Amersham to Wendover Walk

Across rolling Chiltern Hills and through two large woodlands towards a superb wooded ridge.

Length	29.4km (18.4m)
Map	OS Explorer Maps 172 + 181
Toughness	8 out of 10
Features	The walk partially follows the reverse of the Great Missenden to Amersham walk before covering an area that is not on any other SWC walk. However, there are also major deviations from that walk in order to visit the extensive Common Wood and Penn Wood. The path from Great Missenden to Wendover climbs up onto a ridge which it then follows all the way into Wendover. There are great views from the ridge across the Chilterns countryside. The walk passes 4 attractive churches which are all worth a visit.
Walk Options	You can finish the walk in Great Missenden after about 20km.
History	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. 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. Common Wood and Penn Wood are both remnants of the old Wycombe or Holmer Heath, a large common heath and woodland traditonally used for grazing pigs and cattle and as a source of wood. Common Wood is now privately owned by the Penn and Tylers Green Residents Society and Penn Wood is owned by the Woodland Trust. 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. 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. The community usually organizes a "Snowdrop Saturday" each February with tea and cake sales in the church. In the summer they offer Cream Teas on Sundays between 15:00 and 17:00.
Travel	Take the train nearest to 9:00 from London Marylebone to Amersham.
Lunch	The recommended lunch place is the Red Lion in Little Missenden, a nice pub with a garden surrounding a pond filled with various water fowl. It is 15km to this pub. The Red Lion serves food until 14:00 Mon-Thu and closes between 15:00 and 17:30. It is open all day on Fri-Sun. An earlier option is The Squirrel in Penn Street after 12km.
Tea	An early tea place is Matilda's Cafe in Great Missenden as well as various pubs. In order to visit them you need to follow the option through the centre of Great Missenden. You will reach Wendover most likely too late to visit the excellent Rumsey's Cafe which closes at 17:00. However, there is the cosy Shoulder of Mutton with a large garden for a post-walk drink.

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Version	Aug-26 Dirk
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Walk Directions

The directions for this walk are also in a PDF (link above) which you can download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.

