Amersham is two towns in one. The old town, on the hill, has a broad high street of timbered inns and Georgian houses, while the newer town, down by the railway, grew up around the Metropolitan line, which ends here.
After a ride through Essex saltmarsh and Suffolk villages, this is a very different kind of finish. The roads here are narrow, steep and winding, with sunken lanes between high hedges, and the surface is often damp and covered with leaves in the woods. Traffic is light on the lanes and heavy on the main routes into London. In autumn the beeches turn copper, and the colours are outstanding, though wet leaves are slippery. The Chess valley, running south-west from Chesham, has a stream and watercress beds, and its lanes are among the prettiest in the area.
Amersham's history includes a dark chapter. In the early sixteenth century, a group of local Lollards, early dissenters, were burned for heresy, and a memorial on the hill commemorates the Amersham Martyrs. The town was also a popular filming location, with its old streets and inns appearing in several films and television series. Seer Green, a smaller village, has a quiet green and an old church.
Fuel and food are easy at Amersham, with stations, supermarkets and many cafes and pubs, especially on the old high street. A pub with a log fire is a good place to end a day in cold weather, and a picnic in the woods is good in summer. Red kites, reintroduced to the Chilterns in the 1990s, wheel above the fields and are an almost certain sight.
Look up as you park the bike. The kites are the best part of the arrival.