Day 7 started after a reasonable night sleep in the, about to be vacated by manager, Cherry Tree Pub, which was certainly our unhappiest stay so far. The pub suffered from a serious lack of cleaning, lack of ambience and of course with the resulting, lack of people. To be greeted by a morning kindergarten was obviously no better than the day before but was anticipated this time. At breakfast we both chose beans on toast as a safe bet from the kitchen, paid our bill and almost ran outside to get away, getting back to the walking to dispel our disappointment, both of us in disbelieving silence wondering how can a nice village pub......... Twenty minutes walk up the small lane and we were back to where we left off on the track and turned left towards our goal for our longest day of over 15 miles, when our walk to home from Wendover is taken into account. Back in the zone again we were both soon pretty chipper as we started at around 23 minutes per mile according to the lady deep in my rucksack that had accompanied us along the way inside the 'Map my Walk' app. We soon reached the outskirts of Chinnor mumbling perhaps we should have found somewhere there to stay last night, but in hindsight the Cherry Tree website made it look good! So the moral of the story is don't be fooled by a swishy web-site it may have been made by very professional people perhaps a little while ago and so might have the ***** reviews!
Back to the walk…… 
and on past the quarry workings and pits with Mediterranean-coloured water due in part to the blue sky but also to the chalk. Health & safety signs at intervals told us not to enter and not to swim and that they were patrolled 24/7. Above Chinnor we came across people in their fitness clothes and headbands, obviously just starting a workout program which I guessed to have been the Chinnor kettle bells club....... as that is what it said on their sweat shirts! Being a Saturday, activity had increased on the track 10 fold with dogs and their masters and mistresses, cyclists, runners and just the occasional walkers. We chatted to a disbelieving couple who asked where we were going to and where we had come from, before the track seemed to take a diversionary course just before Bledlow village taking us away from what would have been a straight and much shorter line directly to Princess Risborough, but that's not the point of the walk! 
Turning right by a beautiful cottage passing through what seemed to be their nicely manicured garden and ascending through stunning woods circling around and below Wain Hill, now almost in a southerly direction for a short while. However the reward was some fine Ash and Beech Trees either side of the path until we suddenly emerged out into the open fields, walking across a field of buttercups but still seemingly facing the wrong southerly direction towards High Wycombe. We crossed two small lanes heavily used by joggers and cyclists before an unexpected haul up the mound of Lodge Hill where we took a short break for drink and a snack (we didn't partake in the pack lunch for obvious reasons, even if it had been offered ) The view down was a wonderfully typical Chiltern valley and up to the right a view towards Bledlow Ridge. 
We both discussed as why the Ridgeway didn't follow this route before crossing the valley up to the ridge on the other side at Lacey Green? However it was a bit hypothetical as it didn't, so we must carry on to reach our planned anticipated stopping point for lunch. Skirting around someone's very private high fenced house and garden was a bit tedious but at least the direction had now turned more easterly to run between the smooth manicured greens of the Princes Risborough Golf course. We crossed over the Chiltern Train loop line between London and Birmingham followed by a Stop Look and Listen sign to cross over the line itself. I confess I did ponder just enough time to take a photo, however the next photo I took as we entered Princess Risborough along the busy road, was of a "prepared to die poster" very strange choice of welcome sign for a town..…... and its in our gallery!
The way marked track follows beside the busy A4010 on a path for about 3/4 of a mile and is not too pleasant with traffic rushing past or just seems to after the gentler last few hours. Thankfully we turned right in a lane shared with the Icknield Way the path that had taken the 'shorter' route towards Princes Risborough from Chinnor. After 100 yards we were passed by a running-free black Labrador that turned with some purpose into a field just in front of us. Up next were a family outing on various sizes of MTB fully kitted out in bike gear, elbow pads and helmets, wobbling on seeing us and thrown into confusion by which rut to take in the track to avoid us. Dad, of course, had the trendiest of the MTBs with the fattest tyres I have seen on a bike, they were as fat as racing bikes are thin. Then a guy came past holding an empty dog-lead asking if we had seen a black Labrador?…...... The lane became
tarmac as it passed beside a school forming its main entrance before both the Icknield and Ridgeway climbed towards the much renovated White Cross at the 'summit' of Whitetleaf Hill. Two runners passed us by, the first was a man, he approached so quietly he made Lesley jump almost out of her skin! The second slightly slower runner followed a short way behind and was probably his wife or girlfriend wearing a particularly shapely lycra suit. She unfortunately was quickly out of sight, taking the Icknield Way to the left as I cast my eyes right to take the now parting Ridgeway. The track gets tough here with a sharp incline before using the newly refurbished steps upwards to a welcome seat shortly before you pass by the ancient barrow and White Cross. Catching our breath to take a look back where we had been, we take on some fluid and eat a just few crisps knowing our stop for lunch was now less than 30 minutes away. As we skirt around the barrow there are many more people around, due in part to the nice weather, but also I suspect, the close proximity of a car-park. I haven't mentioned the views today, because a humid mist had descended obscuring our view back to our start and on to our finish. Through the gate and Into the the woods followed by a sharp chalky decent that could get very slippery if wet and into the pub garden of our lunch stop. 
The Plough at Cadsden is fortunate in having the Ridgeway pass right past the door. The pub was fairly busy but with plenty of room outside to take a pint of orange & lemonade (we still had a way to go so we opted sensibly for no alcohol ) with a really nice ham sandwich, served simply, with lettuce and chips. This is the infamous pub that our Dave, the Prime Minister at the time of walking, left his daughter by mistake, thinking logically that she had arrived in his friend's car and must have gone back with them. But by all accounts, she hadn't, as she was still in the loo or somewhere. We have all done this "where are they" panic thing so whilst the daily blurbs wanted to big it up! It hardly got a mention, except now once again by me!
We sat for about 40 minutes before putting rucksacks back on and carrying on the last 7 miles of a more familiar ground to us having walked it many times, but it is still a lovely section never the less. Passing by the Chequers (Primeminister's country house) we met a fellow walker looking pretty distressed that while stopping for a call of nature he lost a lens from his glasses and said he was practically 'blind' without it. It was his lucky day as a few minutes of us all crawling around searching, Lesley's eagle-eyes had spotted it in the long grass. He was extremely grateful and we chuckled to think that our crawling around on all-fours was probably all captured on the Chequer's CCTV that encircle the whole area together with frequent signs to keep-out and quoting the official secrets act, as being the reason! Whilst passing through the splendid wooded canopy section before Combe Hill a lady runner stopped to ask if we knew of a good place to be collected by a friend. We suggested The Plough pub that we had stopped at about an hour ago but probably just 20 minutes away at her fast-pace! 
Due to the crowds at the monument on Combe Hill we took in the view from a west-facing seat just before it, then descending into 
Wendover village to carry out some more mundane chores like shopping at Budgens for food that tonight we would have to prepare ourselves, at home! With almost 15 miles completed we deserved a pint and we simply couldn't walk past the Red Lion which is a good pub with accommodation en-route, that obviously wouldn't be needed by us tonight as we were just less than a mile up-hill, with our tortoises and via a local footpath to our very-own stop for the night. No walk-in-shower yet*, but a much welcomed and familiar bed nevertheless !
* we now have a walk-in shower !