#39 Barton Hills

10.87 Miles
273 Metres Ascent

Back into the Barton Hills for a muddy adventure!  Bedfordshire generally has two types of mud, claggy boot clinging mud across some fields and slippy slidey gloop along tracks.  This walk happily had both!  The day was unseasonably warm above 10c, so I managed with just a shirt.  Layering is proving complicated this season.

From Deacon Hill

I followed the same route as this walk in May.  With a slight variation up to the top of Deacon Hill to eat a pork pie, well you can't eat a pork pie without reaching the top of something can you!  This hill has great views over towards Bedford, and could be a good wild camp spot, although the beer cans in the bushes suggest it wouldn't be quiet in summer...!

You're not in Kansas anymore...

Follow the yellow planted road, follow the... ok you get the idea....

#30 Barton Hills - Hills, Hoo's and Hoe's

12.93 Miles
393 Metres 

Great Day for a walk, not raining, not hot, not cold just a bit grey.  The day didn't start the greatest due to some road range, sign language and a burst of anger.  So relaxing in the hills was the best antidote!  Earlier in the year I did a 10 mile walk from Barton-Le-Clay round Pegsdon and back again along the Ickneild Way.  Needing a few more hills, I decided to follow the same walk with but with a walk up the Pegsdon Hills and back down again.  This side 'loop' had no other reason than to climb a hill, it makes no logical route sense and didn't get me any 'further' away.

Pegsdon Hills

The first 3 miles is along the base of the escarpment (that makes it sound higher!) following the John Bunyan Trail.  It's pretty flat countryside, with the added bonus of the Hexton Tea rooms.  A cross between a tea room, gift shop and bring and buy sale.  As it was only 1.5 miles into the walk I couldn't really stop, plus I'm on a diet, plus it was shut!

#19 Thurleigh Loop

11.74 Miles
69 Metres

A new walk, finally!  I've been trying to push up the mileage a bit recently, in some ways to make up for a lack of hills and ascent.  Admittedly this walk was flatter than I had thought, with 69 metres of total ascent.  The plan was simple, park on the airfield (I work there) and walk round the outer perimeter.  There is a bridleway that covers pretty much the whole distance of 9 miles, but by parking the car within the perimeter I added close to 3 miles to the total distance.

The old control tower

The path on the whole was wide and well kept.  A few areas of brambles to watch out for but generally good.  All those brambles meant there is a good mile of blackberries round the route, unfortunately they are about a week or two off ripening.  I might come back and walk and feast.  There were a lot of them, and with the path so quiet I could get a good crumbles worth!

 

#13 #14 #15 Deja Vu!

OK I really need to plan a few new walks! 

#13 Twinwoods + Yarls Wood (with cow diversion) 11.08 miles and 194 metres.
#14 Twinwoods (with cow diversion) 8.03 Miles and 143 metres.
#15 Twinwoods 7.52 miles and 125 metres.



The main excitement was avoiding a field full of cows.  Now I'm not usually bothered by cows but this lot seemed a bit too interested in me.  A mixture of cows and calves at dusk?  Rather just avoid it really!  Other than that the main interest was the harvesting of the rapeseed and wheat.  Ploughed fields and footpaths don't always mix well.  At least it's dry! 

New routes this week I promise... for my sanity if nothing else!

#12 Twinwoods

7.52 Miles
125 Metres

Ahem, it's that Déjà vu feeling.  Sight change to the ordinary in the fact I did the walk after sleeping all day and before the next night shift.  Time restraints mean that this walk is going to be a lot more common than I want.   I feel the need for some hills, yes I did just say that!

#11 Twinwoods

7.52 Miles
125 Metres

Yep it's the same local walk.  I really need a few variations on this, but for now it does it's job of getting me out in the sun.  Ok the sun was hidden by cloud, ominous dark foreboding clouds but I'm sure it was out there somewhere.  I finished work at 8 in the morning so spent most of the day in bed, this walk fits in well.

#10 Thurleigh to Milton Ernest

4.36 Miles
48 Metres

Well after walking in last night, I have to walk home today.  It was surprisingly cloudy but after yesterdays heat was pleasant.  I was, it has to be said, very tired.   I'm not sure If I'll ever walk all the way home.  The 9 miles are not a problem, it's just how tired I am!  Even a fresh breeze didn't seem to wake me up.  I had intended to do the same walks again for tonight's nightshift, but I'm just too tired.  Off to bed!

