Beyond the grey stone huddle of Bolton I followed the shallow Skirden Beck up its valley – sheep country, with bleak farmhouses of grey-green stone on the ridges and the beck running below a steep cliff it had bitten out of the fields in flood times. The stony farm tracks rose around Hungrill and Lower Laithe, their banks studded with ancient holly trees neatly pollarded by the teeth of countless generations of sheep. Through the hamlet of Holden with its little scatter of houses, and on up across a succession of sheep pastures by stone stiles and tiny wicket gates, with Swaledale ewes flouncing off in a fluster across the wet grass as though I was the first human they had ever clapped eyes on.

The map told me what should have been out there in front, the magnificent prow of Pendle Hill, famous for witches and wandering preachers. But the afternoon sky, while not actually raining, was so thick with moisture that the great hill lay half in sight and half on the edge of fancy, a silky grey whaleback like something in a dream.

On top of the ridge I dropped down into the deep-sunken holloway of Rodhill Lane. It was a stony, narrow stumble down to the old Methodist chapel on the outskirts of Sawley, half-hidden in the lane behind a screen of hollies and hazels. The evening sky stretched in bands of lemon-peel yellow and silver over the Skirden Valley, and Pendle shaped itself out of the gloom in the south like a promise for another day.

Start & finish: Spread Eagle Inn, Sawley, Clitheroe, Lancs BB7 4NH (OS ref SD 777466)
Getting there: Bus (www.traveline.info) Service C2 Clitheroe-Sawley. Road: Sawley is signed from A59 Clitheroe-Gisburn road
Walk (6 miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL41):
From Spread Eagle Inn, left along road; cross bridge; right through wicket gate (775466; fingerpost). Follow stiles, yellow arrows/YA, traffic cones (!) through fields. In 5th field cross Holden Beck footbridge (780480) and on (YAs). In ¼ mile, field narrows between 2 woodlands (779486); keep close to right-hand wood. Through kissing gate where paths diverge (781488); ahead across ridge by tree and base of ancient cross, down to sheepfold (782490). Through stile with gate (YA); ahead along drive to cross road near bridge in Bolton-by-Bowland (784493). Over stone stile (fingerpost); continue along left bank of Skirden Beck. Through gate; half right through next gate; follow escarpment edge. Pass house to your left and aim for another ahead. Cross stile in its garden fence (782502); cross lawn; cross stile by gate onto road. Left along grass verge for ¼ mile; right off road past farmhouse (780499; fingerpost); through kissing gate (YA); down field with hedge on right. Cross Bier Beck (778499); aim half right for kissing gate (777500; YA); bear right up track.

Before you reach Hungrill Farm, hairpin back left at nearest corner of walled paddock through first of 2 gateways (777502), ignoring a white arrow pointing on along track towards farm – your southward path is marked by a white arrow on the inner jamb of the gate. Keep on left bank of stream; in 300m, turn right across it at stony crossing (776499). Ahead to cross stile (776497). Follow hedge on left; through gate; on to cross stile and descend steps to road in Holden (775495).

Left round corner; in 100m, right (‘Lane End’). Cross mill stream; left through gate; don’t go through next gate on left with fingerpost, but go up house drive as far as a gate. Right here (774497) up laneway on right of house; through wicket gate (YA); on up fenced path. Over wooden stile; cross grassy lane by stone stiles (772494; YAs). Follow left fence uphill; through gate in hedge (770492; YA); up field, then through wicket gate and over stile (769491). Follow gully uphill; through gate; on over stile to left of Lower Laithe barn (768490). Through next 2 gates (766488 and 766486); diagonally right to cross stile near fence on top of ridge. In 100m cross stile (764482; YA); left along sunken, stony Rodhill Lane. Descend for ½ mile past Rodhill Gate (768477); ahead down drive to cross cattle grid (770476). Farm drive bends left past house, but you keep ahead, passing wooden gate on right (blue arrow). Ahead through field gate; ahead with hedge on left. In 100m, left through gate; right along hedge to cross footbridge over stream (771474). Up steep bank; follow fence to Lawson House farm hedge (772471). Follow footpath signs and arrows right through gate, and on up hedge; then hairpin back left, descending towards barn. Through gate; right past end of barn (arrow); ahead with fence on right. Through gateway (773470) and on. 30m up from far left corner of next field, cross stile (773467); ahead through trees for 20m; left past ‘Rod Hill’ sign. Through gate (YA); descend ramp; forward along lane. Left at bottom to road (774467); right over bridge into Sawley.

