Pete's Walks - Lilley to Barton-le-Clay walk (page 1 of 6)
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.
I did this circular walk of about 14.5 miles on Saturday, 5th January, 2019. It was a repeat of my Lilley-Barton walk, one of my all-time favourites - today I walked the route clockwise (and as usual I followed the alternatives shown on my Google map).
I parked opposite the pub in Lilley (down a side-road near the church, grid reference TL118264) and started walking about 9:25am. I continued down the narrow road and on out of the village, the road becoming a byway (named Wardswood Lane) at some point. It ran between hedges either side, reaching Ward's Wood after about half a mile, where it turned left and then right following the edge of the wood. A little way after passing the end of the wood, I turned left at a track crossroads and headed south for over half a mile with first a hedge and then Whitehill Wood on my left. The track climbed uphill beside the wood, and at the top of the slope I turned right at another track crossroads (there was a view over Luton looking straight ahead here).
The lane out of Lilley (which becomes Wardswood Lane)
Wardswood Lane (a byway, at least initially)
Wardswood Lane
Wardswood Lane passing Ward's Wood
Wardswood Lane (I turned left behind the hedgerow going left)
The bridleway going left from Wardswood Lane (the wood is Whitehill Wood)
This bridleway followed a hedge on my left. When It turned half-right I took a footpath going half-left. This was soon following another hedge on my left and dropping slightly downhill. After a while it then turned right, and a few yards further on I parted from it where it turned left at a gate, going straight on quite steeply uphill beside a fence on my right to reach the top of Warden Hill.
The bridleway after I turned right after passing Whitehill Wood
The path forking left from the bridleway, heading to Warden Hill
The path approaching Warden Hill
The top of Warden Hill
After admiring the views I went through a wooden gate and continued on over the hill, initially following a fence on my right. When the fence turned right I continued straight on across the scrub-covered hill. After a while the path dropped downhill, with Galley Hill now in view ahead of me, to reach another gate and a bridleway.
View over Luton from Warden Hill
The path over Warden Hill
The path over Warden Hill
The path over Warden Hill
The path over Warden Hill, looking towards Galley Hill
The path over Warden Hill, looking towards Galley Hill