A glorious way to end what seemed a promising political career – a walk out through the Chilterns at their best before descending to everyday life. A ministers who resigned this weekend would have to have walked back from Chequers – and none took the opportunity. To give up a good morning’s walk for a political career – that is dedication.
So why not make a walk of it?
Therefore, I am launching ‘The Resignation Way‘ – a walking route to and from the Chequers Estate. It follows the routes which a cabinet minister hurled out of the back door., with his ministerial car confiscated, may take to reach his train.
There are two stations close to Chequers: Little Kimble to the west and Wendover to the east. The route shows how these are best reached from Chequers. Alternatively, for those of us outside those hallowed circles, it provides a route between the two stations past Chequers. The house is a fine country house set in an idyllic spot on the Chiltern escarpment. It was given to the nation by Sir Arthur and Lady Lee as a Prime Ministerial residence – in the hope that each future Prime Minister would have an appreciation for the needs of the countryside as well as the town. They could hardly have picked a better spot.
The route of the Resignation Way takes in some existing, popular ways and parts of established long-distance paths including the Ridgeway and the proposed route of the Buckinghamshire Way.
Route map
The Resignation Way (with the route for the rest of us in purple)
Maps
- Ordnance Survey Explorer 181 (1: 25 000) (Chiltern Hills North)
- Ordnance Survey Landranger 165 (1:50 000) (Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard)