Pete's Walks - Kensworth, Great Gaddesden, Dagnall (page 2 of 3)
The path continued for some distance beside a straggly crop of oil-seed rape (I spotted some redshank growing here too) and then crossed a green paddock towards Little Gaddesden church. There was a really nice view here, looking half-right to Dagnall and the start of the Gade valley (though technically speaking the river doesn't run in that part of the valley!). I continued on past the church, following a very pleasant path through meadows and paddocks. A quick succession of kissing-gates led to a gate by the road through Little Gaddesden - I didn't go through the gate, but had to turn very sharply right to follow a hedgerow for a few yards, before turning to what was now my left and starting down a very long bridleway that would eventually take me to Dagnall.
Approaching Little Gaddesden church
View from the same spot towards Dagnall (at the start of what I think of as the Gade Valley) with the Vale of Aylesbury beyond. The steep slopes on the right are part of Whipsnade Zoo.
Little Gaddesden church
Path from the church to Little Gaddesden
Path from the church to Little Gaddesden
Path from the church approaching Little Gaddesden - I had to do a sharp right turn and follow the hedge to the start of a bridleway just out of shot on the right
The start of the bridleway from Little Gaddesden to Dagnall
I soon reached the edge of a wood, the second Hoo Wood of this walk (this one being close to both Ringshall and Little Gaddesden). As I reached the wood, there was a good view to my right down to the Gade valley once more, and I spotted two or three Guinea Fowl in the long grass here. The bridleway continued as a broad track through the wood, fairly level at first then descending fairly steeply through the trees. I then crossed a very large field with about a dozen horses in it - there were also numerous wooden jumps in it too.
Looking down alongside Hoo Wood (second one on this walk!) to the Gade valley
The bridleway through Hoo Wood
The bridleway through Hoo Wood
Bridleway continuing through a large pasture containing about a dozen horses
The bridleway continued through a wheat field, then went right along part of the drive to a farm, before going left along the edge of another wheat field. At the end of that field, a footpath continued across another wheat field, but I stayed on the bridleway which turned right here and soon reached the main road that runs through the Gade valley. The footpath would have made a nicer route into Dagnall (though it ends rather scrappily through a farmyard and farmhouse garden [Update 20/01/10 A few days later I discovered that the path has been rerouted around the edge of the farm and garden.]), but I'd been that way once before whereas I'd not walked the last two or three hundred yards of the bridleway before. I did then have a quarter mile or so walk along the main road, but there was a wide verge I could get onto whenever a car approached.
Bridleway continuing towards Dagnall
Bridleway continuing towards Dagnall
At this junction I turned right, keeping to the bridleway - the footpath ahead would be a nicer route into Dagnall, but I'd been that way once before whereas I had walked the final section of the bridleway
The last section of the bridleway - the hedgerow screens the main road