HAMBLEDEN, CHILTERN HILLS
Making the best of a glorious, dry autumn day, we head to the wooded hills of the Chilterns – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty criss-crossed by great chalky trails
Our ride today starts between the wealthy market towns of Henley-on-Thames and Marlow, exploring the tranquil Hambleden Valley – a popular location for TV and films, as well as the rich and famous looking for beautiful homes and peaceful, picturesque countryside. It’s home to some great mountain biking too, in the form of top-notch singletrack weaving through stunning beech woodland, with plenty of wildlife and a quaint country pub around every other corner.
All of which makes it even harder to understand why so few people seem aware of this area, especially when the Chilterns cover such a large area (833km2) and lie less than 30 miles from London. This is my local stomping ground though, where I grew up, and I’m a big fan of the beautiful landscape and swooping trails. Joining us today is another local – Matthew Woodall, from Saddle Safari bike shop in Marlow. Matt has managed to duck his responsibilities to bring his Scott Scale 930 out on this glorious autumnal day, which must surely be one of the last warm and dry rides of the year, with dusty trails to blast down.
There’s still a nip in the air, but after a short spin up the road we begin to climb the hillside, which soon has us all warmed up. Leaves fall in abundance as the wind blows and acorn shells litter the trail, crunching and popping beneath
our tyres as we race one another through the dappled woodland, with shafts of light piercing the ever-thinning canopy above us. Days like this, when summer is well behind us but the trails are still dry and fast, always feel extra special. It only serves to make us keener to squeeze what we can from today, and before we know it, we’ve chased a roadie up a climb on the other side of the valley to reach the start of one of my favourite descents.
Trails then ales
From St Katharine’s, Parmoor – an estate once home to such luminaries as the Knights Templar, King Zog of Albania, the sisters of the Community of St Katherine of Alexandria and charity founder Sue Ryder – the trail drops down through the wood on some lovely singletrack. I let Russell go first, to scope out photo opportunities. Really, I just want him to check the route is clear before Matt and I chase down. Quick-changing light conditions make it a battle to keep sight of the trail as we rattle over rough ground and roots, weaving our way down as fast as we dare. Some worn, rutted sections with steep sides and loose stones add to the fun, before we finally cruise into Skirmett, grinning.
There are enticing pubs here, such as The Frog in Skirmett and The Bull & Butcher in Turville, but they can’t tempt us off the trails just yet. We zip along the valley floor, weaving between trees, before a challenging singletrack ascent leads us up to the common at Ibstone. Roots provide a nice challenge at the start, then loam in the middle saps our energy, before we finally reach some well-received tarmac to finish the climb on before it finishes us. There’s yet another pub at the top here, but we’ve got our sights set on my favourite cafe, The Barn at Turville Heath, and, more immediately, a fast, steep descent.
Kites and cricket
Beyond the gate, the track quickly narrows, to become a sunken singletrack trail with high sides, which requires some finesse to navigate without any pedal strikes. It opens out for an eye-wateringly fast finish though, where the shallower sides form impromptu berms that allow us to carve from one side to the other. We pick up more tasty trails along the valley floor, which run between the fields, through the Wormsley Estate.
This vast property was acquired by Sir
Paul Getty, the son of super-rich industrialist J. Paul Getty, who comprehensively restored the buildings, gardens and countryside before his death in 2003. A devotee of all things quintessentially English, he built a beautiful cricket ground, an opera pavilion and a library filled with medieval manuscripts and first-edition prints from the likes of Shakespeare and Anne Boleyn. Natural riches include red kites, which have been reintroduced to the countryside here and now fill the sky in great numbers.
A steep, rooty climb – which leaves us grateful for the dry conditions – leads us up and out of
QUICK CHANGING LIGHT CONDITIONS MAKE IT A BATTLE TO KEEP SIGHT OF THE TRAIL AS WE WE AVE OUR WAY DOWN AS FAST AS WED ARE
the estate, where we pick up a quiet road that delivers us to Turville Heath. The Barn cafe is closed during the week, but an honesty system is in place, so we’re still able to buy cans of drink, coffee, cake and sandwiches, which we spread out on the picnic bench before us and devour while basking in the autumn sunshine.
Fast and furious
With the supplies polished off, we head off down a fast, loose, stony descent, which quickly claims Matt’s rear tyre – a sharp flint slicing through the rubber and sending spaff everywhere. Three sticky brown tubeless worms later, the stubborn hole is finally filled and we start rolling again. The tyre bodge survives the immediate G-force test of a huge left-hand berm, and we’re soon cruising down to and along the valley floor once again.
This time, we take a left turn at a minor road, which hauls us back up to Ibstone once more, before we descend back down the other side, into the next valley. The riding here could be described as a rollercoaster ride, with long pulls up the hill rewarded by fast and frantic descents down the other side, repeated again and again. We drop down through some woods and along the shaded valley floor, before – yes, you’ve guessed it – we’re climbing once more, for yet another fast and furious descent, around Hanger Wood. The riding here may sound monotonous but the smiles on our faces tell a different story.
More restraint is shown as we cruise past the pubs in Fingest and Turville, to join the Chiltern Way on the homeward leg. While our map shows the route heading up through Great Wood, which is a more gentle climb, we’ve decided to go for a shorter but steeper option, because we’re running short on time and fancy the challenge – and think we might even clean it today. Which we do, with Russell nipping ahead on his Specialized Turbo Levo e-bike to open the gates for us.
Seen but not heard?
A spin along the road at the top allows the burn from the lactic acid to clear out of our muscles, before we head back off into the woods once more. The reward for our efforts is a long, gradual descent with a fun, rough and rooty exit. We have our work cut out trying to get past an either very deaf or very belligerent old man who’s walking in the middle of the trail up the far side, but not a lot can wipe the broad grins from our faces today, so we smile and wave as we pass, ready for the last part of the descent and the finish to today’s ride.
It’s the same trail we climbed before, more or less, although we keep to the left to hit some high speeds and avoid any possible walkers as we drop back to the road. There’s a temptingly cute little shop and cafe in Hambleden, but time constraints and our need for more substantial sustenance dictate that we head straight for the comfortable sanctuary of The Stag & Huntsman for a wellearned pint and some delicious food.
Life doesn’t get sweeter than this, so if you’re a Chilterns virgin, you need to get yourself to this neck of the (beautiful beech) woods. You won’t be disappointed – although you might just want to wait for dry conditions, unless you like the slippery challenge of chalk, clay and roots!