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Lunch/Accommodation: Spread Eagle Inn, Sawley (01200-441202; www.spreadeaglesawley.co.uk); Coach & Horses, Bolton-by-Bowland (01200-447202; www.boutiquedininghouse.co.uk)

More info: Clitheroe TIC (01200-425566)
www.visitlancashire.com

Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks.
Next walk: Lindisfarne, Northumberland, 13 May

Breast Cancer Care’s Pink Ribbon Walks:
0870-145-0101; www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk. Next walks: Scone Palace, Perthshire, 12 May; Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, 19 May
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

The long, narrow valley of the Hamble Brook, running north-to-south to meet the River Thames near Marlow, is thick with beautiful mature Buckinghamshire woodland, easy to get lost in if you don’t keep your wits (and your Satmap GPS device) about you. Roe deer haunted the trackways of Great Wood, slipping away into the shadows as soon as glimpsed. Between beech trunks streaming with dusty sunlight we caught glimpses of the crossed sails of Turville Windmill, high and mighty on a sharp-cut ridge. Great tits went chasing through the pines, and at the edge of the wood a burst of feathers edged with blue and black showed where a jay had come to a sudden full stop – fox, peregrine or shotgun.

We emerged at last from the woods to a superb prospect over Hambleden and its valley – pale chalky green-and-white of ploughed fields, green pasture in squares and lozenges, the hanging woods above, and the red brick walls and tiled roofs of the village clustered round the grey church half hidden among its trees. If you ever have to illustrate ‘essence of rural England’ to a Martian, here’s the view.

Down among the half-timbered Arts & Crafts gables, terracotta chimneys and flint cobble walls of the village, a herd of pedigree cattle stood under a massive beech. I put my hand over the fence, and one of them licked it with a pale muscular tongue as abrasive as sandpaper. Out along the Hamble valley, red kites had gathered over the pastures; we counted 18 in the air at the same time, their red, white and chocolate forms brilliantly lit in strong sunlight. Under these fork-tailed guardian angels we followed the field paths back to Skirmett.

Start & finish: Frog Inn, Skirmett, Nr High Wycombe, Bucks RG9 6TG (OS ref SU775902)
NB: Alternative start: Hambleden (more parking). If starting from Frog Inn, please ask permission, and please give inn your custom!

Getting there: M40 Jct 5, and minor roads via Ibstone; or A4155 (Henley-on-Thames to Marlow) to Mill End, then minor road.

Walk (9 miles, moderate, OS Explorer 171) NB: Many unmarked paths in woods. Use these detailed instructions, and take Explorer map/GPS/Satmap to help you!:
From Frog PH, right along road (take care!). Round right bend (776899; ‘Hambleden’), then left bend. In 30 m, right (775898) over stile, up hill path. At top of rise, follow path to right along ridge. In ¾ mile it curves right to top of ridge (766897), then begins to descend (footpath sign on tree). In 200 m, at fork with footpath sign, keep downhill. In 200 m path forks (766900); keep ahead, (not left downhill). In 150 m, where track bends sharp left along bottom of wood (766901) keep ahead, forking immediately left (yellow arrow/YA) across open field. Through woodland to road (765905). Left for 100 m to bend, left (‘bridleway’) along wood bottom.

In 1¼ miles, just before green ‘Bridleway Users’ notice and wooden railings (757891), left uphill (YA) through Gussetts Wood. Cross stile (758889) and field to road junction (758887). Ahead downhill for ¼ mile. At Upper Woodend Farm, left (578883; bridleway fingerpost) up driveway (ignore ‘Private Road’ notices). In 150 m, before gate, right (759882; bridleway blue arrow/BA) down hedged green lane between fields. In 150 m cross footpath (760881); continue on bridleway. In ¼ mile it re-enters wood (762878); follow it as a hollow way, then a path, close to wood edge. Follow path and hollow way down to major track crossing in wood bottom (767877). Go over crossing (uphill) on path which bends right.

Now follow ‘Shakespeare’s Way’/SW arrows. In 500 m pass a yew grove and fork right (772875; white arrow/WA on tree). In 100 m fork left (SW). In 300 m, reach track crossing (773872); turn left out of wood, on path across field and down left side of wood (SW) to track at bottom (778871). SW crosses it, but you turn right (WA on tree) on bridleway which bends immediately left to run inside wood edge. Follow BAs. In ¾ mile path bends right (782860); go left here (bent BA) on bridleway. In 50 m, left (YA) on path. Descend to cross road (783864) into Hambleden.

Cross churchyard; leave by far left (NW) corner; follow road. In 100 m, right through kissing gate/KG (783867; fingerpost). Cross 3 fields (KGs), then hedged path past Pheasant’s Hill, then 4 fields (KGs) to road at Colstrope Farm (782881). Forward to bend; forward here along Chiltern Way/CW (782882; ‘bridleway’). Cross road at The Hyde (781887); forward on CW (YA) for 5 fields (KGs) to road (777899). Left, then right to Frog Inn.