Coming out of Amersham Railway Station turn left. In 60 metres at the road junction turn left down a main road and pass under the railway bridge.
Cross the road carefully at an island crossing and [!] head down a signposted, surfaced footpath close to the edge of the railway embankment. In 70 metres bear half left away from the embankment, gently uphill on a faint path (not the larger path to your left) now in woodland (Parsonage Wood).
Follow this path which runs parallel to a road about 50m on your right until in 600m metres, with a wooden bench on your left and a three-armed footpath sign on your right, you exit the wood and keep ahead on a tarmac path, downhill, with a vast field on your left and a wire mesh fence on your right.
In 230 metres at the end of the field on you left you have a red brick cemetery wall on your left. Keep ahead for 50 metres then turn left at a signed path junction. In 60 metres turn right onto a bridge with brick headwalls over a stream and keep ahead now on an access road, with a church ahead of you. In 50 metres bear left off the access road onto a surfaced path through the churchyard, passing the Parish Church of St Mary on your right. In 110 metres you come out onto the main street in Amersham Old Town. Cross the road with care at a mini roundabout (or take the pedestrian crossing 20 metres to your left). Head along the road opposite, your direction 200°.
100m along this road from the junction with the main street[!] turn left on an access road (Whielden Green) and in 60 metres turn right through a wooden swing gate to the left of a wooden fieldgate, into a field. Head uphill on a clear path which soon bears left towards the left-hand edge of the field. Continue along the edge of the field with the treeline on your left. Soon the path veers away from the trees and in 80m enters a wooded section. Turn slightly left and immediately right over the bridge across the A413.
In 40 metres [!] turn right at a corner of a wooden garden fence through undergrowth into a field. Soon you will walk along a vast open field on your right.
Continue along this path ignoring all ways off until in 1km the path starts to climb into woods with a house with yellow doors on your right and in further 200m emerges onto a corner in a lane. Follow this lane towards the right.
In 200m, where the lane turns right cross the intersecting driveway from the left and walk trough a kissing gate ahead onto a car-wide track
In 100m veer left with the path between a treeline on your left and a fence on your right and in further 400m walk through a hedge. You are now crossing a large field. You can hear and see the A355 in the distance on your left.
In 400m turn right in front of a hedge with the field on your right.
In 300m follow the path towards the right as it skirts around the wood on your left and in further 100m veer left into woods with a wooden fence on your right.
In 250m you reach the Red Lion in Coleshill on your right, an early rehydration opportunity, cross the road ahead, pass All Saints Church on your right and then cross another road.
In 60 metres go through a gate to the right of the Lands Farm entrance. In 80 metres go through a metal gate to the left of a wooden fieldgate to come out onto a concrete drive.
In 80 metres the path turns grassy, in a further 80 metres the path bears slighty left and you pass through a metal swing gate. Keep ahead, now with a wooden fence and open field on your right and treeline to your left.
In 200 metres go through a wooden swing gate and bear half-left down an open field, your direction 240° heading towards the edge of a copse on your right. The path down this field can be very muddy in winter. In 130 metres you pass the edge of the copse on your right. Here veer right with the path and in 120 metres you enter a wood on a car-wide track - another potentially muddy secction. In a further 80 metres you emerge from the wood and head up the left-hand side of a field, with a hedgerow on your left and a vast open field to your right, your direction west.
In 400 metres go through a field boundary and head up the left-hand edge of the next field, with treeline on your left. In a further 200 metres keep ahead along a signposted footpath and in 130 metres turn left onto a road, called The Hill, with the Methodist Church opposite.
In 80 metres up this road you pass the Plough pub (CLOSED and up for sale, autumn 2023) and turn right across the green aiming for the house with 4 white dormer windows in its roof.
Pass this house on its right side and turn left through a wooden kissing gate.
In 260m go through a metal kissing gate, cross a lane and a wooden kissing gate and soon after take the right fork through another wooden kissing gate into a field
In 400m cross an avenue of trees and a lane and in further 120m enter the woods with a metal fence on your right.
In 150m go straight (?) and in 170m you emerge on a wider track where to turn left and immediately right downhill again.
In 70m cross a road at an intersection and pick up a path through a wooden kissing gate on the left of the road ahead of you.
In 200m turn right at a T-junction and a signpost, cross the lane, continue straight on into woods and soon veer left onto a car wide track. Follow this track through Common Wood for about 1.3km.
Prepare to turn off this track when you see a path forking off to the left with a wooden bench on your left just beyond the fork and soon another path joining from the left. 100m after this joining path at a signpost on your left with a white arrow pointing right and a square wooden pillar with a thin red band at the top on your right, turn right downhill passing the square wooden pillar on its left.
In 300m walk through a metal gate and fork left and shortly after walk through a hedge and continue in the same direction uphill ignoring the path forking right.
In 250m walk through a metal gate and turn right onto a wide track.
In 220m turn right towards wooden gates on the other side of a road which you cross. Walk through a wooden kissing gate to the right of the wide wooden forest gates and pick up the car-wide track to the left of the information board. You are now entering Penn Wood.
Follow this wide track ignoring all ways off until in 1.5km turn left at a T-junction.
In 140m the path turns into a wide gravel track which soon intersects with a crossing gravel track. Cross this track and enter the woods opposite on a small woodland path. Continue in this direction, crossing one intersecting path until in 80m you come out on a green with the Squirrel pub opposite. Turn left here along the edge of the trees.
Follow the edge of the trees until in 170m you enter the woods and in further 140m you come to a car park which you cross.
When you reach Holy Trinity Church at the other end of the car park turn left. Pass the church, ignore the first path on your right in 100m but turn right at a 4-way intersection in a further 100m. Continue along this path towards the A404.
In 450m cross the A404 carefully and continue on straight along Toby's Lane ignoring all ways off.
In 2.3km you come out on a lane with the Crown Inn on your right. Turn left here along the lane and in 400m you reach the Red Lion on your right the recommended lunch stop.
After lunch turn right out of the pub and keep ahead, in 90 metres ignore Taylors Lane to your right. In a further 20 metres ignore a road to your left to Holmer Green. In a further 50 metres you pass St John the Baptist Church on your right-hand side (usually open and well worth a visit). Just past the church [!] go through a wooden kissing gate on your right and take the path down the right-hand side of a field. Cross a stream (The River Misbourne) on a concrete slab bridge in 120 metres. Keep ahead up the field and in 90 metres go through a wooden kissing gate to come out onto the A413 road, which you cross taking great care.
