From The Lee to Pednor
(3.5 miles or 7 miles) By Chris Syer
A choice of routes with the longer one taking you into Pednor vale.
- From the Cock &
Rabbit in The Lee, take the unmade road opposite which heads East / South-East
towards Field End, with some houses on the left and garages on the right.
Ignore footpath on left and continue to a crossroads, then pass two houses
on your right. Where the unmade road ends go through a gate and follow the
path, emerging at The Pheasant in Ballinger.
- Here turn right onto
the road by the village hall, and after about two hundred yards look carefully
for a footpath on the left by the side of a house. Follow this towards Pednor,
eventually coming to a large metal gate across the path.
- (At this point
you have a choice – either of returning to the Lee making a walk of about
3.5 miles, or taking a longer route of about 7 miles in all. If you
want the longer route follow the instructions in paragraph 7, marked * below.
If you want the shorter route, continue as described next):
- Turn left just before the gate, onto the Chiltern Link, keeping to left-hand side of the hedge. Where the path starts to go downhill, by a wood ahead on your right, take a left turn keeping the hedge on your left heading towards a metal farm gate at the far end of the field. Here go straight on into the woods, on a path which follows the backs of the houses of Chiltern Road in Ballinger.
- Where the footpath
forks take the right-hand option and drop down the hill into Ballinger Bottom,
bearing left (houses on right) on to the road. Cross over and enter the woods
following the Chiltern Link route again. Emerge from the woods over a stile,
and then after 50 yards back into the woods, going straight on all the way.
On meeting the unmade road bear right, which will lead you back to the Cock
& Rabbit.
- The short loop is
around 3.5 miles, and depending on how fast you walk will take between 70
and 90 minutes. The long route is about double this.
- * Turn right on
to the wider track towards two houses and go straight on to their left, then
down the hill to the road. Here turn left, and at Wild Woods Cottage
take the right fork up the hill, marked Little Hundridge Lane. At a
white house (Little Hundridge Orchard) turn left. After passing a house
with extensive stabling, do not follow the road down hill, but go straight
on, eventually joining the road which is part of the Pednor loop.
- After 50 yards
turn left into Herbert’s Hole through double five-barred gates. Here is the
headquarters of Chesham Model Flying Club, where as well as model planes
you may find someone playing the bagpipes – a good spot for it being well
away from any houses. Follow the track through Herbert’s Hole, emerging again
at Wild Woods Cottage.
- After the cottage
turn right up the hill, returning to the metal gate across the path described
above. Now follow the instructions from paragraph 4 above, starting ‘Turn
left just before the gate’, but note that coming this way it is actually ‘turn
right just after the gate’.