Lunch: Stag & Huntsman Inn, Hambleden (01491-571227; www.thestagandhuntsman.co.uk)
Lunch/accommodation: Frog Inn, Skirmett (01491-638996; www.thefrogatskirmett.co.uk) – friendly, cheerful and helpful place

Information: Henley-on-Thames TIC (01491-412703)
Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks.
Next walks: Lindisfarne, Northumberland, 13 May; Scottish Borders, 10 June; Northern Ireland, 8 July

Breast Cancer Care’s Pink Ribbon Walks:
0870-145-0101; www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk. Next walk: Scone Palace, Perthshire, 12 May.
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

Monk’s Dale is just one of dozens of narrow clefts in the limestone countryside of Derbyshire’s White Peak. You’d never know the dale was there at all until you were on its brink. Down in the depths a long damp wood of ash and oak carried us north, until we turned aside to climb the walled lane of the Pennine Bridleway between weather-twisted thorn trees, up to the roof of Wormhill Hill. Up here the whole feel of the country changed dramatically, from a prospect hemmed in by towering cliffs to huge views over rain-swept countryside squared by stone walls and dotted with sheep.

Over the crest beyond Old Hall Farm, a monstrous limestone quarry was soon hidden by screening trees. Fat white rams cropped the pastures with their characteristic, impatient jerks of the head. At Mosley Farm a trio of young sheepdogs came out in a rush to sniff us over. Then it was down the zigzag path into Chee Dale, another stunning view suddenly revealed at the brink of the gorge – sheer pale grey cliffs thick with jackdaws, dreadnought prows of limestone jutting into the dale where handsome arched viaducts carried the old railway line across the River Wye.

Narrowly avoiding death by hurtling cyclist (where’s your bloody bell, boy?) we turned along the Monsal Trail, through lamp-lit tunnels and over bridges where daredevils were abseiling into the depths, until the old station at Miller’s Dale appeared once more around the bend.

Start & finish: Millers Dale car park, near Tideswell, Derbys SK17 8SN (OS ref SK 138733)

Getting there: Bus: Service 68 (Buxton-Castleton) to Miller’s Dale car park; 65, 66, 193 to Millers Dale on B6049, just below.
Road: A6 (Buxton-Matlock); B6049 to Miller’s Dale. Turn up side road (‘Wormhill’) to car park (moderate charge).

WALK (7 and a half miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL24):
Left up road for 100 m; right over stile (140734; fingerpost). Through gate; left into Monk’s Dale. Valley floor path for 1 and a half miles to road (131753). Left; in 50 m, left up steep path; follow ‘Pennine Bridleway’/PBW. At top of rise, right at T-junction (129747) along walled lane to road (122745). Right for 50 m; left (PBW) into Old Hall farmyard. Left (‘bridleway’) through gate. Pass old barn on right; through left-hand of 2 gates; on with wall on right. Keep ahead through hunting gates for two thirds of a mile to road (110746). Follow PBW for 1 and a quarter miles to Mosley Farm (115730). Through farmyard (‘footpath’ signs); just beyond, left through gate (PBW); descend into Chee Dale; left, and follow Monsal Trail to Miller’s Dale car park.

NB: Slippery path in Monk’s Dale!

Lunch: Picnic; or Red Lion, Littleton (01298-871458; www.theredlionlitton.co.uk)

Accommodation: George Hotel, Tideswell (01298-871382; www.tght.co.uk);
Ravenstor Youth Hostel, Miller’s Dale (0845-371-9655; www.yha.org.uk/hostel/ravenstor)

Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts!
Holy Island, Northumberland 13 May; Scottish Borders 10 June; Northern Ireland 8 July. Info: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks.
www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

A rusty outmoded harrow like a troll’s bedsprings lay in the hedge. Old overshot hazels sprouted from their coppiced boles in the skirts of Flamborough Wood. I followed a lane rubbly with chunks of red brick and pale limestone between the pasture fields to Great Coxwell – another immaculate collection of colour-washed houses, some under thatch, along a narrow street.

Out at the edge of the village I came to the Great Barn. A name to live up to, a drum-roll of a name. The barn was built of creamy stone in the 13th century to store the produce of a grange or outlying farm of Beaulieu Abbey. I stood and watched it sail on its duckpond reflection – a ship of the harvest bulwarked with gabled doorways and spread aloft with intricate timbering that upheld a huge roof of stone.

