walking round the morasses of mud not to stray off the path.
33. In 1km, you come to the end of the wood and a road, where you go left. the Squirrel, the recommended lunchtime pub, is straight ahead across the green.
34. If not stopping at the Squirrel, or if you want to eat at the Hit or Miss Inn instead, keep to the road along the right-hand edge of the green. In 80 metres, turn right on a road signposted to Winchmore Hill and Amersham. (To reach this point from the Squirrel, come out of the pub and turn left for 40 metres, and then left on the road to Winchmore Hill).
35. The Hit or Miss Inn is 100 metres along this road on the left. To continue the walk, however, in 30 metres, turn left up a signposted footpath.
36. In 80 metres, cross a stile, and curve right along the edge of an overgrown open space, with buildings to your right. In 180 metres, cross a stile and carry straight on across an open field, your direction 90 degrees.
37. In 100 metres, at a path junction, turn half-right towards a wood. Enter the wood and go straight on, with its edge to your right, your direction 120 degrees. In 300 metres, exit the wood by a metal kissing gate, and go half-right across a field, your direction 150 degrees.
38. In 130 metres go through a metal kissing gate and carry straight on. In 170 metres, you come to a tarmac road with a bus shelter opposite (not served by any useful buses) [7].
39. Cross the road to continue straight on up an open space, keeping the hedge to your left, your direction 140 degrees. In 160 metres, merge with a tarmac road. You are now in the village of Winchmore Hill.
40. Keep on along the road, passing the Memorial Hall on the left in 100 metres. 40 metres beyond this, turn sharp left down a road called The Hill, signposted to Amersham, with The Furrow pub, a possible late lunchstop or early tea stop, on your right-hand side.
41. In 80 metres, opposite the Methodist church on your left, turn right on a signposted footpath, your direction 80 degrees. In 130 metres, keep straight on along the right-hand edge of a field, and in 200 metres carry on down the right-hand edge of the next field.
42. In 400 metres, enter a wood and keep straight on along a car-wide track, your direction 100 degrees. In 80 metres, you emerge from the wood and keep straight on, heading to the right of a copse 120 metres ahead.
43. Beyond the copse keep straight on for 130 metres to cross a stile. Beyond this, follow the path with a wooden fence and open field to your left.
44. In 200 metres, pass through a gate and keep straight on up a broad grassy strip. In 80 metres this becomes a concrete drive. In 80 metres more, cross a stile to the right of a wooden fieldgate and carry on down a gravel driveway between gardens. In 80 metres, go through a gate and in 60 metres more, turn left onto a road.
45. On your right is All Saints Church, Coleshill (see History). Carrying on past the church, in 80 metres merge with the inventively named Village Road to your right, and carry straight on, passing Coleshill First School on your right.
46. In 500 metres you pass a bus stop and Coleshill Cottage on your left-hand side, and Village House to the right. Stay on the road, and in a further 150 metres, you come to a three-way junction, where you fork right with the main road, Tower Road [8].
47. In 40 metres, fork left up a concrete road, marked Cherry Tree Farm (not the tarmac drive to its left), your direction 30 degrees. In 150 metres, where the concrete ends, continue straight on along a path between fences, your direction still 30 degrees. In 70 metres, go over a stile.
48. In 40 metres, the path emerges into a field. Keep on along its right-hand edge. In 120 metres, cross a stile and in 20 metres more emerge into a field, with a view of Amersham (and a large electricity pylon) ahead [9].
49. Bear right before the electricity pylon, keeping the field edge to your right-hand side, your direction 60 degrees. In 160 metres at the end of the field (marked by a slight ridge), keep on down the right-hand edge of the next field, on a bank raised above the field to the right.
50. In 200 metres, where the bank ends, the book route forks left across a large open field. But this way into Amersham involves an awkward crossing of a very busy road. The following alternative route is about the same length, easier to navigate, and crosses the road safely on a footbridge:
51. Turn sharp right where the bank ends, heading to the left of a lone tree at the bottom edge of the field (or if you prefer, just to the left of a circular tower on the hill behind), your direction 160 degrees. In 90 metres, at the field edge, turn left, your direction 10 degrees, soon passing to the left of a line of bushes.
52. Follow this path along the valley bottom, with a ditch to your right. In 600 metres, houses start to the right, and in another 300 metres you come to the far corner of the field.
53. Here turn left on a tarmac path, following a footpath sign. In 40 metres, cross the A413 on a footbridge. 30 metres after the bridge, at a tarmac path T-junction, turn left.
54. In 100 metres, ignore a road right, and veer left into a field. Immediately turn right down its edge, heading for the tiled roofs of Old Amersham ahead, your direction 310 degrees. In 40 metres, curve right on a faint path, heading to the right of the church tower to come to a fieldgate 120 metres away, your direction north.
55. Pass through a gate to the right of the fieldgate and turn left on a road. In 60 metres this brings you into Old Amersham. Turn right on the road (unless you want to visit the Saracen’s Head Inn, a possible tea stop, which is to your left.
56. Passing the Nags Head on your left, the road brings you in 100 metres to a junction with a roundabout with the churchyard ahead. The recommended tea stop, Seasons Cafe Deli, is immediately to your left on this corner.
57. For other tea choices, and a look at the picturesque main street of Old Amersham, turn left: the Crown Inn Hotel is in 50 metres on your left, and the Kings Arms another 100 metres further along. Alternatively, turning right from the roundabout facing the church, brings you in 100 metres on the left to Il Bertorelli (see Tea for more details).
58. Your onward route, however, is to cross the road and take the path directly across the road from Seasons into the churchyard, your direction 20 degrees. (If it is dark by this point, you can instead follow the road that starts in front of the old market building 70 metres to the left (west) at this point and climbs uphill. This brings you up to the railway bridge mentioned in paragraph 61 below.)
59. Passing to the right of the Parish Church of St Mary on the path, you come to a tarmac lane and turn right, with a stream on your left, your direction 80 degrees. In 60 metres, at a T-junction with a cemetery ahead, turn left, and in 30 metres turn right on a tarmac path uphill, with the cemetery wall to your right and allotments to your left.
60. In 250 metres, you enter Parsonage Wood, and keep straight on, ignoring all turnings off, and keeping some 25 metres from the edge of the wood and the road on your left-hand side.
61. In 500 metres, with the railway bridge visible some 100 metres ahead, take an unmarked right fork. In 100 metres, turn right along the railway embankment. (If you miss the fork, easy to do in summer, go to the railway bridge, and turn right before it on a footpath).
62. The path by the railway embankment passes houses on the right, and in 70 metres comes to a main road. Cross the road carefully, go left under the railway bridge and turn right just beyond it for Amersham Station, 60 metres away. The platform for trains to London is the nearest one to you.