Pete's Walks - Studham and Little Gaddesden (page 4 of 4)
After a few yards I turned left along a muddy track (one of the few muddy places I came across today, a wonderful change to the almost constant mud of recent walks!). A couple of dogs barked from behind the hedge on the right, and after a while a small terrier came running up behind me - it just barked at me from a distance while wagging its tail, something it's done before so I wasn't too concerned when I saw it coming. Fortunately the larger dog was behind a fence on the other side of the hedge. The track led on to the edge of a field on my left. Through a couple of gates either side of a farm track I then entered an absolutely huge cattle pasture. I followed the hedge on my left. After a couple of hundred yards, just before the hedge turned left, the path should have gone left but the gate here was tied shut so I just followed the hedge round to where the right of way came back through another (tied) gate (a waymark indicated that a path went straight on, although it's not shown on the map). I continued along the hedgerow, which now turned right, and after a while I passed the residents of the pasture, who were mainly lying down chewing the cud. After following the hedgerow for about half a mile altogether I reached the opposite corner of the pasture from where I'd started.
The track leading away from Gaddesden Row
The path from Gaddesden Row
Start of the path around the edge of the enormous cattle pasture
The path around the edge of the enormous cattle pasture
A metal gate gave access here to the other side of the hedgerow, which I now followed beside a field of beans (I think). The path turned left in the next field corner, and followed the edge of the field to reach a road called Pedley Hill. Here I turned right, carefully following the road (there were a few alpacas in the large enclosure on my left). I stayed on the road at a left-hand bend where a lane went right (into Clements End).
The path continuing after switching to the other side of the hedge
The path heading towards Pedley Hill
The road called Pedley Hill, approaching Clements End, Studham
A few yards further on, I took a path on the right, initially along a gravel drive with a very tall hedge on my left. Just before reaching a property the path went through a gap in the hedge and soon entered a hay meadow (with bales of hay wrapped in plastic). Beyond this the path followed the edge of Great Bradwin's Wood on my right. This curved slightly left along a corn field. In the corner the path went through a hedge gap to reach the southeastern corner of Studham Common. Here I turned left, and followed the edge of the common back to the car park.
The footpath approaching Great Bradwin's Wood
The footpath beside Great Bradwin's Wood
Approaching Studham Common
The eastern section of Studham Common
Looking across the common towards Studham
This was a very pleasant walk on a nice summer's day. Though there were often quite a lot of clouds about, it was generally sunny but pleasantly cool. It made such a pleasant change not to wear gaiters and not have to deal with paths that were almost impassably muddy! Being so close to my home in Kensworth, all the paths were very familiar to me although it seems some time since I walked some of them (this route is essentially a shortened version of my Kensworth and Little Gaddesden walk). The bulk of the route was on field paths with only a few woods, but Studham Common and the Golden Valley added a bit of further variety. There were only a few ups and downs, but for a 10-mile route it was reasonably varied and the scenery was pretty good almost throughout.