Two buzzards went planning over the bluebell clump at the crest of Badbury Hill as I approached the old hill fort. Its ramparts have been partially ploughed in the couple of millennia since it was last inhabited, but the sections that lay in the shelter of the trees stood tall enough to distinguish. A family was picnicking in the fort, their children playing on a rope swing that whirled them away from the ramparts to fly in a circular swoop out over the ditch and back to earth again.

The dappled light under the sycamores gave way to full sunshine and a tremendous view north across the wide valley of the upper Thames. Was this the prospect that greeted King Arthur when he brought his British forces to contest mastery of the kingdom with Anglo-Saxon invaders some time around 500 AD? Some say that Badbury is the ‘Mount Badon’ of semi-legend, site of the siege at which Arthur slew 960 foes with his own sword Excalibur, securing peace in Britain for a generation.

Ahead of me a little lad went trailing his family on the path to Brimstone Farm and Coleshill. Something of the stirring old story was running in his imagination, judging by the way he swung his plastic Excalibur and laid armies of nettle-heads low in the dust.

Start & finish: Radnor Arms PH, Coleshill, Oxfordshire SN6 7PR (OS ref SU 237938)

Getting there
Bus: Service 65 (swindonbus.info), Witney-Swindon
Road: M4 (Jct 15); A419, A361 to Highworth; B4019 (signed ‘Faringdon’) to Coleshill

Walk: (6½ miles, easy, OS Explorer 170): Leaving Radnor Arms, right downhill. Left opposite church (‘village shop’); in 150 m, pass Estate Office notice; on through 2 gates (236936; yellow arrows/YA). Follow path across fields of Coleshill Park (stiles, YAs). In ¾ mile, bear left (246930; YA) along edge of Flamborough Wood. At Ashen Copse Farm cross track (250934); ahead past barn (YA). Diagonally right across 2 fields (stiles, YAs) to track (255934); follow this round right bend; on between fields. Near Great Coxwell, cross stiles (264934; YA) and on. At field end follow ‘Footpath To River’; in 30 m, left over stile to road (268933). Left up village street for nearly ½ mile; then right (269940; fingerpost) past Great Barn. Over stile; right (YA, ‘Circular Route’) round field edge. In 250 m, right through kissing gate (266941; ‘Circular Route’); follow path to cross B4019 (264945). Left on path parallel to road inside field (National Trust arrow). At field end, forward through car park (262945). Ahead through gate (‘Badbury Clump’); follow path ahead beside fort ramparts; on for ¾ mile, down slope (ahead over cross-tracks), out of trees (256951), forward to Brimstone Farm. Cross farm lane (251952; YA); take track ahead through gates past left end of cattle yard. In 30 m, left (YA) over stile, through woodland belt, then across 2 fields (YAs, stiles) and along green lane. Through end of Fern Copse (244945); on for ½ mile to road (237940). Left; fork immediately right to Radnor Arms.

Radnor Arms (237938) – path through Coleshill Park – corner of Flamborough Wood (246930). Ashen Copse Farm (250934) – path east for 1 mile to Great Coxwell (268933). Great Barn (269940) - corner of woodland (266941) – cross B4019. Badbury Hill – path through Coxwell Wood to Brimstone Farm (251952). Path SW for 1 and a quarter miles, passing end of Fern Copse (244945) to Coleshill.

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Lunch: Radnor Arms, Coleshill (01793-861575; radnorarmscoleshill.co.uk) - busy, friendly, cosy.

Great Barn: Great Coxwell (NT): Open daily (50p entrance)

Information: Faringdon TIC (01367-242191); www.visitsouthoxfordshire.co.uk

Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks. Next walks: Holy Island, Northumberland, 13 May; Tibbie Shiels Inn, Scottish Borders, 10 June; Northern Ireland, 8 July
www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

A pale sun was trying its best to draw aside the blankets of mist that the Black Mountains had pulled across their shoulders overnight. Celandines and daffodils were struggling out in the roadside verges, chaffinches burbled, catkins hung long and yellow from the hazels – everything spoke of spring just around the corner.

Craswall’s modest Church of St Mary crouched in its ring of trees. Inside, everything was plain and simple – a tiny gallery, beams shaped and bevelled by some nameless medieval village carpenter, hard upright pews. The sunken grassy hollow on the north side was an arena for cockfights not so long ago, and Craswall boys would play fives against the church wall.

We followed a bridleway through sheep pastures, heading north to cross the infant River Monnow in a dell under alders and low-growing oaks. The dogs of Abbey Farm barked us in and out of the farmyard. Down in the cleft beyond, sunk deep into grassy turf banks, lay the silent and time-shattered ruins of Craswall Priory. The Order of Grandmont monks ran it in medieval times with a severe rule and harsh discipline. They could not have chosen a bleaker or more remote spot to build their refuge, or a more beautiful one to a modern walker’s eyes. The curved apse still holds its rough altar, sandstone sedilia and triple piscina complete with stone bowls and drain holes. Over all is a profound sense of peace, and an echo of melancholy.

