County Tops 11 & 12 – Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire

Haddington Hill (Wendover Woods) 267m / 876ft & NE Shoulder of Pavis Wood 244m / 801ft – 10/03/2020

I awoke about 6am finally and properly after a semi-comfortable night in the back of the car (seats down and in my sleeping bag) where I struggled a little to find the best position to curl up in. Filled with a feeling of endeavour for the rest of the day I tidied up a little, sorted out some breakfast porridge bar and banana ready for the drive to my next destination village of Wigginton near Tring, which I expected would take just under 2 hours depending on how much school run traffic I hit at various points. The drive was initially on country roads heading south east towards Banbury after which a short stretch along the M40 then past Bicester and Aylesbury before finally arriving at The Greyhound pub to park shortly after 8.30am. The weather was windy and threatened some rain so I dressed accordingly and headed off westwards on The Icknield Way/Ridgeway along a lane out of the village and onto farm tracks which were reasonably dry.

I passed one or two local dogwalkers and after a mile or so joined a country lane and walked through the small hamlet of Hastoe. The lane took me uphill and at a bend in the road I went straight ahead into Pavis Wood and onto a very wet, muddy, slippery woodland trail.

I knew that this area of the wood was where I would find the county high point for Hertfordshire but decided to carry on as I would be returning the same way later after visiting the other county top on this walk just over the border into Buckinghamshire. I skated and slid through the muudy woods avoiding the odd mad cyclist. It was a bit of a trudge, no views, pretty flat but atleast I was no longer walking into the wind and after about a mile it brought me out opposite a farm by a small timber yard. I had a choice of routes to take here and opted for the most direct through some more woods and alongside a field following the valley downhill then back up on a short stretch of road before the last off road section to my target. Well I have to say that the downhill path next to the field was certainly one of the worst I have ever walked (or tried to walk) on! The “path” was thorny hedge on one side and barbed wire fencing on the other. It was narrow enough for 2 people maybe and made worse by the V shaped gully in the middle sitting under about 6 inches of mud and water. On the positive side it got my adrenalin pumping as I had visions of the unlucky slip ending impaled on the fence or the bushes. I carefully negotiated this unexpected trial and emerged up to my knees in mud at the road, took a left turn back up the hill and found the entrance to the next field on my route where I would temporarily leave The Icknield Trail. The field was quite flat and led into more woods (Tatnalls Wood) where the path was less obvious, winding and strewn with fallen debris. A short while later I came to a lane which was right opposite the entrance to the Go Ape adventure centre, which I assume was closed as there were about 2 vehicles on the car park. By the entrance there was a path into Wendover Woods where I found the stone plinth marking the highest point in the Chiltern Hills and Buckinghamshire, a short way away from the grid reference in my log book.

I filmed the customary video log and headed off back in the direction I came, promising myself I would be avoiding the death trap path in the process. I did this by turning right after crossing the flat field to take a slightly longer route to get me back to where I exited Pavis Wood. A minor road for about 500m brought me back to the Ridgeway which I followed north east through a couple of boggy fields before reaching the timber yard and into the woods. I find it quite strange on this sort of out and back walk how it often seems terrain is in worse condition on the way out than on the way back – it has to be some sort of psychological thing I guess. And so it seemed I did less skating on my way back through Pavis Wood and in no time at all was hunting down the correct point (unmarked) of the north east shoulder which is the high point for Hertfordshire. I finally settled for a small mound just outside the woods at the bend in the road and stopped to do the necessary recording.