Pete's Walks - Gaddesden Row and Briden's Camp (shortened version) (page 3 of 3)
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 a while I had Big Wood on my right. The track curved slightly right, then I left the wood behind as the track continued beside a tall hedge on my right, beside a large corn field. I then soon arrived in the hamlet of Briden's Camp. next to a pub. I turned right along the road here following it through the hamlet and round a couple of bends, before taking a path on the left that went along the drive towards Home Farm.
The Bridleway to Briden's Camp
The bridleway arriving at Briden's camp, by the village pub
The road through Briden's Camp
The drive after I turned left from the road, just outside Briden's Camp
When London Wood started on the right, I took a footpath that followed the edge of the wood. After a few hundred yards, roughly where a hedge came in on the right, the path joined a grassy ride between two tall hedges with several horse jumps along it. At the end of the hedges I turned left along a track beside a hedge on my right. I then turned right along the drive to a large house named Golden Parsonage, but immediately forked half-left from the drive. Through a gate in a fence the path continued across another meadow past some fine Sweet Chestnut trees to another gate, beyond which the path continued to reach the drive to The Lane House.
The path after I turned right from the drive, alongside London Wood
The path after I turned right from the drive, alongside London Wood
The 'ride' with horse jumps, after London Wood
The path after I turned left from the 'ride', approaching the drive to Golden Parsonage
The path forking half-left from the drive to Golden Parsonage
The path approaching the drive to The Lane House
I went left through a gate here, then turned right beside a duck pond. I soon reached a paddock, where I went half-left to reach a metal-kissing gate. Beyond another gate in the next corner the path continued along a broad headland between fields to reach Ledgemore Lane. A path continued on the other side, running between paddock fences for a few hundred yards. Beyond the paddocks, the path followed the right edge of a meadow a short way to a path junction, where I turned right and followed a path past the Gaddesden Row allotments. On the far side I turned left along a road and soon returned to where I'd started on the edge of Jockey End.
The path continuing from The Lane House
The path continuing through paddocks
The path continuing through paddocks
Water tower, Gaddesden Row
The path continuing along the broad headland between fields
The path after crossing the lane, running between paddock fences
The path after crossing the lane, running between paddock fences
Further along the same path (I turned right at the metal kissing-gate by the tree)
The path after I turned right, passing the allotments at Jockey End
This was a very pleasant walk that perfectly suited my purposes today, and I had almost perfect weather for it. I enjoyed walking a new path, and the long path to Briden's camp might as well have been another new path for me, as I didn't really remember it at all. The only downside to the route was the shortcut meant I missed out on a fine view towards Nettleden where the longer route descends a hill on its way to Briden's Camp.