Pete's Walks - Kensworth and Flamstead (page 2 of 3)
On eventually reaching a crossing hedgerow, the path turned left, then went through the end of the hedge and ran beside a ploughed field on my right. It continued following the hedgerow through a large horse field, beyond which it was enclosed between the hedge and the fences of some rough paddocks or pastures. Finally it went through a kissing gate into a very large empty horse field, following the hedge on the left to the next corner, then turning right for a few yards to reach a kissing gate leading onto Friendless Lane, on the edge of Flamstead.
The path from Markyate to Flamstead
The path from Markyate to Flamstead
The path from Markyate to Flamstead
The last field on the path from Markyate to Flamstead
I followed the lane left a short way towards Flamstead. Just past a junction with Mill Lane (I could have gone straight on here and then turned right to visit the centre of Flamstead), I walked through a car park on the right and continued on a path across a corner of a field. The path then followed a fence line, with views towards Flamstead Church on my left. I soon came to a path junction, where I turned right, joining a section of the Chiltern Way as it heads southwest from Flamstead. The path crossed a green corn field to reach a lane called Pietley Hill, where I went a few yards left before another path continued downhill through another corn field. At the valley bottom, I left the Chiltern Way and turned right along a bridleway following the bottom of the valley.
The path from Friendless Lane, along the edge of Flamstead
Flamstead church
The Chiltern Way heading away from Flamstead
The Chiltern Way going southwest from Pietley Hill (I turned right in the valley bottom)
The bridleway along the valley bottom, going northwest from Trowley Bottom
The bridleway ended at a bend in Valley Lane, where I turned right and followed the lane uphill to a crossroads. Here I turned left, into another section of Friendless Lane (which I'd earlier followed into Flamstead). I followed this intriguingly named lane for a few hundred yards until Friendless Wood began on the left. Here I took a footpath that went through the wood and turned right along its far side. Beyond Friendless Wood the path continued besides a hedgerow through a couple of fields. It then crossed a green corn field to then run alongside a hedge on the left. Near the field corner, I went through a gate and followed a tall garden hedge on my left through an enclosure with numerous jumps for horses, and then through a small paddock to return to Friendless Lane just before it ended at Cheverell's Green.
Valley Lane
Friendless Lane
The path through Friendless Wood
The path beside Friendless Wood
The path continuing west from Friendless Wood
The path continuing west from Friendless Wood
The path continuing west from Friendless Wood