On the other side take the path up a field, your direction due north and in 150 metres you enter light woodland. In 30 metres go up a flight of concrete steps and cross a footbridge over the railway line below. On the bridge's far side, at a path T-junction turn left. Now keep ahead along this woodland path, ignoring all ways off, your direction 300°.
[!] In 400 metres fork left downhill.
In 200 metres you exit the wood past a car blocking barrier and come out into an open field. Here you head down and then up this field on a clear way, your direction 320° aiming for the edge of the wood ahead. In 150 metres at the edge of the wood bear right along the field edge, gently uphill. Your path soon swings to the left and after 300 metres you come to a footpath marker post on your right at the end of the wood on your right. [!] Here turn left over the field on a faint path, your direction 300°. In 60 metres, at the far side of this field, bear right and follow the edge of a wood on your left. Keep close to the field edge, veering left then right. After some 160 metres veer left to enter the wood, by the remnants of a stile, and turn right onto a woodland path just inside the wood. The path soon swings to the right.
In 60 metres exit the wood at a path T-junction, with a metal kissing gate opposite.
Turn left opposite the metal kissing gate onto a path which heads steadily downhill with the wood on your left, and a fence and open field beyond on your right, your direction 305°. In summer this path can be overgrown in places. In 180 metres you come to the bottom of this path, which by now has widened to a gravel track. On your right is a metal kissing gate which you ignore. The track swings to the left and starts to go uphill. The track is now two concrete strips with grass up its middle.
In 240 metres go through a gap to the left of a wooden fieldgate and keep ahead, uphill, now on a concrete drive. In 40 metres this drive comes out onto a concrete estate road. Here you turn right and in 20 metres you have the start of the impressive flint and brick wall to Chapel Farm on your left-hand side. Some 20 metres beyond the end of this long wall [3] and with Rowan Farm (bungalow) on your right [!] turn left onto a signed gravel path into a woodland strip. In 40 metres go through a metal kissing gate and turn left along a field edge with an open field to your right. In 100 metres go through a gap by a redundant stile in a field boundary hedge ahead of you and come out into the next field. Keep ahead along its left-hand edge, your direction west, with a vast open field to your right.
In 160 metres go past a redundant stile through a hegde and keep ahead on a grassy way now along the right-hand edge of a vast field with hedgerow on your right. Continue in this direction until in 800m you come to a lane which you cross over 2 stiles, the second one very steep.
Continue walking along the slope of a valley until in 450 metres [!] turn right through a rusty kissing gate and enter the churchyard of the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (worth a look inside when open). In February when, the snowdrops are out, the loop around the churchyard at the back of the church is very pretty. Pass to the left of the church to come out onto its access road. Turn left to leave the entrance to the church and go over a bridge over the A413 road to go down Church Lane. In 200 metres you come to a junction with a green [2] on your right-hand side.
The route to Wendover bypasses the centre of Great Missenden. If you want to walk through the centre turn left into Church Street and in 200m right into London Road/High Street. Continue along High Street for about 1.2km and then pick up the walk instructions at []. Otherwise, cross the road and walk up a path along the houses on your left and the green on your right, your direction due north.
In 50m turn left at a footpath sign into Buryfield Lane along a blue fence on your right.
In 100m you come to a playground on a common, continue in the same direction with a hedge on your right.
In 200m you come to a parking lot on your right. Keep the hedge on your left hand side.
In 60m cross Link Road and go through a metal kissing gate on the opposite side.
In 50m take the left fork, go through a metal kissing gate into woods, pass Boug's Meadow on your left and walk across a bridge with wooden railings.
In 100m you reach garden fences where you turn right with a tall green metal fence on your right.
In 250m go through a metal gate and in a further 200m go through the metal gate on your left, cross Aylesbury Road and turn right along the road.
In 150m at the end of the last house on your left turn left through a metal kissing gate.
In 170m at a T-junction turn left underneath the railway arch and past the railway arch walk trough 2 metal kissing gates to turn right onto a path between fences.
In 170m turn right and ignore the metal kissing gate towards your left.
In 70m go through a metal kissing gate and climb up an open field.
In 240m go through a wooden gate and climb up steps in the woods to go through another wooden gate uphill towards the edge of the wood ahead.
In 140m go through a wooden gate into woods.
In 250 at a T-junction and a 3-armed signpost turn right and in a further 30m ignore a path off to the left.
In 500m at a T-junction with a metal field gate ahead turn left.
In 200m you have a choice: You can either cross the stile into the field and walk along its right hand edge or pick the path in between hedges to the right of it. The latter can be muddy after rain and the field might be the better option. Both paths merge in about 700m at the next point. The path between hedges turns into a car-wide track in about 500m
In 700m cross a car-wide track.
In 250m pass a house on your left where the path turns into a car-wide track.
In 30m cross a lane at a sign post and in a further 400m enter woods.
[!] In 300m, just before the edge of the field beyond the treeline on your right with a wooden stile in the corner, turn left downhill.
In 100m turn right at 90° and ignore the path going half-right downhill.
In 400m, at a sign post on your right turn right uphill to recapture at a T-junction in 60m the path at the top of the ridge where you turn left.
In 140m pass a house on your left and in a further 400m the path turns into a tarmac track at the outskirts of the village of Dunsmore.
In 80m cross a lane and keep going straight until in a further 250m leave Dunsmore in between wooden fences.
In 100m ignore a path on your left and enter an open field ahead of you.
In 280m enter woddland and turn right downhill
In 130m fork left more steeply downhill.
In 200m at the bottom of the valley turn left and follow the white arrows on trees.
In 270m turn left.
In 100m go straight towards a stile and beyond that, turn slightly left towards the end of the treeline at the bottom of the valley your direction due north. There, climb over a stile and walk up the hill ahead of you.
In 100m go through a metal kissing gate and in a further 370m turn right into a lane.
In 40m turn left along the diversionary road for HS2 works.
In 330m go straight and in a further 90m cross the road and turn right on the other side.
In 360m turn left to walk across the bridge over the A413 and the railway line to reach in 70m Station Approach with the station another 80m on your left. Refreshments can be found in the Shoulder-of-Mutton pub at the corner of Station Approach.