Pete's Walks - Kensworth-Ivinghoe (part 3)
I continued in the same south-westerly direction along a bridleway that started next to the church. I was first inspired to do this walk by seeing this long and straight bridleway on the map, envisaging it to be a chalky farm track, and so I was rather disappointed, when I first did the walk a month or so ago, to find that it had a totally artificial grey gravel surface. Still, it made for easy walking. There were more stubble fields to my left, while initially on my right were large sheep pastures. Ahead and slightly to the left was Ivinghoe Beacon, with the flat expanse of the Vale of Aylesbury to my right. I spotted another butterfly as I trudged along the gravel track, a Small Tortoiseshell.
Start of the long bridleway from Edlesborough to Ivinghoe Aston
The bridleway heading towards Ivinghoe Aston, with Ivinghoe Beacon ahead and to the left
Looking back to Edlesborough church and Dunstable Downs
Eventually, the track started to rise gently, now with fields of stubble either side. As the track drew level with the steep slopes of Ivinghoe Beacon on my left, it ended at a road, with the village of Ivinghoe Aston just yards away to my right. As I crossed the road, I also crossed the route of the Chiltern Link, a one-day walk I did about three years ago.
Ivinghoe Beacon from the bridleway
Crossing the road just outside Ivinghoe Aston
On the other side of the road, the bridleway continued for a few yards along a tarmac drive, then ran between hedges for a very long distance. At one point it passed a small group of beech trees on the right, but there were generally stubble fields or green pastures beyond the hedges. Eventually there was a golf course beyond the hedge on the right, and a bit further on the bridleway concluded at the end of a short street in Ivinghoe.
Stubble field and the flat lands of the Vale of Aylesbury from the bridleway
The bridleway between Ivinghoe Aston and Ivinghoe
I turned left at the end of the street, soon reaching another junction opposite the village church where I again went left.
Ivinghoe
Ivinghoe church
Leaving the attractive houses of Ivinghoe behind, I carefully crossed a major road junction where a road came in from the left (part of my driving route to Tring, Wendover and all the parts of the Chilterns further west). A few yards further on I took a path on the left, which initially ran for a few hundred yards between fences and hedges - there were occasionally fairly close views of the Beacon to my left, with its two small subsidiary humps and then Steps Hill further round.
Ivinghoe Beacon from the path from Ivinghoe
Near the start of the path from Ivinghoe
The path then emerged in the corner of another large field of stubble , and continued in the same direction as before alongside a hedgerow on my left. This obscured the views of the Beacon, but ahead and to my right I could now see Pitstone Hill, and the small hillock beside the car park there. The path continued to rise gently uphill beside the hedge, the stubble eventually giving way to a large meadow - I saw another Comma butterfly here. After a while the hedgerow turned left, but the path continued gently uphill across the grass to a far hedgerow. There were now splendid views to my left, from Ivinghoe Beacon to Steps Hill and the steep-sided narrow valley of Income Hole. Looking back, I could see Pitstone Mill standing alone in the middle of a field.
The path from Ivinghoe
The path from Ivinghoe crossing the meadow, with the wooded slopes of Ashridge ahead
Ivinghoe Beacon, from the meadow
Close-up looking back at Pitstone Mill
Ivinghoe Beacon from the meadow
When I reached a stile in the far hedgerow, I stopped and sat on a convenient block of concrete to eat my lunch. Looking back the way I’d come, I could see the spire of Ivinghoe church and then, much further off, Mentmore Towers (originally built for one of the Rothschilds, it was later home to the Earl of Rosebery, who was Prime Minister for a couple of years in the 1890’s).
Close-up view looking back from my lunch stop, showing Ivinghoe church and Mentmore Towers in the far distance