Up on the ridge we strode out. Suddenly the mist curtain shredded away and a stunning view lay ahead – the great steep prow of Hay Bluff and the upturned boat keel of its long south-going ridge, towering 700 feet above us but completely hidden until now. We stood and stared, entranced, before turning back to follow old green lanes that led down to Craswall over a succession of rushing mountain fords.

START: Bull’s Head PH, Craswall, near Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR2 0PN (OS ref SO 278360).

GETTING THERE: A438, B4351 to Hay-on-Wye. Follow B4350 west out of town; on outskirts, left up Forest Road (‘Capel-y-ffin’). In 2½ miles fork left (‘Craswall 4’). Park at Bull’s Head, Craswall.

WALK (6 miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL13):
With phone box behind you, descend road with Bull’s Head on your right. Just beyond Craswall Church (281363), right off road; immediately left (blue arrow/BA; ‘Monnow Valley Walk’/MVW). Follow BAs along hillside for nearly 1 mile; ford River Monnow (276375); aim across field to far top corner (275378); on through gates to Abbey Farm (274379). Left down drive to Craswall Abbey ruins (273377); on up drive to road (268373). Left; in 300 m, right (271370; ‘bridleway’ fingerpost/BFP). Follow BA and MVW through fields for nearly 1 mile. Through gates, over stile at caravans (257374; BA); on through gate on skyline (255373). On for ¼ mile through 2 gates; at 2nd one (251373, at Brecon Beacons National Park boundary) turn left up end of larch plantation. At top of wood, left along its south side. Pass Coed Major on left (256371), down to cross stream (257369), and follow green lane/path through gates. In ⅔ mile it becomes metalled lane. At gate (268363), right (BFP) for 50 m; left (BFP) on bridleway through gates. In ¾ mile, at post with 2 BAs (278357), left to road; left to Bull’s Head.

REFRESHMENTS: Picnic; or Bull’s Head, Craswall (01981-510616; thebullsheadcraswall.co.uk) – characterful old pub; open Fri+Sat, 12-3, 7-late; Sun 12-3. Parties of 10+ at other times by arrangement.

ACCOMMODATION: Pandy Inn, Dorstone HR3 6AN (01981-550273; pandyinn.co.uk) – lovely friendly pub, fabulous wooden chalet for B&B.

HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL: 31 May-10 June (hayfestival.com)

INFORMATION: Hay-on-Wye TIC (01497-820144; visitherefordshire.co.uk)

Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks. Next walks - Lake District, 8 April; Holy Island, Northumberland, 13 May
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

Under the 700-year-old roof of St Mary’s Church at Newington the damned bared their teeth in the agonies of Hell while angelic trumpet blasts summoned the righteous from their coffins – the vivid events of Judgement Day depicted by a medieval fresco painter, as admonitory as a slap on the backside. From the candy-striped flint and ragstone tower of St Mary’s we followed a path north over the green upland of Broom Down to Lower Halstow, neatly tucked along its creek beside the great marsh and mud expanse of the Medway estuary.

Black-headed gulls screeched around a brace of beautifully restored Thames barges moored at Halstow Quay. On the seaward horizon the big blue cranes on the Isle of Grain dipped with majestic slowness like giraffes stooping to graze. A wind scented with salt and mud blew stiffly inland to rustle a million pink and white apple blossoms in the orchards around Ham Green.

Up the seaward edge of the peninsula we went, past the old coasting craft-turned-houseboats lying belly down in Twinney Creek, a curl of smoke rising from a home-made tin chimney. Then inland past the orchards around Frog Farm, the tiny shoulder-high apple trees frothing with blossom and already beginning to hum with hoverflies and early bees. The tremulous, bubbling cries of a curlew came from the saltmarshes behind us as we followed the narrow lanes through Ham Green and on by the fishing lakes.

As we passed through Upchurch, the village cricket team in well-washed whites was walking out onto Hollywell Meadow. In Chaffes Lane a bunch of lads puzzled over the oily innards of an old scooter. A flat-capped man who must have seen off at least eighty winters gave us a wink as he shuffled into the side door of the Crown Inn, and in St Mary’s Church an effigy of the Green Man spewed a mouthful of flowers like a promise of spring.

Start & finish: Newington Station, Newington, Kent ME9 7LQ (OS ref TQ 859650)
Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Newington. Road: M25 (Jct 2), M2 (Jct 5); A249 towards Sittingbourne; A2 towards London for 1½ miles. Park near Newington station.

