Pete's Walks - Kensworth and Flamstead (page 3 of 3)
I crossed over at the lane junction, went a few yards right and then turned left on another footpath. This ran through the right edge of a small field of rough grass. Beyond this I turned left, on a long path around the edge of another huge field of young green corn, sloping down into a valley on my right. On eventually reaching the field corner, I turned left, following another hedgerow on my left to reach Roe End Lane, where I turned right.
Cheverell's Green
The path to Roe End
Roe End Lane
When the surfaced section of Roe End Lane finished (where a track goes left to Beechwood Home Farm), I continued along the unsurfaced section, a green lane between hedges. Initially the the hedge was very broad on the left of the track, more a narrow belt of scrub, and I was startled when two Fallow Deer suddenly burst out of it and ran up the track ahead of me before escaping through a gap in the hedge to the right. I saw some Greater Stitchwort growing further along the track.
Roe End Lane
Roe End Lane
Roe End Lane
Roe End Lane
Roe End Lane
After about three-quarters of a mile along this very pleasant track, I turned right and passed through a small triangular area of trees, then continued along a path on the south-western edge of Byslip Wood (I was now retracing my steps from the start of the walk I had done this morning). The path ended on Byslips Road, where I went left for maybe a hundred yards before taking a path on the other side. Beyond a garden fence, this crossed a huge field of oil-seed rape, passing a small wood on the right, and eventually reached another small wood, on the edge of Holywell.
The path through the edge of Byslip Wood
The path to Holywell from Byslips Road
The path to Holywell from Byslips Road
The path to Holywell from Byslips Road
On the far side of this wood I turned right, following a path along the bottom of some gardens and then heading gently downhill through trees to reach Buckwood Lane (the continuation of Buckwood Road that I'd crossed earlier in Markyate, and sometimes called 'Bucket Lane' by the locals). A few yards to the right I turned left into Dovehouse Lane, and followed it uphill. The hedges either side overhang the lane, forming a 'tunnel' effect. By Shortgrove Manor Farm I turned left, and followed a track through a meadow, continuing across a huge open grass field to reach the Whipsnade Road. Here I turned right to return to Kensworth.
The path along the edge of Holywell
Dovehouse Lane
Approaching the Whipsnade Road
This 11 mile walk took me about three and a half hours. On top of the walk I had done this morning, I had done a total of about 17.5 miles, so I was pretty tired by the time I got home. Unlike this morning's blue skies, this afternoon's walk had been largely under overcast conditions and it turned quite cool so that I'd had to put my warm coat on just after leaving Flamstead. As with the morning walk, all these local paths on this route were very familiar to me, but I had not done this exact walk before (I'd done similar ones, but had taken a more direct route from Kensworth to Markyate instead of going via Church End and Kensworth Lynch). There was a fair amount of lane walking involved, especially near the start, but there was very little traffic and it did not detract from an enjoyable route that I'm sure I'll do again sometime.