Pete's Walks - The Chiltern Way
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
Day 1 5/5/05 Dunstable Downs to Chalton (7.4 miles each way)
Parked at the visitor centre on Dunstable Downs.
Paragliders on Dunstable Downs 22/10/05
The weather was mainly grey and overcast, but it stayed dry all day. Rather chilly as I set off over the downs, the dark grey skies making it rather gloomy and restricting the extent of the magnificent views over the Vale of Aylesbury and beyond. Descended into the outskirts of Dunstable and followed the wide and well-used Green Lane out of the town. Turned right and followed the paths to Sewell. The initial section of path out of Sewell was somewhat overgrown but still passable, then more footpaths led to a very steep flight of steps up to the A5 at Chalk Hill. From there, more paths took me past Houghton Regis sewage works and on to Bidwell. There then followed a long and pleasant stretch of paths through fields, eventually joining a long stretch of green lane approaching Chalton. This was the best section, with distant views over Luton and Dunstable to Blows Downs, and also towards the Sundon Hills. It seemed strange turning round at Chalton and walking back the way I came, but I quickly appreciated the different views on the return leg.
When I set out on this particular walk, it was really an exploratory journey to see what the Chiltern Way was like, I hadn’t definitely decided to do the whole route. With hindsight, this was not the most interesting of walks along the Chiltern Way, as it simply followed some under-used footpaths to skirt the conurbation of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, but it was good enough to convince me that I’d like to continue with the Chiltern Way, at least as far as Hemel Hempstead which would be the last bit in my local patch.