Pete's Walks - Kensworth and Totternhoe (page 3 of 3)
Wellhead Road ended at a junction with the Dunstable-Tring road. Across it a path continued toward the Downs, with the grounds of the London Gliding Club beyond the hedge on the right. The path ended at the foot of the Downs, where I turned right along the path here, still with the Gliding Club on my right. After some distance I reached a second metal gate, beyond which I immediately turned left. After a few yards steeply uphill, a more easily graded path went right, climbing the hillside at a much pleasanter angle. This was obviously a very old drove way, which over the centuries had worn a deep groove into the hillside.
The path past the London Gliding Club
The path past the London Gliding Club, approaching Dunstable Downs
The path along the foot of Dunstable Downs
The path along the foot of Dunstable Downs
The path going up Whipsnade Downs
At its end I turned right onto a path following the fence below a huge meadow or pasture, on what were now Whipsnade Downs. As always here there were good views out over the Vale of Aylesbury, but soon what caught my eye were the Common Spotted Orchids dotting the grassy hillside - there were quite literally hundreds of them, I've never seen anything like it. They were interspersed with even more numerous yellow flowers, mainly Common Rock-rose again but also Bird's-foot Trefoil. At a path junction (where the track I was on started to descend another old drove way) I turned left [UPDATE 28/01/2025 - just turn left and follow the bottom of the drovers' way here, the path going steeply up to the right of it is now blocked by thorny bushes - the two paths rejoin further on], briefly steeply uphill then contouring round the hillside to bring me close to the car park on Bison Hill.
Common Spotted Orchids on Whipsnade Downs - there were literally hundreds of them here
View of Ivinghoe Beacon from Whipsnade Downs
The path on top of Bison Hill
The path on Bison Hill, heading to the car park.
From just above the car park, a bridleway led between hedgerows. After following it a few hundred yards, I turned left (by another yellow topped post) and followed a path through two fields to reach a private drive. A short distance to the right I turned left into the small Sallowsprings Nature Reserve, where I immediately spotted my first Lesser Stitchwort of the year. I followed the path through the two small meadows that make up the reserve, before rejoining the private drive. After a few yards I went right on a path, soon turning left between hedges to reach the entrance to the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral.
The bridleway from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
The path to the Sallowsprings Nature Reserve
Sallowsprings Nature Reserve
The path beside the Tree Cathedral at Whipsnade
I continued onwards into Whipsnade, with the church soon visible ahead of me. I crossed the road and part of the green, turning left to pass the church on my right and then continuing through the green (where I saw three Chimney Sweeper moths, as many as I've ever seen in my life before). I rejoined the road almost opposite the Old Hunter's Lodge restaurant, before taking an old track (a former lane) branching half-right. At its end I carefully crossed a road and turned left to a roundabout. I went a few yards right and crossed over to the car park at Whipsnade Heath. A path then led on into the wooded heath, and continued through two fields to reach Common Road Kensworth by Greenend Farm. I turned right and followed the road slightly downhill to return home.
Whipsnade
Looking towards Whipsnade Heath, from Whipsnade
The path from Whipsnade Heath to Kensworth
As I said at the start, this was a very long nature walk in search of wildflowers, rather than one of my usual walks. Consequently it took almost six hours, whereas I'd normally cover the distance in just over four hours. I was pleased to find over fifty different wildflowers, including five species of orchids. It was a really enjoyable day out, and I look forward to doing it again next year.