Thursday 25th August Ardeley walk

This 8 mile walk had 6 walkers and was led by Wendy & Richard .
Meeting at Church Farm on a very wet morning, we made our way through the village before turning up the track leading to Walkern Bury farm where we encountered a very large herd of cattle standing on the path, so a detour through the field was needed, but they started to run in our direction, but stopped short just in front of us,so we could carry on out of the field very quickly

John, Debbie, Richard, Kate, Wendy & Tony P.

Continuing on along some very wet & slippery tracks we passed through Walkern Hall farm on our way to Bennington, where we had a break in the shelter out of the continuous rainfall

Passing alongside Haily Park wood, we continued through paddocks of horses, some of which started to get a little to close for comfort 

Arriving at Walkern we walked through the sports field, where some of the equipment was tried out, then on through the village and over a ford with flowing water
The rain continued to fall as we started to make our way through the fields & tracks back to Church Farm & the finish of a very enjoyable walk

Track of walk.

Saturday 19th August Toddington

 8 miles, 4 ramblers led by Ruth

We really enjoyed this: four fit females including a new member, we kept up a comfortably brisk pace and enjoyed conversation so that the time flew! We set out round the back of Alma Farm, past the barking chained dog, and onto the fields leading to the road between Hockliffe and Woburn. After abrief road walk, we returned to the lane at Tebworth, having our first break at 11am at Tebworth pond. The water level was so low!

 

Next we passed trhough fields to Charlgrave Church for an early 11.45 lunch. The church was open as there was to be a wedding in the afternoon so we admired the flower arrangers and looked around this small church. 

 The final mile or so was through the Fancott woods then fields to Conger Lane.

Thursday 18th August Marsden walk

This 3 mile walk had 16 walkers and was led by Beryl

Meeting at The Green outside the Old Rectory (of Capt Sir Tom fame) we proceeded down Church walk and into the church yard of grade 1 listed St Mary the Virgin church, which dates from around 1340 and is a church with a very rare feature for the east of England, a detached tower about 70ft from the church.

Leaving the church, we walked along the field path before crossing the road to enter the Millennium country park.
Where we followed a number of tracks that eventually led us round to the forest centre
A well deserved break for refreshments was taken here, sitting out in the sunshine 

Leaving the forest centre, we made our way down the driveway passing some interesting wooden sculptures and benches along the way
Crossing the road once again, we made our way back towards and through the church, back to the cars and the finish of the walk, 

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

 

Thursday 11th August Tingrith

This 5 mile walk was led by Brenda & David
This walk started from the church at Tingrith and following the road through the village until we reached the track leading up and through Castle farm

Turning of the track and following through the field, we entered Daintry Wood for a nice and shaded refreshments break

 Continuing on we followed the route to take us past Happy Land farm.

Before once again entering the tracks next to the recently harvested fields, where the farmers were raking over the fields causing clouds of dust, which we just managed to keep in front of.
Entering Washer's Wood we continued to make our towards the track leading us back towards Castle farm

Walking back along the track and road, we arrived back at our cars after a very enjoyable walk on a nice sunny and hot morning with a nice pleasant breeze 

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

 

 

Sunday 7th August Flitton Moor & Flitwick Moor

This 4 mile walk had 8 walkers and was led by Tony P
Meeting beside the church at Flitton, we made our way down towards the memorial barn for Jack Crawley, displaying some of his water colours.

Beryl, Tony R, Yvonne, Penny, Kate & Sue & John Poole

Carrying on walking along the shaded tracks around the perimeter of the woods
We then crossed over the river a couple of times, leading us through the field where the cattle were grazing
We then entered the wetland area where they have now extended the duckboards right to the end of the track
Continuing walking through the shaded woods, we then headed out towards Flitwick Mill through the houses
However, upon our arrival our way was barred by district council road works, so we had to double back for an alternative route for our lunch break 

Following the bank of the river, we arrived back to where the cattle were again grazing, but not interested in us passing 

Kate, Beryl, Penny, Yvonne, Sue & John, Tony R & Tony P

Continuing on through the fields and along the tracks, we eventually made our way back to the church and the end of our walk on a sunny, warm and breezy at times morning  

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction.

Thursday 4th August Harlington - Sundon Pits 7.5 miles led by Tony R

This walk had 8 walkers & started from Harlington Village Hall car park.
We walked through the Spinney, down to the Bottoms Rd, where had a great view of the Clappers.

Sharpenhoe Clappers

We continued along the road, now traffic-free, until we met the line of the old trackway. We followed this to Sundon Hillls chalk pits. We climbed the steps to enjoy another wonderful view;. after a quick drink we continued on along several field boundaries to meet the Harlington - Sundon Road. We walked through Upper Sundon before turning off the road onto the recreation ground where we stopped on some benches for our coffee break. We continued and exited Upper Sundon, crossed the road and joined the Chiltern Way.footpath. This led into the Sundon Pits area. We stopped for a view of the lakes on one side and the dry valley on the other side.

Sundon Lake District

We carried on across a very dry field to met a concrete road running parallel to the railway and M1. We followed this for a while looking for a track on our left which we had not been able to find on our reccy.. No luck so we left the road and entered a small chalk pit. On a track leading out of this we stopped for our picnic. After this the tracks became more & more rutted, however we continued to meet he track to Harlington., which we followed via the rear of Wood Farm, to join Sundon Rd and hence up to the Village Hall car park.

Track of walk, walked in clockwise direction.