The Chilterns part 2: Boxing Day +1

My many friends made through scouting have had a tradition of sorts for several years now. As is the way of groups, as we have got older we have moved away and spread out across the country, and in some cases, the world. Nonetheless, christmas time is a rare time where many of us are back right where we first met, and can meet up again. Usually, we waste no time in heading for the nearest pub, but on the day after boxing day, named in the traditional calendar 'Boxing Day +1', we gather for a hike. Granted, the hike is to a pub, but... Anyway, it's always a lot of fun, and this year we collected 12 people, what may be a record!

The photos from this trip showcase the other face of the chilterns. When surrounded on all sides by resistant chalk, the landscape becomes paradoxically softer. Gone are the sharp scarps at the north edge of the chilterns. Instead, there are broad valleys separating rounded low wooded ridges. These areas are primarily used for farming, and the ploughed fields are littered with the grey and white shards of flint weathered out of the chalk. Although Buckinghamshire is very crowded and quite built up in comparison to the truly rural landscapes of other parts of Britain, if you step outside the village on foot, rather than by car, you can surprisingly rapidly lose the housing estates behind hedges and fall into a parallel, much more scenic world...

It is interesting just how different the landscape looks to that of the Wienerwald, depite the fact that both areas are essentially former countryside areas full of satellite villages and towns for a large city. Of course, the major difference is explained somewhere at the confluence of geography, history and geology... Enjoy the photos of the first part of the world I ever went hiking around!

Der Tom