Ridgeway Trip XII: So Very Hot

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Alan gave us a nice breakfast and drove us into Wendover, stopping first at an ATM because we'd given him all our money to pay the bill.  (Wonderful place, expensive food!)  We walked through the middle of town -- and Wendover is a lovely town that we would have liked to explore further -- and turned down a little alley, going past the rectory, a park, a duck pond, and finally the church (which was having a mommy/toddler play morning, good job folks!).  After that we turned into a lane that went through an estate, and we started to walk through shady woods.  I am very grateful for shady woods, because it was quite warm and muggy, and we were getting very sweaty even in the shade.  Being in the sun was baking, but happily we had very little direct sun.

....not entirely sure why I have this photo?


Nice shady wood

This wood went uphill for a while, and had lovely foxgloves.  After quite a while, we came out onto a road and mistakenly started to walk down it, because we were too busy talking to notice the signpost on the other side.  Luckily we figured it out before too long, when we ran into a crossroads with no Ridgeway sign.  Back we went and into some more woods with a lot of mud and a busy road to cross.  After that, this wood featured a long ditch -- a holloway, I suppose! -- that ran for a while and then turned back into a regular trail.  We crossed two cow fields -- one so large that it needed a short signpost in the middle to show us where to go -- and then we came out on a road, went around a communications tower, and back into a wood again.  This wood was extremely pleasant, with a nice wide level path (sometimes muddy spots), logs to sit and rest on, and everything you would wish a wood to have.

So many foxgloves!



In a holloway!

We arrived at the hamlet of Hastoe, which was billed as a quiet country lane and I'm sure it is normally, but a tree crew was working on trimming the hedges, so it was full of trucks, workers, and chainsaws that we had to edge around.  Plus happy Britons working on their gardens and their tans in the sunshine.  We then entered Tring Park, a massive wood with a very wide graveled path -- clearly once an estate park with a ridiculously long driveway.  To the side, someone has made a 'natural play area' with an invitingly fun entrance.  There was supposed to be a bench, so we were aiming at it for lunch, and it was quite a way.  But we did find it!  It was a very picturesque bench, built around a large tree, with carvings on it, but the seat tilted downward and it was set at the edge of a steep slope, high enough that my feet dangled over the tree roots below.  Not the most comfortable bench, but it was the only one and it did have a fabulous view.  As we were finishing, a hiker lady came up and we talked with her for a while; she was very pleasant.  

Inviting gateway!

Willy Wonka song lines


View from a slippery bench



The park drive, extremely long, wide, and smooth

We continued through Tring Park, and found a folly of sorts; a little fake Greek temple sitting at the end of a track in a poetic manner.  We walked up to it and found it somewhat dilapidated and just a wall with a porch and four columns.  Apparently it is what is left of the gamekeeper's cottage.  I can't believe they made the gamekeeper live in an ersatz Greek temple.  I bet he hated it.  At the end of another shady track, an obelisk beckoned, so we went to see that.  Amazingly, it is completely blank, with no information about why it was set up.   Very Gorey.  It's thought that it was to commemorate the visit of Charles II with Nell Gwynn but nobody seems to be sure, and I'm kind of suspicious about such an attractively racy story.  After that, we got back on track and exited the Park.

What's this at the end of this side track?


Fake Greek temple!  Ha!

Another track with an attractive goal

...and it's a blank obelisk

We walked along the sides of several sheep fields, crossed a startlingly high footbridge over the A41, and walked along more sheep fields, usually between a hedge and a fence and with plenty of overgrown company -- brambles, nettles, and dog roses, among others.  We came out near the south end of Tring, crossed over a canal, and got to the train station.  The bridge over the railway was under some construction, but we got by and pretty soon we were heading for Aldbury on a narrow track that got narrower and more overgrown every few feet.  By the time we got out by the church, we were fighting our way through!

We walked into town, visiting the excellent village shop on the way (DP Zero!!) so that we could see if we could get lunch there the next day.  Then on by a duck pond with no ducks in it, which made me quote Doctor Who, and into the pub, where we got into our rooms and thankfully collapsed to cool down.  Later we walked around the village and looked into the church, and even spoke with the vicar when she showed up to lock the doors.  The duck pond now had two ducks, and we had a nice dinner, and tomorrow is the last day!!

Duck pond with no ducks

Aldbury church

I was tickled to find a woodwose on a memorial!

Dinner in the pub courtyard

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