My Village Walk

I have a regular circular walk that takes me from Weston Turville to Halton for about four miles. I walk from the house so I don't have to take the car. I can choose whether to go clockwise or anticlockwise. At the weekend it was the former, so I started off through the outskirts of the village, starting along Church Lane. This is a very quiet road, pretty much perfect, the oldest part of the village, with thatched cottages and older houses, parallel but well away from the busier Main Street, which is the main route through the village. Church Lane is only just wide enough for cars to pass each other. There are not many of these around. There is a nice footpath on the right, and on the left are an odd house and countryside behind.

Such as this one.

Also on the left are a number of tracks that lead to the canal.

Further along Church Lane and on the right is the entrance to The Chequers Inn car park.

The tables outside The Chequers are popular in the summer.

Further along there is now a bench on a patch of grass and a map and historical information of the village.

This is where I turn left into Church Walk.

Just down the lane there is a turning on the right and a track down to Church Farm. The notice on the left is for teas on Saturdays and Sundays.

I ignore the turning and go straight on to where Church Walk crosses Wendover Brook. (See post 18th February 2024).

At the end of Church Walk is the parish church of St Mary the Virgin.

A nice public footpath through the churchyard leads to fields. I'm only fifteen minutes into my walk.

At the end of the churchyard is a gate into a large field and the Chiltern Hills in the distance. I love this view.

The path through the middle of the field has great views of hills ahead.

I then reach a gate into a much larger field that has just been ploughed. 

Through the gate and a long path runs along the side of a hedge to the left. Part of Wendover Woods is in the distance.

To the right are some great views of the Chiltern Hills. On the left is the end of Wendover Woods, then Beacon Hill with those two trees at the top. Then Whiteleaf Hill and, in the very far distance, the top of The Ridgeway beyond Princes Risborough.

Note in the photo above, the ploughed field had left a wide area next to the path. But this had disappeared by the time I took the photo below.

Down the path and in the distance is Aylesbury County Hall.

At the end of the field is the gate to the canal path of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

On this particular route I turn left. If I turned right, there is a long path alongside the canal to Wendover. Note the improvement of the path below courtesy of funding from HS2. It's about two thirds of a mile down to Halton. 

The canal is on the right, and there are nice views over fields on the left. The hills in the background stretch from Wingrave to Aston Abbotts and then Weedon.

The canal is overgrown in parts, so there is no sign it will be revived as a waterway. Now it's great for the wildlife, and there are ducks along the way.

At the end of the path is a gate to the road at Halton Lane.

Here on one corner is a wild flower border.

I am in the village of Halton, and across the road is the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels. I usually go straight past, but I decided to take a look for a change. This used to be on one of my very long walks to Wendover Woods.

Here there is a well-kept graveyard for the RAF.

Just past the church, I turn right onto a one-way public road through Halton Tennis Centre.

Past the tennis courts is a large open area that used to be RAF Halton Cricket Club. Now only an area of grass, it is used for the occasional function parking. And, I guess, in reserve if ever needed by the military. 

It is actually a beautiful location, quiet and surrounded by trees with the Chiltern Hills in the distance. All that remains of its use for cricket are these dilapidated nets and some concrete bases for a catching cradle.

I come out at a road called Halton Village that then becomes Chestnut Avenue after a few yards. No guessing what the trees are. I turn right along the footpath heading for the canal. 

A short way down the road and I come to a bridge over the canal.

Again, the towpath on the left leads to Wendover and on the right to Halton. But I don't cross the canal. Instead I take a wooded path off the road.

Only a short walk and I'm back on the same road in Halton. 

I cross the road and take the signposted path to Weston Turville Reservoir.

This long path has Wendover Brook on the left all the way to the reservoir.

To the left are fields and later the slope of the Chilterns once again.

Near the end of the path and on the right, the reservoir is seen through the hedge 

I'm at the top of the steps that lead down to the water. With the hills in the background, another superb setting. The yachts are out at the weekend. There is a path all the way round the reservoir, so I use the alternative route that goes past the yacht club when the one I'm on is too muddy.

I 

On Friday, the swans and cygnets were out on the bank.

Just before the gate is Wendover Brook again, only a trickle after the dry spell.

Through the gate, I come out onto Worlds End Lane.

Only a short distance to a signpost and the path to the allotments.

At the end of the short grassy path above is a stile, and beyond a small field where there often cows who have made their way through a gap from the lower field on the right.

At the end of this field is another style to the allotments. This is a signposted public right of way.

At the end of the track through the allotments I rejoin Church Lane.

One of the thatched cottages on the left. 

And the old Church Room on the right. Now part of a house.

And I'm nearly home. The photos were taken over two days, one sunny and the other cloudy. I never tire of this walk; there are so many different parts. And I can go one of two ways. Always a decision when I start off.