Walk (7 miles, easy, OS Explorer 148): Down Station Road; in 20m, opposite No 41, left along alleyway; left along Church Lane. Under railway; on to crossroads (861653) with Church of St Mary the Virgin to right. From crossroads, ahead (‘Lower Halstow’) down Wardwell Lane. In 200m on right bend, left (861655; footpath fingerpost); on through valley by footbridges and stiles. At foot of slope (860660), bear left up slope, aiming left of pylon; cross left-hand of two stiles. Follow path under power lines, over Broom Downs to road at Lower Halstow (859669). Left; immediately right along path with stream on left; in 300m, left across footbridge; right at end of alley to T-junction (859672), with Three Tuns PH and St Margaret’s Church to right.
Across junction by pub; pass ‘Private – No Parking’ sign, then ‘Moorings’ house to reach Halstow Wharf. Continue along Saxon Shore Way/ SShW past Halstow and Twinney Creeks for 1½ miles to Shoregate Lane (850691). Inland (SShW) for ¼ mile to Ham Green Farm (847688). Right along road; in 20 m, left (SShW) on track through orchards, past riding stables (SShW) to road (844683). Left (SShW); in 250m, right (SShW) across field; through kissing gate (843679) with lake on right. SShW bears right here, but turn left (‘public footpath’ arrow) along hedge; cross paddocks into housing estate at Upchurch. Left to T-junction; right up The Street, past The Crown PH and St Mary’s Church (844675).

Opposite Post Office, left down Chaffes Lane. In 200m, left opposite Bradshaws Close (844672). Take right-hand of two footpaths (stile, ‘footpath’ fingerpost), across paddocks by kissing gates for ⅓ mile. At far side of paddocks, right over stile (846667); bear left around paddock. On far side, left over a stile (847666, yellow arrow) down path to road (848665). Right to crossroads with Breach Lane (851663). Through a kissing gate opposite; aim for pylon, then keep same line over fields and through an orchard to its top right corner (853658). Left over stile, across field, then between paddocks to cross road (854655). Continue same line across large field; under railway (856650); ahead to A2 in Newington; left to Station Road; left to station.
One of 25 walks in Walks In The Country Near London (new edition) by Christopher Somerville, just published by New Holland.

Lunch: Three Tuns, Lower Halstow (01795-842840)
Church keyholders (NB Please contact several days in advance of your walk in order to avoid disappointment): St Mary’s Church, Newington – Rev Liz Cox (01795-844241; rev.liz.cox@btinternet.com); St Margaret’s Church, Lower Halstow, and St Mary’s Church, Upchurch - Rev Jacky Davies (01795-842557; jackytd@halstowmillhouse.eclipse.co.uk)
More info: Sittingbourne TIC (01795-417478); www.visitkent.co.uk
Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks. Next walk: Lake District, 8 April
www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

Trees shaded the golden houses of Newnham along the village green. The path ran through the churchyard where the arcaded memorial to Eric Newzam Nicholson of the 12th Lancers (died 1917 ‘in the service of his country’) stood wrapped in creepers and ivy tendrils, looking out of its thicket over classic English countryside of sheep pastures corrugated by medieval ploughing, wooded ridges and well laid hedges.

Rooks cawed in the oaks around the farming enclave of Little Everdon with its handsome buttery gold houses. Three fields away, hounds were singing. In the lane we met 4-year-old Grace, dolled up in immaculate jodhpurs and just about big enough to stay on board Stumpy, her Shetland pony. Grace was not happy. ‘She wanted to follow the hounds,’ explained her mother, ‘but she couldn’t really have kept up.’ Grace cracked a watery smile as Stumpy bore her away home.

There were big views all round from the summit of Everdon Hill. Storm-battered cedars and wide gleams of water heralded Fawsley Park, the two slender arms of its man-made lake cradling the estate church on a knoll – another dream of settled tranquillity in the heart of England.

The peaceful woods of the Fawsley Estate provided a refuge and haven for Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, during the late 1880s, in the last stages of the mysterious affliction that grotesquely distorted his face and body. Travelling from London in a private railway carriage to avoid the public consternation caused by his appearance, Merrick stayed in the gamekeeper’s cottage as the guest of Lady Louisa Knightley. Walking back to Badby we pictured the outcast man in these bluebell woods, free to stroll among the trees, pick flowers and feel at ease for the only time in his life.

