Pete's Walks - Lilley-Barton (page 4 of 5)
I continued along the path as it turned right along the southern edge of the Barton Hills reserve, then in the next corner I went straight on for a few yards through bushes before turning left to follow a lengthy farm track heading south through corn fields. Soon I could see Galley Hill and Warden Hill ahead of me. As I reached a minor road I passed a stationary tractor attached to a plough - I wondered if the chap in the tractor's cab was eating a ploughman's lunch! I had to follow the road left for a couple of hundred yards, then turned right and continued southwards on a wide bridleway. After about three quarters of a mile I reached a track crossroads, where the Icknield Way crossed the bridleway I was on. Here I spotted a stoat on the far side of the crossroads - the wind must have been in my favour as it didn't notice me and I finally managed to get a photo of one of these small predators.
Barton Hills
The track going south from Barton Hills
The track approaching the minor road, Galley Hill and Warden Hill in the distance
The bridleway going south from the minor road
The bridleway approaching the junction where the Icknield Way crosses
A stoat - this was on the other side of the track crossroads where I met the Icknield Way again
I turned right onto the track carrying the Icknield Way - I noticed that under a slight layer of dirt and dead leaves it was surfaced with bricks. After a couple of hundred yards I turned left, entering a golf course. After a few yards the path went half-right and crossed a fairway to a gate, leaving the golf course and starting the fairly gentle climb up the scrub-covered slopes of Galley Hill. I spotted another Chalkhill Blue here. From the top of the hill there was a view over the Luton-Dunstable conurbation towards Blows Downs - I remembered looking this way when I was on those hills on my Caddington figure-of-eight walk.
The Icknield Way, beside the golf course
The path up Galley Hill
Galley Hill
Looking across Luton (and a bit of Dunstable) towards Blows Downs
I continued along the path over Galley Hill, soon following the edge of a corn field as it gradually descended into the dip between Galley Hill and Warden Hill. Here I turned right for a short distance, before turning left and continuing up Warden Hill - again I spotted a Chalkhill Blue, so having only seen them two or three times before I'd now seen them three times in one day!
The path from Galley Hill to Warden Hill
Path in the dip between Galley Hill and Warden Hill
The path up Warden Hill