Distance: 13.5 miles
Total ascent: 1749ft
Rough time: 5-6 hours
This walk is a section of The Ridgeway, a long-distance trail following an ancient travellers’ route along the chalk escarpments and downlands of southern England. We’ve selected one of the most undulating parts of the route, along the idyllic Chiltern Hills (an area which is also great for cycling).
Head south along Hastoe Lane towards Hastoe, then turn right along Gadmore Lane and enter Pavis Wood along a wide track. The will take you through sections of fields and Wendover Woods, before descending down Boddington Hill – the site of an Iron Age hill fort – to the picturesque town of Wendover.
Walk through the town until you reach Ellesborough Road, where you’ll see a footpath waymarked ‘Ridgeway’. It climbs up Bacombe Hill and then Coombe Hill, which offer views over the rolling Chilterns landscape. After a while, you’ll pass through the Chequers Estate (the country home of the Prime Minister), crossing a camera-guarded main driveway, before heading into a woodland.
The Ridgeway is well signposted as it winds through the woods, up Pulpit Hill and around the hamlet of Whitleaf. It eventually becomes an unsurfaced track which will lead you down to Princes Risborough, where you can catch the train home.