Pete's Walks- Bison Hill and Totternhoe (page 4 of 4)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
I now had a lengthy section, well over a mile, to walk along the bottom of the Downs. Very soon I saw an Orange butterfly flying up and down the path, and it rested on a flower just long enough for me to confirm that it was a Dark Green Fritillary. For some distance the Gliding club was nearby on my right, further on there were corn fields. I went through two kissing-gates as I progressed along the base of the Downs.
The path along the bottom of the Downs
Dark Green Fritillary, Dunstable Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
The path along the bottom of the Downs
Eventually there were some paddocks beyond a track on my left. Just past a tree in an area of long grass, I turned left along a narrow path, then turned right on a wider path which was soon climbing up Bison Hill. For a while it was a sunken 'hollow way', an old drovers' route worn into the hillside through centuries of use. I crossed a similar drovers' way, after which there was a very short steep section [UPDATE 28/01/2025 - just continue ahead along the bottom of the drovers' way here, the path going steeply up to the right of it is now blocked by thorny bushes]. The path then more or less flattened out and curved round the top of Bison Hill. I carried on along the path until it reached a metal kissing-gate, beyond which I continued straight on the short distance back to the car park where I'd started.
The start of the path up Bison Hill
The path up Bison Hill
The path up Bison Hill (this is the short steep section just after crossing an old drovers way)
The path up Bison Hill
The path heading back to the Bison Hill car park - the pink flower in the foreground is Musk Mallow (the first I'd seen this year)
This was a nice shorter walk on a fine summer's morning. It's always a pleasure to walk along the Downs and enjoy the far-reaching views, and the green lanes between Dunstable and Totternhoe were quite charming today. It was nice to find a different route back from Totternhoe to the foot of the Downs, and I'm sure I'll use it again in the future. There were plenty of butterflies and wildflowers about today, which I think always add splashes of colour and interest to a walk.
I did a fairly similar walk in the opposite (clockwise) direction last August, but that was entirely on paths I've walked many time before, whereas this walk included a new set of paths near Totternhoe and for that reason I think I slightly preferred today's route.