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Regions - Trip reports, destination advice, recommended routes, etc. => Rest of England => Topic started by: Ridge on 10:57:37, 25/06/20

Title: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 10:57:37, 25/06/20
This walk was planned so that I could go back and see the amazing display of foxgloves that I had seen on my last long walk.
The route, if you are remotely interested, was, Great Gaddesden - Jockey End - Studham - Holywell - Whipsnade - Dunstable Downs - Kensworth Quarry - Church End - Kensworth - Markyate - Flamstead - Great Gaddesden.


I had planned to do this walk on Monday as that was supposed to be the coolest day of the week but the car started to misbehave so it spent Monday and Tuesday in the garage. On Wednesday, with new clutch fitted, I set off early for Great Gaddesden.
The foxgloves were still magnificent and they still don't come across in a photo.

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_083334.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/7e20c08e-4457-4510-9d24-9a6ffc0c7f37)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_083137.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/846ea315-4acd-45ad-bc4e-eb0c7bea55d4)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_083120.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/30174c73-4cee-4779-ad0f-707f09ad98fe)

 
I decided to give this path a miss and took a detour which didn't add much distance but did mean I walked right next to the local sewerage works
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_105933.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/00403d10-01e6-476d-a160-2ad3b4da7851)

 
Pretty churches at Studham
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_103134.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/d6f0b2b2-27b9-4ade-bd0d-10fa89b7be23)

 
and at Whipsnade.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_110359.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/8a25abbf-0547-4cbd-a546-243334766497)

 
Useful gate.

 
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_100959.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/1061888e-ee22-49c8-900b-97b2b4e99435)

 
As you come up on to the edge of the Downs you are completely enclosed and then suddenly the world opens up before you.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_112533.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/ed4226fd-e997-40cd-9bf5-b8dab4d448e2)

 
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_112620.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/3feed717-4e60-45e0-a47b-2a9f6cde78e4)

 
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_112720.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/daff799b-4df5-49b2-bd72-126d1b1c545d)

 
The visitors centre had a kiosk open and it was lovely to have a drink which was actually cold.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_114735.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/4825d795-ab3b-4cbd-96e3-b5c6bf8dc81e)

 
The next section of the walk was marred somewhat by the sound, and occasional sight, of a large chalk quarry.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_122118.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/fe051feb-5c1c-4b62-962a-611ca5c52424)

 
But the area was awash with wild flowers.

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_122824.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/bd885a9c-085e-4d57-934e-8df0f558cb6d)

 
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_120915(1).jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/3106ce64-debb-4b15-b207-78f575ddc316)

 
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_121047.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/d3f5024a-ee9b-419e-b1be-6054dac23936)


Much of the walk was through fields of ripening crops or in small woods.

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_143737.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/c6c50ab5-0250-48fb-8d3b-f19d6f8caf18)


(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_125740.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/25344449-776b-44ac-b4ee-32133e05fc03)


(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_084550.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/b982fe59-30e8-410f-ab05-e001f0484ae1)


I came to a wood called Yew Tree Spring, in my head this was going to be a lovely spot to sit and cool off, like Yew Tree Tarn in the Lakes. Instead it was a muddy ooze.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_150115.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/225aaa1d-0551-425a-9330-daca7e456e63)

 
I passed through the grounds of Gaddesden Place which is a private house.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_160247.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/e68c5535-8609-44c8-bfcc-e132d7ee3b91)

 
I then had the frightening prospect of crossing the B440. A gate from a field lets you down a step on to a 6"x24" platform surrounded by trees on a blind bend. To see anything at all you have to step on to the road to discover a car hurtling towards you. When you can cross the first lane you just have to go for it as you can not see enough of the traffic from your left to know what will be happening by the time you get there. Really scary.

 
I paused by the side of the beautiful River Gade. There were 2 families with their kids stripped off enjoying the cold clear water so no pictures and, lovely though it looked, I decided I couldn't get in too. I did take off my top soak it and put it back on. It had been a very warm day.

 
Stats
Distance - 20.5 miles or 33km
Time - 8 hours
Temperature - 32C or blooming boiling
Liquid drunk - about 3.5l or not enough
Pee breaks taken  - none

Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: GnP on 11:17:25, 25/06/20
Wow , well done for the distance walked in that heat yesterday . Some of the fields with crops are a joy at the moment .  :)
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: rural roamer on 13:15:37, 25/06/20
Looks lovely Ridge. All those miles in that heat! Too much for me. The foxgloves remind me of the Two Moors
Way round about this time last year, we didn’t see that many though.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 13:26:47, 25/06/20
Thanks G&P and RR. It was lovely but really a bit too hot even for me and I like to walk in the sun. I had lots of water with me and also passed a couple of shops and got even more.
I did look at the stats and think that I was a bit slower than I would expect to be but then on second thoughts I decided that, in the heat, I should probably cut myself some slack.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: richardh1905 on 15:41:44, 25/06/20
Foxgloves are lovely - I'm pleased to say that loads of seedlings are popping up in our new garden - should be a good display next year.