#9 Milton Ernest to Thurleigh

4.36 Miles
85 Metres

Sunny Day? Check.  Need to do a walk? Check.  Due in work to do a night shift? Doh!  12 hour shifts are a killer for various reason, a big one is the fact that it's really hard to do anything apart from sleep and go to work.  Walking from home is an option and I'm lucky that following the footpaths I could get to work in about 9 miles, however walking into work (3 hrs), a 12 hour night shift, then walking home (3 hrs) is tough.  In fact, I'd go so far to say I might do it once to prove I can, then file it under zombie sleep walking.

Wind tunnel site

Option 2 is to walk from a convenient mid-point.  It just so happens there is one from Milton Ernest.  I can park the car and be walking into work about 1.5 hrs later.  We have a shower in work so with some forward planning (shower stuff, towel), I don't have to carry that much.  Well that was the idea, laptop, food, change of clothes, etc, meant that the pack ended up in the 7kgs range!

#8 Twinwoods

7.52 Miles
125 Metres

Finished off the month with a usual.  Weather has started to warm up, which is nice.  Might have to start wearing sunblock.   It is noticeable how much my Berghaus Freeflow 20 has become my bag of choice.  Just perfect for days like this.

Stats for the month are encouraging.  82 miles walked in 8 walks.  Well on target!

#3 Twinwoods

7.52 Miles
125 Metres

Back to the usual! Not much to say really apart from it was nice and sunny! 

#2 Twinwood & Clapham Park

8.2 Miles
149 Metres

Another day and another walk around the Twinwood area.  I'm afraid I might be doing this quite a lot!  Due to working shifts I often don't get out of bed till late, and in the past this has meant I don't go out for a walk as I can't be bothered to plan a route or drive anywhere.  So heading north from home, out towards Twinwoods is pretty much the only option (unless I walk more on the roads).

Today was pretty much my 'normal' route, with a slight variation towards the end.  I added 3/4's of a mile onto the route by walking round Clapham Park.  In theory (according to Satmap) the path cut through a wood and into open fields.  It looks like the woods have been allowed to expand a little (up to date maps show this!), so I ended up walking through more woods than planned as it was getting dark....  But it was good to get out in the sun beforehand!

#1 Twinwood & Oakley Little Wood

10.51 Miles
176 Metres

Well back to the drawing board as far as the challenge!  So it was best I started someway as I meant to go on.  Exploring more of the paths around the North of Bedford seemed like a good plan.  There is plenty of good history up there, even if the landscape is quite flat and arable. 

Up a slightly hilly bit

Following my now usual route towards Clapham, I again headed up past the golf course towards the old RAF camp.  Instead of heading straight along as I have on numerous occasions I took a left towards Twinwood, an old RAF base, now used as a farm, museum and festival venue. 

#32 & #33 Twinwoods and Manton Lane.

#32 & #33 Twinwoods and Manton Lane.

7.52 Miles

125 Metres

I am trying to get out and about more often, so using a few local walks seemed a no brainer.  This walk is mainly around arable fields and whilst I would never describe it as amazing, it is nice enough, and more importantly it's outside!



Yellow is so on fashion this season...



The paths on the whole are good and the field margins wide.  On a good day you do get decent views across Bedford with the twin hangers of Cardington clearly standing out.  Twinwoods itself is an old RAF base, and it's most notable claim to flame is that it's where Glenn Miller took off from before disappearing.

#27 Barton Le Clay

#27 Barton Le Clay

Distance - 10.0 miles
Ascent - 217 metres

Two walks in two days?  I'm getting extravagate! Todays walk was a planned 8.5 mile wander around Barton Le Clay and the edge of the Chilterns.  The weather again was pretty perfect and warm enough for short sleeves and sunblock!  Nick was visiting from the South so I dragged him along.

The Chilterns



Heading North/east out of Barton Le Clay along the John Bunyan trail the path is wide, flat and easy walking.  The views are across open pleasant farmland with 'big' horizons.  The scarp slope of the Chilterns is obvious to one side and contrasts sharply with the flat farm land we was walking through. 

#26 Great Barford and Roxton the Sequel.