Start & finish: Windmill Inn, Badby, Northants NN11 3AN (OS ref SP 559589)

Getting there: Bus - Service 200 (www.stagecoachbus.com) Banbury-Daventry
Road: M1 Jct 16, A45 towards Daventry, B4037 to Badby

Walk directions: (7½ miles, easy, OS Explorer 207): From Windmill Inn, left through Badby. Opposite Maltsters Inn, right down Court Yard Lane (560592). Follow well-waymarked Nene Way for 3 miles via Newnham to road at Little Everdon (594580). Forward; in 150m Nene Way goes left (595579), but keep ahead on road to Everdon, past church and on. At top of village, left (‘Fawsley’). In 100 m, right (590576; fingerpost, black arrow/BLA); follow BLAs for 1 mile to cross road near Westcombe Farm (573573). Through gate, up field to gate (570572); follow BLAs to road (566570). Right, round bend to Fawsley Church (565568); return to bend; left on Knightley Way (KW). Follow KW for 1 mile through Fawsley Park and inside west edge of Badby Wood (559580). Leaving wood (559584), aim diagonally right across field; follow KW to Badby Church (560587). Right to Windmill Inn.

Lunch: Romer Arms, Newnham (01327-702221; www.charleswells.co.uk); Plough Inn, Everdon (re-opening shortly; check online)

Accommodation: Windmill Inn, Badby (01327-311070; www.windmillinn-badby.com)

Info: Daventry TIC (01327-300277)

Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks. Next walk: Lake District, 8 April
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

Bruce Blackney of the All Seasons Walking Club, Horsham, has kindly sent me the following warning:

Dear Mr Somerville,
Yesterday I was checking out your East Sussex walk in the Times of 3
March and discovered that there is a notice near St Peter’s Church,
Folkington, stating that the section of the Wealdway Path between
Folkington and Jevington will be closed for six months from 1 April
2012 for work by the Water Authority and that there is no alternative
route.

I feel you may wish to warn other Times readers of this situation.

Bruce Blackney

There is in fact an alternative Folkington-Jevington route via Folkington Road (OS ref TQ 564038) – south edge of Wannock (574034) – Jevington Road near Filching Manor (569030) – Dean Wood – Jevington Road (565023). But this, too, is also affected by the closure. So it looks as though this lovely walk will have to stay on hold until the works are complete. How frustrating!

Setting off from Ingleton along the narrow path that shadows the River Twiss, we were almost at once enclosed in the dark walls of a gorge, with the river running fast among mossy stones splashed with dipper droppings. Beside the path lay a money tree, its hide as scaly as a lizard’s with tens of thousands of copper coins hammered into the boughs for luck. The trail climbed the wall of a canyon above swirling holes where the south-going river chased round and round before escaping, sculpting semi-circular hollows in the rock walls with a continuous swallow and gurgle. Its cold breath and smell of stone and earth came up to us as we crossed the gorge on lattice footbridges under which the peat-charged water sluiced as dark and frothy as a gush of porter.

A roe deer went bounding up the bank, its white scut bobbing a warning. A long view upriver showed Pecca Falls crashing down a staircase of slippery rock steps. Beyond the cascade the trail left the trees and followed a curve of the Twiss. A wonderful view opened ahead towards Thornton Force, pride of the walk, descending a series of rapids before hurling itself in a 50- foot freefall into a smoking pool. Above this thunderous weight of water we followed a walled lane into the mist. Unseen and offstage, sheep bleated, a farmer whistled and a quad went puttering over an invisible field by Twisleton Hall.

Below the farm the River Doe echoed and hissed in its own steep walled canyon, leaping down towards Ingleton and its confluence with the Twiss through S-shaped channels carved through the shale by the force of water alone. We crossed above potholes boiling with toffee-coloured bubbles, and skirted backwaters where the surface lay marbled with scarcely moving patterns of foam. Below the white wall of Snow Falls the path snaked past another money tree and on through mossy old quarry workings, to emerge at the foot of the gorge with the church and houses of Ingleton lying beyond, as muted and dreamy looking as any faded Victorian lithograph.

Start & finish: Waterfalls Walk car park, Ingleton, N. Yorks LA6 3ET (OS ref SD 693733)
Getting there: Bus – Service 80 (Lancaster-Ingleton), 581 (Ingleton-Settle). Road - M6 Jct 34 (A683, A687) or Jct 36 (A65) to Ingleton. Waterfalls Walk is signed in village.

Walk (4½ miles, moderate/strenuous, OS Explorer OL2): From car park follow waymark arrows up River Twiss, along lane via Twisleton Hall farm (702751) and down River Doe.
Conditions: Continuous slippery paths and steps.
NB – Online map, more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk.

