The final frontier and more mud: Dunstable Downs

The final walk of Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns was around Dunstable Downs. We made an early start, so we parked at  the pub in Totternhoe with the aim of returning there for lunch. This meant that the walk started with a steepish climb up Totternhoe Knolls, apparently the site of a motte and bailey castle, and along a path descending a ridge.

This reached a disused railway that once joined Dunstable to the main line at Leighton Buzzard. This rose slightly and entered a wooded area, in which the instructions told us to leave the railway path just after it passed over a bridge. This involved a scramble down a steep bank to join an almost-parallel path. Some distance along that path, we saw a second bridge on the path above with an easy route down. Clearly, we had come off the railway path too soon. The route instruction were not so good in this case.

This was only a minor diversion, but  was followed by a more significant one. As you can see from the track below, we got a bit lost! However, with a little help from google, we got back on track and headed for the outskirts of Dunstable.

We then climbed a steep slope to reach the downs. The path took us along the escarpment, with plenty of gliders from London Gliding Club on view. We resisted the temptations of the cafe at the NT visitor centre, and followed the very distinctive waymarks, with glass insets, to the car park near the B4540, .

The route took us back along the base of the escarpment on a path less flat, and very much more muddy than we had hoped. This skirted the site of the gliding club and under their landing path.

The way to Totternhoe was a bit of a cross-country trudge on muddy paths, including one across a recently ploughed field. Much of the field was on our boots by the time we got back to the car. Unfortunately, the pub was fully booked for lunch and wasn't offering sandwiches, so we settled for a drink and a packet of crisps, followed by an emergency sandwich picked up from a garage.

It's a shame that the last walk in the book wasn't a brilliant experience. This walk would certainly have been much nicer in late spring when the downland flowers were out (and there would be less mud).

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A muddy towpath and a great hot chocolate

Most of the paths in the Marlow area are very familiar to us, but we're on a mission to complete Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns, and there's a walk from Marlow to Medmenham and back, so off we went despite the recent rain.

The book starts the walk from Marlow, but the car parks are limited to four hours. We weren't sure we'd have time for the walk and a lunch stop, so we parked at Bovingdon Green and headed for Homefield Wood, then South to Medmenham, emerging at the Dog & Badger.

The route was supposed to take us across the fields between the Marlow-Henley road  and the river. However, previous experience told us that those fields get very sodden after rain, so we walked along the roadside verge to the join the path as it heads back to the river at Danesfield. The path skirts round the hotel grounds, which are surrounded by a fence more suitable for a prison. Are they trying to keep people out, or to keep the guests in? I'm not keen on this hotel - I was once there with a group from work that included an Italian in the smartest jeans you can imagine (he looked much smarter than most of looked in suits), and we weren't allowed to eat in the restaurant because of the jeans.

We were then faced with the choice of a short cut back along a path into Marlow, or the proper route along the towpath. We chose the towpath (passing Bisham Abbey), which turned into something of an adventure on account of the mud and puddles. We were lucky to avoid slipping over.

Our lunch stop was at the 'Cafe in the Park' in Higginson Park, which is lovely. Perhaps the best hot chocolate I've ever had.

The route back to the car through Marlow was via paths we didn't know existed, one of which went alongside some allotments, also protected by a prison fence.

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Sharpenhoe Clappers followed by a proper pub lunch

This walk is the most Northerly walk in Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns, and the furthest from home. It's not on the set of Chiltern Ordnance Survey maps - in fact it spans four of the 1:25,0000 maps. Although the route descriptions are good, you still need the maps. Rather than buy four, we took advantage of the O/S  custom map service and bought one that would cover this walk, and the other remaining walk in this area. We ought not to be as pleased about this map as we are.

We were able to get away before 9:00 headed to the start of the walk via the M25, M1 and Luton, and were walking by 10:00. I didn't associate this area to the East of the M1 as being part of the Chilterns but, within a few minutes of setting off, we were on a typical carunculated Chiltern escarpment, topped with beech trees.

We were soon at Sharpenhoe Clappers - 'clappers' apparently derives from an old French word for rabbit warren. It's easy to forget that rabbits are not native to the UK, but were introduced by the Normans for food and housed in man-made warrens like the one found when this area was excavated.

The escarpment becomes West-facing at this point and we followed  the top for a while, then descended from the National Trust car park and tracked along the base for a couple of miles. Amazingly, we found  a Chiltern Gentian in flower on this path - in December! There was then a sharp climb to a chalk pit and a cross-country trek back to the car at Streatley (interestingly, there's a Streatley at the West edge of the Chilterns too). 

At was around 12:30, and were conveniently parked outside The Chequers which was advertising home-made steak and ale pies. We were not strong enough to resist, so put the diets on hold for half an hour. The pie was everything you'd expect, and just what we needed  after a cold walk. At £8.95 with chips and fresh veg, this was very good value. Liver, bacon and mash was £4.95 - it was like being in Derby!

3-d view looking South

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carunculated means 'like a cock's comb' as was used spontaneously by Rosie