As I was having breakfast, I received a couple of text messages informing me that some of the day's walkers were experiencing problems with the trains and that they would not be able to make the start at the planned start time. Some walkers arrived on an earlier train which gave them time to enjoy a pre-walk coffee before the train with the remaining walkers arrived. The weather forecast for the day was for a dry bright sunny day but very cold.

Walkers set off fully prepared, with thermals, hats, gloves and sunglasses. After leaving the station the group headed out of Amersham along the main road to the edge of Old Amersham where we then picked up a rather dirty and litter-strewn footpath that ran behind some houses, before finally arriving out into the open countryside at the bottom of Gore Hill. The fields had a light sprinkle of overnight snow covering them, but as we made our way up Gore Hill some found the need to remove a layer of thermals but not the need to remove sunglasses as the sky was clear of clouds and the sun was very bright. We continued along the path, spotting the windmill at Coleshill. We looped our way around Coleshill before stopping for refreshments next to the frozen village pond whilst watching the ducks make their way over the ice.

We continued on past the village church and as we made our way out of the village we spotted 2 very healthy foxes running across the field ahead. As we continued into a small woodland we spotted several people out searching for buried treasure in the frozen ground. Shortly after this we arrived at Winchmore Hill only to find that the local pub had now closed its doors. It was a little too early to stop for lunch, so we followed the path from Winchmore Hill into Penn Street. We found benches in the sun on the common for lunch. For some unknown reason Victoria needed to take some close-up pictures of Paul's knees; despite the day being quite cold he felt that shorts were appropriate for the day's walk. After lunch we made our way through Penn Wood, emerging at Beamond End, and onwards down into Little Missenden, where we took on refreshments by the open fire at the Red Lion.

After finishing warm mulled wine we set off on the final leg of the day's walk along the River Misbourne and back into Old Amersham. Rather than walk along the main road back up into Amersham we took the footpath up the hill and around the edge of the woodland. As we looked back we could see the sun setting behind the hills where we had been walking earlier in the day. We arrived back at the station with minutes to spare for the those taking the train home.

Many thanks to Phil, Jan, Victoria, Mary, Paul S, Sandra and Rob for joining me on the 13-mile walk through the scenic wintry Buckinghamshire countryside.

Report by Malcolm