Sunday's forthcoming Pitstone / Ivinghoe Walk route...

Here's a map of the route on Sunday. We are starting at Pitstone Hill car park (free), walking to Steps Hill then on to Ivinghoe Beacon. We'll follow the Beacon path around then through the woods and up the steep hill to Ward's Hurst Farm. From there we'll cross the Ashridge estate woodland and finally on to Clipper Down before returning to Pitstone Hill. It'll give us the chance to tackle a few hills and take in some good views. The entire walk is 6 miles and we can expect to be out between 2 and 3 hours.

Meet at my house after 1.30pm or 2pm at the car park.

 

Profile of the walk, from start to finish.  Highest point: 789ft, lowest point: 530ft. Distance 6 miles.

More photos from Richmond Park...

Richmond Park..

Entering Richmond Park on a sunny Saturday afternoon!

Tony, Mark C, Emma, Mark S, Peter

Route map for the London Walk...

Walk Update

A quick update on walking dates....

The annual London Walk

The postponed walk back to in March is re-arranged for Saturday 16th May. The route will be the same as originally planned, and we'll meet either at St Albans City station to catch the train (there's a discount on multiple purchases) or at Hammersmith station (start of the walk) - which ever suits you best. It's about 9 miles and flat, easy walking following the Thames for a stretch then Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common. Everyone welcome, let me know if you're interested. This walk will be pretty much all day including the travelling.

Chiltern hills practise walk

This will be a fairly short but intense walk close to Ivinghoe/Pitstone on Sunday 31st May. I have to finalise the route and time/place to meet, but the plan is to meet early afternoon and walk for about 2 to 2.5 hours. We'll have several short but steep climbs which will be good practise for Ben Nevis. Everyone welcome though of course, not just if you're coming to Scotland.

Ben Nevis

We're now all booked up for the Ben Nevis trip Friday 26th to 28th. We'll be leaving early on the Friday morning and will arrive in Glasgow to collect our hire car. From there we'll have a 2 hour journey to Fort William. With a bit of luck we'll be at our accommodation by lunchtime! The return flight is about 5.30 in the afternoon on Sunday. We'll have a couple of hours in Fort William Sunday morning before we need to drive back to Glasgow. Remember to book Friday off work and I'd recommend Monday too if you can!

Ben Nevis

This year we're climbing Ben Nevis in June!

Ashridge Gaddesden Circular Sunday 5th October 2014

A glorious day of autumn sunshine between two grey rainy days blessed us for this 7.5 mile walk.

Starting at Great Gaddesden we followed the north west bridleway to Hudnall, through some woods and back into open fields before arriving at Little Gaddesden for a pub lunch at the Bridgewater Arms. After a very good pub stop we entered the Golden Valley before coming out on to the road then following an indistinct footpath through a very large field that eventually lead to Nettleden (just off the bottom of the map below). Finally we climbed a steepish hill towards St Margrets and back to Great Gaddesden late afternoon.

Walkers on the day: Bailey the dog, Fred, Joshua (aged 5), Peter, Tony

Map of (most of) the route:

Joshua, Bailey and Fred on the first half of the walk

A heart shaped tree stump, coming into Hudnall

Despite Little Gaddesden's elevation compared to the start of the walk it flattens out considerably on the approach into the village. Here you could here the stalks of the corn crackling as the warm autumn sun warmed the field.