Pete's Walks - Kensworth to Briden's Camp (part 3)
From across the valley, I'd heard the church bells ringing - either there was a wedding, or they were sounding a warning that I was approaching! As I reached the centre of the village at the top of the hill, I passed the church on my right (Thomas Pickford, founder of the removals firm is buried here) and at the next junction I saw a very informative notice board about the history of the village. I soon took a footpath on my left, which ran along the bottom of some gardens then turned right to reach Friendless Lane (my favourite road or lane name!). I followed the lane left for about a hundred yards, then took a path on the right - I left the Hertfordshire Way at this point, as it goes another hundred yards down the lane before taking a parallel path on the right. There are actually three parallel paths between Flamstead and Markyate, the third one being the one that runs on the far side of Friendless Lane (I use it on my Redbourn walk) - the one I was about to walk is the one that I always used to use, but for some reason I hadn't actually walked it for three years or more.
Flamstead church
Flamstead
The path crossed a large meadow or paddock - I was slightly worried as a large and very pregnant horse walked to meet me as I crossed part of the field and walked alongside a hedge, but it just went by me and through a gap in the hedge into the adjoining field. Further on I heard the pleasant sounds of a cricket match being played over the hedge to my right. The path continued between the hedgerow and a wire fence on my left, beside a rough pasture. I then went over a stile into the corner of a large paddock where several horses grazed. I continued alongside the right-hand hedge, and continued alongside it through the subsequent ploughed field. Here I spotted a very small flower, which I initially thought was Eyebright until I got home and looked at my books - wrong leaves, wrong petal shape, wrong time of year! It turned out to be Thyme-leaved Speedwell, which I'd not seen before (what would I do without those helpful folk on WildAboutBritain!).
The start of the path from Flamstead to Markyate
The path to Markyate, just outside Flamstead
The path to Markyate, entering the large paddock
The path to Markyate
The path went through a gap in the field corner, turned left along the hedge for a few yards, then turned right, following a broad headland between two very large green arable fields. I passed a solitary mature oak tree which looked splendid, but was sadly another reminder of a grubbed-up hedgerow. After a few hundred yards I switched to the left of the headland, just before an actual hedgerow started. The path followed the hedge, and soon I was in a residential street in Markyate.
The path to Markyate, running along this headland between arable fields
Looking back to Flamstead (close-up shot)
The path nearing Markyate
I turned left for a few yards, then took a path on the right that goes through a gate in an arch in some strange feature. Across a street the path continues down an alley to reach Buckwood Road. I crossed over and followed the street opposite, going straight on when the street turned left, to reach another street. I went a few yards left, then took a path on the other side. This was soon going along the right edge of some playing fields, continuing alongside a hedgerow parallel to the A5 at the bottom of the valley of the river Ver, down to my right. At a hedge gap, I could see some way ahead along the valley as the A5 heads for Dunstable, and across the valley I could see Markyate Cell, one time home of the alleged highwaywoman Katherine Ferrers (on whom the film The Wicked Lady was based). After some distance the path went slightly left across the corner of a field, where I then came to a path junction. The path I usually take went straight on, to eventually reach Kensworth near the school and new vicarage but, as I didn't fancy the rather dull three-quarter mile trek through the village, I chose to turn right along a farm track beside a hedgerow on my right, still parallel to the A5 a few hundred yards away. This track brought me down to Kensworth Lynch, an attractive hamlet of mainly old and expensive properties, at the foot of Lynch Hill on my left (the name 'Lynch' is not thought to denote a gallows, but rather to come from mediaeval strip lynchets, or terraces, that were once found on the steep hillside).
The path from Markyate. as it leaves the sports fields
Path approaching Kensworth Lynch
I crossed the road, and took the lane through the hamlet, and continued along it towards Church End (the original nucleus of the village of Kensworth, centred around the twelfth-century church). The lane followed the bottom of a shallow valley, with steep banks on either side - there were more Bluebells, Yellow Archangel and occasionally Herb Robert here, but the dominant plant was the lovely Greater Stitchwort.
Lane from Kensworth Lynch to Church End
Only about three vehicles passed me as I followed the lane the three-quarters of a mile to Church End. There were several cars outside the church, and a few people in the churchyard, but I don't think that it was a wedding that was going on. The lane turned sharply left, becoming Hollicks Lane. I saw a Jay fly off as I followed the lane a short distance to the top of the hill, and I noticed the very tiny field on my left (no bigger than the average house plot) had been ploughed - I wasn't sure how they could get a tractor in there, or turn one with a plough attached. Just past the top of the hill, I went through a hedge gap on the right, in order to follow the path that runs along the other side of the hedge on the right of the lane, descending steeply into a valley and up the equally steep far side (1 in 7 or steeper both sides, according to the map), with another huge green field to my right. Near the top of the opposite slope I rejoined the lane, which soon took me back to Common Road, Kensworth, and my home.
Church End
The path besides Hollicks Lane, heading towards Kensworth
The walk had taken about 5 hours and 50 minutes, plus 10 minutes for my lunch stop. I didn't feel too bad at the end of the 16-mile walk, but for some reason I felt really stiff and tired during the rest of the day and evening, which I don't usually do after a walk.
It had been a really good walk, on a beautiful Spring day. The start of the walk as far as Roe End was on very familiar paths that I use on many of my local walks, and the end of the walk along the lanes from the Lynch was a bit of an anticlimax, but it had still been a very enjoyable day's walk. The section past Beechwood House to Gaddesden Row I had only walked once before, and the section from Briden's Camp to Flamstead was entirely new to me - it turned out to be a very pleasant section, and I'm sure I'll walk it again. It was also nice to revisit the route I always used to use between Flamstead and Markyate.
I have always said that Autumn is my favourite season, because of the gorgeous colours of the changing leaves. But since getting interested in wildflowers about three years ago, I think I've change my mind. The colourful flowers in the hedgerows come as such a delight after the drab days of winter, and the new green leaves on the trees have such a freshness about them, that Spring has to be the season that I most enjoy my walking.
To see this walk when I did it again on 26/3/11, click here - Kensworth and Briden's Camp (again)