Refreshments: Frumenty & Fluffin teashop, Main Street, Ingleton (01524-241659)
Accommodation: Croft Gate, Chapel-le-Dale, Ingleton (01524-242664; www.croft-gate.co.uk) - quiet, friendly and immaculate B&B
Waterfalls Walk: Open 9 a.m. daily; £5 entrance/car park pp; £11 family; complimentary leaflet guide
More info: Ingleton TIC (01524-241049); www.visitingleton.co.uk; www.yorkshire.com
Readers’ Walks: Come and enjoy a country walk with our experts! Dates, info etc.: http://www.mytimesplus.co.uk/travel/uk/1867/times-walks. Next walk: Lake District, 8 April
www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk

After a night of rain the woods were full of cold mist above the valley where Naunton lay, a dream of rich gold stone houses and snowdrop gardens. Horses in blue blankets cropped the paddocks. Every hawthorn twig held a line of raindrops suspended, each drop reflecting a miniature world of inverted trees and walls. Up on the roof of the Cotswolds it was a wintry scene of sombre beauty, all bright colours leached away by the mist. A group of bullocks grazing at a mountain of silage in an isolated barnyard turned their muddy faces towards us as we walked by. ‘Hey, hey!’ soothed a hawk-faced little man leading a nervously shying colt along the lane, gentle authority in each of his gestures.

The sky began to clear as we came down towards Upper Slaughter. The view broadened to reveal wide upland fields dipping to hidden valleys. The horizons rolled with smoking cloud, and a weak sun came through to frost the lichen-encrusted ash trees with cold silver light.

Upper Slaughter is everyone’s Cotswold dream made manifest – a gorgeous manor house with peaked gables, mullioned windows and tall chimneys, the church high on a bank like a ship on a billow, the whole village scented with apple wood smoke, a mellow fantasy. In Lower Slaughter the channelled waters of the River Eye ran under a diminutive stone footbridge. The plain red brick chimney of the old mill came as a relief to the eye after so much beautiful gold stone.

In a green lane beyond we stopped to hear a song-thrush fluting his twice and thrice repeated phrases from the hedge. The lane took us twisting down to follow the River Windrush in its tightly curving valley. Goldcrests swung in the treetops – gold seemed to be the theme today. We skirted the skittish horses beyond Lower Harford Farm, and came up over the hill and down towards Naunton with evening blackbird song echoing through the valley below.

Start and finish: Black Horse PH, Naunton, Glos GL54 3AD (OS ref SP119235)

Getting there: Road - M5, Jct 11a; A40, A436, B4068 towards Stow-on-the-Wold, Naunton signposted on left. Park in village street.

Walk directions (9 miles; easy/moderate; OS Explorer OL45): From Black Horse PH, right; in 50m, right up lane; in 150m, right (‘Wardens Way’/WW) on bridleway for ¾ mile to road (126243). Turn right through gate (WW) along field edges next to road. At T-junction (133242) continue along hedge; at field end, left to cross road (134241, WW). On along track opposite; in 300m, right through gate by barn (136243; blue arrow) and on (WWs) for ¾ mile to B4068 beside houses (149241). Left (WW – take care!) for 350 m; right (152242, WW) along driveway for ⅔ mile to Upper Slaughter. Follow road to The Square; left down to road; left (155232) for 150 m; right (156232, WW) down walled path. Follow WW through fields to Lower Slaughter. At road, right (164226) past mill; cross stone footbridge, up lane opposite.

At T-junction, cross road and keep ahead along green lane (161222; ‘Macmillan Way’/MW). In ⅓ mile cross road (157219); on across field (MW); through hedge, left (153218); follow MW into Windrush Valley. At path junction, right (151213; ‘Windrush Way’/WiW). Cross river; in 150 m, right (148213; WiW) through Aston Farm and on through fields and woods for ¾ mile. Leave wood (139220); in 250 m, through gate (138221); take left fork downhill. WiW for ¾ mile to road by Lower Harford Farm (129225). Left (WiW); in 100 m, right through gate (WiW). At foot of slope, left along valley bottom. At end of 3rd field, through gate (119226); right across brook; up slope to waymark post; on through gate (118227). Ahead to cross B4068 (117231). Down track opposite; in 100 m, right down path by fence; cross river, pass dovecote; right along lane to Naunton village street (116234). Right to Black Horse.

Lunch: Picnic; or Black Horse Inn, Naunton (01451-850565; www.theblackhorsenaunton.co.uk)

Accommodation: Hollow Bottom Inn, Guiting Power, GL54 5UX (01451-850392; www.hollowbottom.com); famous horse racing pub, refurbished rooms, warm and friendly – especially around Cheltenham Festival races (13-16 March this year).

Info: Stow-on-the-Wold TIC (01451-870083); www.visitcotswolds.co.uk
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