Banburyshire Rambles Photo-Journal

From just north of Great Missenden the valley forks and a long ridge rises up – providing a wonderful walking route, through woodlands a lanes, all the way to the escarpment at Coombe Hill. Just over 100 feet above the valley floor, from Coneybank Wood you get a view up and down the valley. Opposite, you will get a view of where HS2 will emerge from the Chilterns Tunnel and follow a cutting along the opposite side the valley.

The River Misbourne once rose in the fields near the Black Horse pub north of Great Missenden. Today, in part because of land change and groundwater extraction, the river bed is dry for much of the year. This is where a footpath leaves the old main road, passing under the railway line, and rising for five miles through woodland and hedgrow-fringed lanes until it reaches Coombe Hill.

As the route rises, it gives a ever-wider panoramas. Passing Coneybank Wood to the top of the ridge, the height of the route exceeds the height of the ground where HS2 will pass along the opposite side of the valley.

In the scene, the cutting passes just in front of the house visible to the right, and then goes through the woods on the left.

This route is a practical example of how the purposes of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are broken by the construction of HS2 (which the ANOB committee have opposed). Running between two easily accessible stations on the Chiltern Line, this route is a valuable, well used recreational assets whose enjoyment will be degraded by the construction of HS2.