I picked up Garry from his house and we drove over to Chesham and parked at Waterside where there is a large car park. We wandered along until we found the start of the walk near St Mary’s Church. The ground rises as you skirt a local park and head out into the countryside. As I walked along I felt definite twinge above my left knee and I had to place my hand on the area in order to support the muscle.
We continued our walk and passed two lots of kids doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards and by then we had reached open countryside amongst the Chiltern Hills.
Just as we arrived at the top of a rise we started to drop down quite steeply into the valley ahead. A short walk along the quiet road and then we turned left and tramped up the steep path to the top of the ridge to join Captain’s Wood. Fortunately the dry ground allowed us to keep our footing otherwise I think the climb would have been much more difficult.
Just near we stopped for a coffee and Garry shared his thermos with me while he talked to Jane on the phone.
After arriving at the end of Captain’s Wood we descended into the valley again and then rose up to the next ridge. Happily at the top stood a pub called The Blue Ball where we could stop for a drink and a sandwich. We sat very contentedly in the garden with the sun shining down on us. I felt that all was ok with the world at this point.
The path took us along the ridge and then down again into a new valley and then up. By this time I had had enough of climbing up and down so when we reached the bottom of the next valley I insisted that we continue along the quite tarmac valley bottom. The occasional car interrupted or journey but I preferred that to another climb.
We arrived back at the car having walked about 10 miles.