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

View Sharpenhoe Clappers in a larger map

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