Pete's Walks - Kensworth and Whipsnade Downs (page 1 of 2)
I did this roughly 5-mile walk on Sunday, 26th December 2010. It was a repeat of a short local walk that I have done frequently, from my home in Kensworth through Whipsnade Heath to Whipsnade Downs, returning via Whipsnade and Holywell. It was a much sunnier morning than yesterday, with just some very thin and high white clouds in an otherwise blue sky. Unfortunately the views from the Downs were restricted as much of the Vale of Aylesbury was covered in a blanket of fog.
I started by walking up Common Road, Kensworth, and taking the footpath on the left just after Old Green End Farm, which took me to Whipsnade Heath.
Common Road, Kensworth
The start of the path to Whipsnade Heath
The path to Whipsnade Heath
On entering the wooded heath, I took a path going right and went right at the junction where it ended. This led on through the trees, eventually turning left alongside a boundary fence to reach the Dunstable-Studham road. I crossed over and took a bridleway almost opposite, running between hedgerows. When this ended at a T-junction of bridleways I turned right, on a long bridleway that would eventually take me to the top of Whipsnade Downs.
Whipsnade Heath
View of Whipsnade, from the bridleway starting across the Dunstable-Studham road
Start of the bridleway from Whipsnade to Whipsnade Downs
The bridleway to Whipsnade Downs
The bridleway to Whipsnade Downs
The bridleway approaching Whipsnade Downs
I turned right for a few hundred yards, before going left along the far side of a fence that appears to mark the boundary between Whipsnade Downs and Dunstable Downs. I followed the fence left at the next corner (UPDATE 6/2/2024: You now need to turn right at the corner for a few yards to a kissing-gate, go through that and then through a second gate, then follow the fence on your left) and decided to extend the walk slightly from my planned route by turning half-right down an old drovers way that descended the hillside at an angle. At the bottom of the slope I continued along the path and then turned left to follow a similar drovers way back up the hillside. Where this came to a path crossroads I went straight on, initially up a steep bank and then contouring round the top of Bison Hill (I kept right at a fork in the path, though both forks come back together anyway). I took several photos along this stretch, but as I mentioned before the views were restricted to a few miles by the fog that shrouded much of the Vale of Aylesbury.
Close-up shot of Dunstable Downs from the adjoining Whipsnade Downs
Looking out over the Vale of Aylesbury, from the fence marking the boundary between Whipsnade Downs and Dunstable Downs
Looking towards Totternhoe from the same spot - most of the Vale of Aylesbury was shrouded in fog, so the views from the Downs were a bit disappointing
Start of an old drove way descending Whipsnade Downs to the foot of Bison Hill
Dunstable Downs
Looking back down another old Drove Way from about halfway up Bison Hill