#26 Great Barford and Roxton

Distance - 7.19 miles
Ascent - 28 metres

Earlier in the week I did a 5 mile walk along the Ouse with a loop round Roxton.  I thought I'd come back and do the full Great Barford/Tempsford loop, mainly before the nettles get much higher (they are growing and growing!).  The weather was perfect, I arrived with plenty of time, I was in no rush, what could go wrong?

The Ouse



The section between Great Barford and Roxton is fairly well known to me now.  It's a flat walk along the river, it's quite nice and easy to follow.  As I mentioned last time the rubbish in the trees does detract a little but it is/was offset by the wildlife on show, swans, ducks, birds (I'm such a twitcher...) and butterflies.  The river is very slow (artificially so due to the weirs and locks) and you would be hard pressed to work out which direction it flows in for most of the walk.

#25 Great Barford to Roxton

#25 Great Barford to Roxton

Distance - 6.21 miles
Ascent - 11 metres

Back to regular haunts down the River Great Ouse.  On a nice Saturday afternoon I had planned just to take a wander to Roxton Locks and back.  Should of been about 5 miles long but I decided to extend it slightly with a walk through the village of Roxton.

The river walk was as quiet as usual and it wont be long before the nettles invade again.  The river bank was showing signs of the wet winter, a clear brown 'tide' mark along with (unfortunately) quite a bit of rubbish caught in the tree branches.  It spoilt to whole calm river ambiance to be honest, no thoughts of a wind in the willows style of scene when their are carrier bags blowing in the willows.

The lock and weir had more water flowing through it than I had seen in a while (I avoided the path in the floods), last year it was more like a trickle over the weir.  This year there was more of a rolling rumble.  Much more exciting (if weirs can be exciting to a passer by, more exciting to a boat owner I'd guess!).

The village of Roxton was very pleasant and quiet.  Didn't spot a pub or a shop, but that's quite normal these days.  However even on a quiet Saturday you never escape the 'hum' of the A1.  Would be nice to live in the middle of nowhere someday!

Well a short and sweet posting!

#16 Clapham and Twinwoods

#16 Clapham and Twinwoods

Distance - 8.03 Miles
Ascent - 113 Metres

Today was the first day of Snowmageddon so I had planned to get out early, do a walk and get home before the roads descended into anarchy.  As it happens the snow came early so I was stuck at home.  I then remembered it was actually possible (!) to start a walk from home and you didn't have to drive somewhere for a walk.

Heading up the Baulk

I decided to have a wander up past Clapham towards Twinwoods.  This is mostly arable fields, so isn't the most interesting but with the snow should be fun.  From the Baulk onwards the road/track wasn't gritted and even some locals were struggling.  The track leads up to the old Twinwoods airfield camp and the old huts are still used by farmers.

#12 Harrold and Odell

#12 Harrold and Odell

Distance - 5.78 Miles
Ascent - 96 metres

My first challenge walk in the UK!  Thought I'd do an easy walk in north Beds.  Starting in Harrold country park with easy parking it should be and easy wander round the countryside.  It was not too cold, not raining and generally all was good for the day.



Odell Church

Surprisingly I found the walking tougher than it should be.  After Jordan I had been a little under the weather and as I write this I can confirm that i'm ill!  It was actually a nice (on the whole) and gentle walk through nice ancient woodland.

Ravensdon

Ravensdon

Distance - 6.59 Miles (10.9Km)
Time Taken - 2Hrs 26mins
Ascent - 91m

Second walk in 4 days?  It's almost like I'm in training!  Ok so I am making a concerted effort to get out and about (and to write about it).  I was a bit late getting out, so I had about 2.5 hours of daylight left, which was leaving things a little tight.  In the event I took longer than I wanted due to a couple of areas on the path being overgrown.  Shorts and nettles do not mix well.

Typical Bedfordshire landscape

 

For the first mile I felt a bit achy, which is a poor effort really.  The path is easy to follow along field boundaries and pretty flat.  Even the 'hills' are not much more than long slopes.  The wet and warm weather has led to an eruption in nettles and thistles.  These often cover the whole field edge forcing the walker along the edge of crops (harvested recently so not an issue today).  Walking along the 'stubble' gives a satisfying crunch, though I'm not sure how good it is for rolling ankles.