A previous boss lived at the foot of the ‘Hill of Great Difficulty‘, near Ampthill. It always made me smile! Even more so as visits to his office were more often than not trips to the ‘Slough of Despond‘. Still, today we visited the ‘Delectable Mountains‘. Now, I know John Bunyan didn’t get out much (he was locked in Bedford jail for 12 years) but to call small hills ‘mountains’ is stretching a point! Nevertheless the scenery from the top was worth the walk and the weather was by and large perfect.

This 12 mile walk (map) took in the northern most end of the Chiltern Hills, including the Barton Hills, Warden Hill (on the outskirts of Luton) and Deacon Hill near the Hoo Bit Nature Reserve. The climb up from Barton-le-Clay was steep and had both of us blowing by the time we reach the top but from there-on the walk was reasonably level and mostly farm tracks and good footpaths. Rather foolishly I only packed two bottles of water on a very warm day. There are no pubs on route and remembering all those Bear Grylls programmes,  water rationing became the order of the day. Had the great man been with us doubtless he’d have had us drinking our own urine or wringing out moisture from horse dung we collected on the way.

Thankful that we’d not invited Bear on our trip we arrived back at Hexton by mid-afternoon and finished a really pleasant walk with cool drinks at The Raven in Hexton. We’ll do this walk again sometime and certainly be back to explore other parts of Bedfordshire.

(Post code SG5 3JB,  Garmin Adventure)

Whitehill Wood

Warden Hill

Summer thistle

Streatley Road

John Bunyan Way

Pegsdon Hills

Icknield Way

Chiltern Way

Barton Hills Nature Reserve