I particularly like that shot of the path running through the field of parched barley (17th photo).
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: April on 19:28:05, 25/06/20
Nice pics Ridge, love the wild flowers photo and the photo of the crops particularly O0

Are you in training for The Pennine Way? Have you been able to book any accommodation or are you going to wild camp?
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 19:38:17, 25/06/20
Thanks Richard and April.


Pennine Way training is exactly what it was April. We have got 13 out of 16 nights organised, 2 tentative bookings and then there is the first night in Cowling where there is nothing doing at all but we have a cunning plan.


If it wasn't for Covid we would have been in Horton in Ribblesdale this evening.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: April on 19:49:07, 25/06/20
That is good news that you have got sorted for most of it. I look forward to hearing more details of your cunning plan when you do your trip report  :)

You would have had some pretty good weather if you'd been able to do it as planned but with the thunder storms forecast for the next few days perhaps things will turn out for the best in the end.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: vghikers on 21:12:31, 25/06/20
Great pics and a very long walk in that heat.  O0

Lovely barley fields and the paths draw the eye through the pictures.
I know I never drink enough in such heat despite good intentions. I walked 15 miles today starting at 11:15am and drank what seemed like plenty of liquid, I never felt particularly thirsty, but now at 9pm I still don't feel like peeing - not good!.  :o
Edited to add: my top was covered in white patches where I'd lost salt.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 21:25:57, 25/06/20
I look forward to hearing more details of your cunning plan when you do your trip report  :)
It's not that cunning to be honest.
If we feel it is OK to be in his car with him then my Dad will come and drive us to his house in Sheffield and then bring us back in the morning. If we can't be in his car we'll wild camp and then, if we don't need the kit later on, my Dad can come an take it away. Either way it is my Dad who does all the work!


Great pics and a very long walk in that heat.  O0
Thanks VG, I wouldn't have gone quite that far on such a day if I wasn't Pennine Way planning.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: April on 21:32:48, 25/06/20
Either way it is my Dad who does all the work!

Sounds cunning to me  :)
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: karl h on 21:59:28, 25/06/20
Lovely pics Ridge..but once again I have to say, walking in that heat you must be mad ;)
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 22:19:53, 25/06/20
you must be mad ;)
Yep, fair comment.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: rural roamer on 22:24:06, 25/06/20

then there is the first night in Cowling where there is nothing doing at all but we have a cunning plan.



Edale to Cowling isn’t that about 60 miles? Or do you mean Crowden?
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 22:34:02, 25/06/20
Edale to Cowling isn’t that about 60 miles? Or do you mean Crowden?
Just a short 60 mile first day, don't want to over do it.


I did mean Crowden, I must be suffering from heat stroke  :)
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: rural roamer on 08:30:35, 26/06/20
Not that I was suggesting you couldn’t manage 60 miles in a day!  :D


Is the Old House booked up? That’s where we stayed. Someone we met on the first day was staying in Glossop and was collected from where the PW hits the road and brought back the next morning.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 08:40:18, 26/06/20
Is the Old House booked up? That’s where we stayed.
When I spoke to them they said that they had taken the decision to not open at all this year.
I've just tried to check on their website and it is still not running properly which I told them about 2 weeks ago.
If it looks like we will be just using my Dad for collecting our stuff then I'll phone them again nearer the time to see if they have changed their mind to save him a trip.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: rural roamer on 08:43:58, 26/06/20
When I spoke to them they said that they had taken the decision to not open at all this year.
That could put paid to a few people’s trips if they were still hoping to walk it later in the year, there’s little else available around there.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 08:56:21, 26/06/20
That could put paid to a few people’s trips if they were still hoping to walk it later in the year, there’s little else available around there.
If you are not camping then it has to be a road trip.
If you are camping it has to be wild as the campsite is also closed for this year.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Mel on 22:56:47, 26/06/20
Lovely English countryside summery pics Ridge  :)


I hope you walked through the pointless gate  :D
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 09:04:46, 28/06/20

Thanks Mel
I hope you walked through the pointless gate  :D
I decided that as it was full of tall nettles and thistles and I was wearing short shorts it was probably best to walk round.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: barewirewalker on 11:16:30, 28/06/20
Some interesting Photographs, Ridge. I think I recognise one of the views from visits to Whipsinade Zoo with my Grandaughters. Now if the photo of 4 row Barley below is not a 3 ton to the acre crop I would be surprised. Is the purple orchid a Pyramidal Orchid and surely the other ones are limestone or calcareous soil types, there are better people that I on the forum to give expert opinion?


