Pete's Walks - Shortened version of Kensworth-Totternhoe walk (page 6 of 6)
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.
After going through a metal kissing-gate, I went straight on towards the car park on Bison Hill (sadly, it's currently closed) but before reaching it I turned left and soon reached the start of a hedge-lined bridleway heading to Whipsnade. I followed this for several hundred yards until I passed a bungalow on the left. Immediately after passing this I turned left and followed a path uphill along the right edge of a large pasture, with a couple of small black cows and some Jacob's sheep in it. This is part of the Dell activity centre (most of it over the fence on my right), which I believe sadly closed a few weeks ago - it provided children with learning experience about rural and agricultural life. From the corner of this pasture, the path continued past Whipsnade Tree Cathedral (to the left). From the entrance of the car park for the Tree Cathedral. I went left along a roughly surfaced drive to reach the road through Whipsnade. I crossed over,a nd went half-left across part of the green, heading towards the village church. From near the gate into the churchyard I went slightly left, continuing through the green and heading downhill to return to the road opposite the Old Hunter's Lodge bar and restaurant.
The start of the bridleway from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
The bridleway from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
The bridleway from Bison Hill to Whipsnade
The path after I turned left, heading to Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
The path passing Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
Whipsnade from the entrance to the Tree Cathedral
The path after crossing the road through Whipsnade, heading towards Whipsnade church
Whipsnade church
The path continuing along the green at Whipsnade, looking ahead towards the Old Hunters Lodge and Whipsnade Heath
I went a few yards right along the road, then turned half-right along a track (formerly the continuation of Buckwood Lane and the only way into Whipsnade before the road through Whipsnade Heath was created to provide access to the zoo in about 1930). At its end, I carefully crossed over, turned left for a few yards to reach a roundabout, then crossed the road and walked through the small car park on Whipsnade Heath. I followed the path straight on through the heath, passing a picnic table in a grassy area and continuing through the woods. On the far side the path ran between a wire fence and a hedge on the right, then went slightly left as it crossed a meadow to reach Common Road, Kensworth, where I turned right to return to my starting point. Almost straight away I spotted a 'black' Squirrel and managed to get a couple of photos. It has always been believed that these are just a slight mutation of Grey Squirrels (which I why I usually write 'black', rather than Black, squirrel), but by odd coincidence when I googled 'Black Squirrel UK' I found an article in the Daily Telegraph from just a few days earlier which said that geneticists have found that they are actually descended from a true North American Black Squirrel, that must have escaped from a zoo or wildlife park and mated with a grey squirrel. They've been here in Kensworth for over 60 years at least, I see them once or twice a year (often running along overhead wires) but this was only the second or third time I'd manage to get a photo.
The former lane, that starts near the Old Hunter's Lodge
The path from the car park at Whipsnade Heath
The path through Whipsnade Heath
The path from Whipsnade Heath to Kensworth
Black Squirrel, Kensworth (it's just been discovered that these are not a mutant form of Grey squirrel, genetic tests have shown they are descended from a North American Black Squirrel that must have escaped from a private collection or zoo)
Black Squirrel, Kensworth
Common Road, Kensworth
Again this was a very pleasant walk, and just suited my needs today - I didn't want anything too challenging, and I wanted a walk that would take me through a lot of grassland as I hoped to find an Essex Skipper butterfly. There were some wonderful views from Dunstable Downs and Totternhoe Knolls, and it gave me an opportunity to visit the nature reserves at Totternhoe (as well as butterflies, there are some unusual orchids here earlier in the summer).