Chiltern Walks: Miswell Farm & Wendover Arm
Miswell Farm Trig pillar
Start / Finish: Layby on Little Tring Road, North of Tringford Pumping Station, HP23 4NR
Distance: 3.4 km (2.1 miles)
Elevation change: +/- 22 m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other Routes Touched (walk): Grand Union Canal Wendover Arm
Other Routes Touched (walk): Tring Route 5
Pubs / Cafes on route: N/A
Map: OS Explorer Map (181) Chiltern Hills North
Links: Miswell Farm Trig Pillar, Wendover Arm Canal
This is a really short but interesting walk in the North Chilterns. I only discovered it when setting off to bag the Miswell Farm Trig Pillar but also found a nice circular walk around an abandoned section of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. The guidance below will help you navigate but don’t use it as a fully accurate turn-by-turn guide. Always take a map and/or a GPX route and prepare well for the weather and terrain.
The best place to park is a small layby just North of the Tringford Pumping Station. A footpath from here leads to the West and joins a dry section of the Canal. This is in the process of being restored and presumably will be re-filled and reconnected with the wet bits at either end of the walk. About 1 km along the towpath you can cross a footbridge that marks the end of the dry section and take a steep South-Easterly path up the hill. At the top of the hill there’s a locked farm gate which gives a short-cut to the Trig Pillar at the other side of the field. For an easier and less trespassy route to the pillar, continue down the hill until you reach a footpath heading North-East at the bottom of the field. When you reach the far fence of the first field you can follow the fence until you reach the Pillar, returning the same way.
The rest of the walk follows a straight north-east line along the edges of sheepy fields until you reach the Canal. This marks the end of the Eastern part of the restored section and you can follow this to road with the Pumphouse and the layby.