Much of the walk was through fields of ripening crops or in small woods.

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_143737.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/c6c50ab5-0250-48fb-8d3b-f19d6f8caf18)


(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/nn129/Birkhouse/20200624_125740.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/Birkhouse/a/4c7f18a7-ce80-4544-ae2c-47f3b09ccc7a/p/25344449-776b-44ac-b4ee-32133e05fc03)
As with a photo on G&P's recent topic an excellent view that demonstrates the value of X field paths. This one as VGhiker's comments is an excellent example of this genre. It has just occurred to me that as walkers we complain a lot to councils about footpath blockages but the message never gets through to farmers how much we appreciate our countryside. Perhaps we should sent pictures like this to the editor of the Farmers Weekly, with a message about the valuable experience such a moment as walking through a field of barley can provide.

All too often walkers agree that they should not walk across crops, usually combined with difficulties crossing plough during the bare earth season, then we forget how beautiful and the wonderful sensations the paths give at this time of year.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 11:30:05, 28/06/20
Thanks BWW.
The 3 pictures of the paths through crops were taken miles away from each other, I just lumped them together on my report. They would be on different farms. I generally find that farmers are pleasant individuals who care about the countryside and prefer to guide walkers in the right direction across their land rather than have them wander aimlessly. As in every walk of life there is a small minority who are complete [censored], as are the people who walk and let their dogs worry sheep.


Golf clubs on the other hand are my nemesis. They are just the spawn of Satan who deliberately set out to intimidate, confuse and kill those with the temerity to use a right of way that was there centuries before the golf course.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: barewirewalker on 12:20:04, 28/06/20
I agree about golf club members they are truly awful, the only consolation is that the are just as anti-social to each other, they however learn, as in any tribe, you cannot be totally anti-social to everyone all the time so they build themselves into cliques.

The problem with Farmers, since 2000, they have been very poorly led in the matter of Access. This has coincided with the time that a lot of land amalgamation has gone on and there are fewer real farmers with managerial time on their hands, who are free to think. This has left a vacuum that has been filled by the landowners, whose managerial power in the countryside has risen with land and property values rising so steeply.

Since the CRoW act, which came at the end of, at least a decade, when the landowners suddenly realised they needed a grass roots membership, the real farmer with the time to put into farming politics is giving place to quasi-farmer/landowner, who is the person whose opinions will get carried on access related committees etc.
That why I made the suggestion, perhaps a bit of a joke but walkers writing to the editors of farming periodicals might start to get those truly working in agriculture to question some of the way opinion is being led.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: Ridge on 12:34:42, 28/06/20
I know you feel strongly about this BWW but, as I said in my previous post, I don't have a problem with farmers.
I see many more walkers behaving badly than I do farmers. They may not be walkers as we would class them but they are crossing the countryside on 2 legs. Farmers would perhaps have the time and inclination to be more walker friendly if they didn't have to go round putting up signs saying how many of their sheep had been killed last year or picking up the rubbish and dog [censored] which we have all seen and could only have been left by other walkers.
I feel that in my time as a walker I have seen the access to ROWs improve, I hardly ever see deliberately blocked footpaths which were a thing in the past.
Title: Re: TR - Return to Foxglove Wood
Post by: barewirewalker on 13:39:22, 28/06/20
You may remember me posting about nursing a flock of pedigree sheep back from being savaged by Alsatians. You mistake my criticism of farmers, Access and Public misbehaviour should be separated, more people in the countryside would raise the % of socially responsibly persons and these should be include in Countryside Watch initiatives. We have the technology to do it.

In my case the culprits were from another farm, it is too easy to blame an anonymous walker, much of the problem lies with the large number incomers the rural property boom has created.


I have seen the quality of walk furniture and much good quality of way in your area, in Shropshire there are lost ways that could make the network better, but will the established landowner admit that their fathers and grandfathers corrupted the DM and are incapable of doing the maths that would show how much money could go into the rural economy with admission.

Your photo shows a perfect example how a farmer with his good husbandry has added tons of quality of way to part of your walk. I know of a similar field where the path through the crop has not been made good for more than 5 years, it is fairly pointless trying to get made good year by year as its original destination cannot be reached. The way was lost, then blocked by a new bypass, there is a route if added, the way could open joining two old market towns with a complete cross country route. Yet the landowner lobby will cite public misbehaviour as a reason to block any improvement that will open up the countryside.

In this case the quasi-farmer inherited his land and the farmer is the son of a former tenant. He now is more of contractor, though he gets short term leases here and there for a bit of independent farming. The beneficiaries of a cross country route of many miles would probably be amongst the incomers who now live in 19th century converted farm properties. That would be until the landowner spotted them making money and would probably muscle in  ;D