Chicksands and Rowney Warren

Chicksands and Rowney Warren

Distance - 11.7 Km - 7.3 miles
Time Taken - 2hrs 20mins + 10 min Break
Assent - 149m

Well after a month of not much I decided to head out into the scary big outdoors.  Normally a month off in a funk would only affect me, but next week I'm supposed to be doing the Peddars Way to Hunstanton over 4 days and i fear my lack of activity will annoy my trekmates!  The first day is a nice 17 miles, so I thought a bit of training might be needed.

With heavy rain and hail in the area I decided to head down to Chicksands and have a wander around 2 woods linked by the Greensand Ridge Way and the John Bunyan Way.  The paths are reasonable well waymarked, but are clear, wide and obvious.

Along the John Bunyan Trail

Salcey Forest Circular

Salcey Forest Circular

Distance - 10.2 Km - 6.35miles
Time Taken - 2hrs 10mins
Assent - 74m

Salcey Forest is a former hunting forest in the South of Northamptonshire near Newport Pagnell and was today's destination.  I had been on a short course at work till 2 but had a free afternoon for a wander.  There wasn't enough time for anything too long so the 6 miles of the 'Woodpecker' walk in Salcey forest seemed to fit the bill.  Also after such a dry March we had recently had some rain so I figured the ground would be better underfoot in a forest.

That theory was correct for about 5/6's of the walk...

The forest.

A forest walk gives a different feel to a walk in open countryside or the hills, there are no views or open long skies.  They do however feel more 'wild' than wandering round the arable fields of the home counties.  Near a nice cafe and car park the forest was anything but quiet, with wild kids and families enjoying the freedom of the holidays and the open forest.  However after about a mile I saw few people, the nice lady carving her and her kids name into a tree were the last people I saw for about an hour.