30th March At last we choose the correct day to go for a walk. Saturday turns out to be beautiful! Today, walking Tottenhoe's green lanes is an opportunity to leave it all behind and just enjoy the moment. We leave the lanes as we cross the A5 and we're out onto the Bedfordshire flatlands. Here, only a couple of weeks ago, we disturbed boxing hares. No sign of them today. We skirt Tebworth and, at Hockliffe, cross Watling Street. The northward march of Roman legions have long been replaced by an on-rushing stream of juggernauts and white vans. Getting across we take our lives in our hands...but survive!
spring
Hexton
23rd March Search as hard as you like, it's difficult to find anything of note to say about this part of Bedfordshire...Barton-le-Clay, Hexton, Higham Gobion, Wrest Park, Silsoe and Pulloxhill should all be names to conjure a multitude of interesting stories...but nothing! Literally nothing! Perhaps the landscape has inadvertently influenced the attitudes of those who've lived around here. People around here prefer to blend in than stand out...and there's nothing wrong with that, I'd like to add!
Tebworth
16th March It's that time of year when, once again, I find I'm younger than I thought I was...for most a good experience...however it does mean retiring, and doing what I really want to do, is further away than I'd hoped...that thought always spoils the day. To overcome the disappointment we select another walk in our slow encirclement of Luton. The first part of our walk reprises the previous Toddington 'not one of your better walks' route, before emerging the other side of Toddington into Alma Farm.
Puttenham
9th March So this walk completes the Aylesbury Canal...which we'd started over a year ago. The canal itself was started well over 200 years ago...and never finished. The intention had been to drive a canal as far as the Thames to the south and, via the Kennet & Avon canal and the Thames, link Bristol and the West with the Grand Union Canal. Money ran out, railways arrived and, instead, the canal finishes in Aylesbury...an 18th Century equivalent of buying a 3D TV and finding the world had move on to 4K TV. However, today the Aylesbury Canal is a pleasant walk in early spring.
Bryant’s Bottom
2nd March This always seems like the most 'tucked away' part of the Chilterns...perhaps because it takes us so long to get here. Anyway, walking around here is always good and today was no exception. It's been a while since we walked any hills...Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire are both flat...and to tell the truth, it was a struggle in places. Nevertheless its good to get back to walking in the woods and the outward stretch is pretty much all woods. It's great to watch the seasons tick by and today it certainly feels like spring is just around the corner.
Frithsden
28th May The Gade Valley on a misty late May morning in Hertfordshire and we're up and out walking before the rest of the world is out of bed! For as far as Frithsden we're retracing our steps from various other walks and, to tell the truth, had we turned and headed back at Potten End, it would have been a good walk.
Letchmore Heath
27th May Letchmore Heath hides unseen between Watling Street and the M1, two great rivers of north-bound traffic a matter of a couple of fields away. Hiding in plain sight, the village seems quiet happy to let life rush by so long as no one bothers it too much. We've left the car in Aldenham … Continue reading Letchmore Heath
Streatley
26th May Today we're walking in the Kingdom of Wessex and, it turns out, I've been joined by Ethelred's long-lost grand-daughter, 'Susan the Unready'. We arrive at the Lardon Chase car park to discover that Sue's left her walking boots behind! In spite of our inauspicious start, this is a thoroughly enjoyable walk. It has a pleasing mix of river views, secluded valleys, downland views and sleepy country villages. We follow the Thames as far as Moulsford before striking up onto the Downs through Unhill Wood and Cow Common. From up here the views are far and wide, including the Chilterns in the distance.
Coombe Hill
19th May So, tell the truth now, who avoided the Royal Wedding by going for a walk? Seven years ago David and I escaped whilst Kate and William took their vows. On that day we went for a walk near Parslow's Hillock, Princes Risborough. We tried again today... but once Sue's family get talking...as it was, we left during the sermon, which was the highlight, I hear. In the end, we did return to Princes Risborough, starting at Redland End this time. The unusually late start means we're walking during the heat of the day. The weather is glorious but almost all of this walk passes through the woods and shady tracks between Princes Risborough and Wendover. We discuss how much of the Chilterns is just woods, lanes and farm tracks...and on days like today, its a real blessing!
Gaddesden Row
18th May Another pub walk this evening. This time from the car park of the Crown and Sceptre in Briden's Camp. We were last here in September 2016..that does feel like an age away! There's not much to Briden's Camp...if the Romans did stop off here they didn't leave much behind...a couple of cottages clustered around the pub and a cricket club over the road...which, as if to disown its location, is named after Great Gaddesden...all very confusing!
Where Angells Tread! 