Pete's Walks - Kensworth and Whipsnade Downs (page 2 of 2)
With clear blue skies above me, the views from Dunstable Downs were as spectacular as ever. Despite the conditions, I could see that gliders were taking off from the gliding club below me and that people were paragliding over to my right. There were only a few people about, which rather surprised me, the old car park here having just half a dozen or so vehicles in it. I walked through the car park and then turned left onto a path running along the top of the Downs. After going through a gate, I kept right at a very narrow fork in the path to pass right of a line of trees (now on Whipsnade Downs), soon continuing beside a wood and then a hedge on my left, all the while with a huge meadow or pasture droping downhill to my right. As ever this was a lovely section to walk, with part of the Vale of Aylesbury laid out below me to the right, and Ivinghoe Beacon prominent ahead of me.
From Dunstable Downs, looking over the London Gliding Club and part of the Vale of Aylesbury. Despite the conditions, a plane was just starting to tow a glider up.
Looking towards Edlesborough from Dunstable Downs
Ivinghoe Beacon from Bison Hill
Looking back to Dunstable Downs - there were three Paragliders in the air
A close-up of Ivinghoe Beacon from Bison Hill
At the end of the huge meadow or pasture, now on Bison Hill I went through a gate and a few yards further on turned left onto a bridleway leading to Whipsnade, turning left just before reaching the village (immediately after a bungalow) to go uphill along the right edge of a pasture containing some Jacob's Sheep to reach the Tree Cathedral. I kept right, along a tall hedgerow to reach the Tree Cathedral's entrance and car park, continuing straight on to reach the road through Whipsnade. I then crossed part of the huge green to reach Whipsnade church.
Start of the path from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
The path from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
Jacob's sheep, at Whipsnade
The Tree Cathedral
Whipsnade church
Part of the green at Whipsnade, from outside the churchyard
The rest of the route was the same as the end of my previous walk. I didn't enter the churchyard, but went downhill across the green to meet the road again by The Old Hunter's Lodge. A few yards along the road, I took a track forking right which soon brought me to a road junction. I went a few yards left to a roundabout then turned right (towards Kensworth), before turning left through the Whipsnade Heath car park and a picnic area. The path continued through a wood, ran between a fence and a hedge past a field on my left, before crossing a field to return to Common Road, Kensworth. I turned right to head back to my home.
Looking over the Old Hunter's Lodge towards Whipsnade Heath
Path through Whipsnade Heath
Path from Whipsnade Heath to Kensworth
This was a really nice walk for a Sunday morning, two and a half hours being just right for what I wanted. Being out in the snow under clear blue skies was wonderful and I really enjoyed it. As I mentioned, several people had walked the paths in the two or three days since the snow originally fell and I never came across any knee-deep sections, so it was much easier walking than on Friday.