Along the Icknield Way Path: west
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13 January
2007: Great Chesterford to Royston, 13 miles
Great
Chesterford (pictured left) manages to keep some prettiness
despite having its own commuter station and an M11 junction round the
corner. We managed to choose a week in which the footbridge over the
motorway was closed, necessitating a two mile diversion through Ickleton
and a long trudge up Coploe hill in the drizzle. From Strethall church we
were off road again, past a shooting party at Free Wood, shot raining
down, before a succession of distinct little villages: Elmdon
(pictured right), Chrishall and Heydon, where we ate at the King William IV . The
pub has a strong reputation for food, but to our mind it still trades on
its three successes as Vegetarian Pub of the Year. As the comedian Al
Murray puts it, all that should follow 'gastro' is
'enteritis'. Leaving Heydon, there is a lovely little valley running
northwards, and scenically that's it for long miles into Royston. We'd
been this way before, on the Harcamlow Way , and
it's not got better since. Still, the drizzle stopped in the afternoon. In
near dark, we entered Royston; here, the Roman Watling Street intersected
with the original Icknield
Way, so it's a point of great significance on the path.
24 February 2007: Royston to Baldock, 13
miles
Must own up to a
little cheating here. Readers might have noticed that we like a pub lunch,
yet any inns beyond Therfield have long gone. With Dave not favouring a
hedgeside sandwich this time, we diverted south to the Moon
and Stars at
Rushden (and it's pretty good too). In practice, today was an Icknield
start and finish, with the Hertfordshire Way in between, and a pub
diversion in the middle. Of course, the original Icknield Way on this
stretch is now the A505, not a stretch an iron age merchant might recognise.
Our diversion
didn't make for a bad day though, even though rather overcast
with rain coming in to Rushden. Therfield
Heath (pictured left) nearly
manages to feel wild (the IWP avoids the golf course), and Therfield
village is a pretty place. However we had to miss out Wallington,
where George Orwell lived and married, for the pub diversion. Clothall's
church and manor house give a view more typical two hundred years ago
than now; after Clothall, the open chalk lands return, but thankfully
not in as dull a fashion as at the end of the previous day. Finally,
Baldock (pictured right) is an old
coaching inn on the Great North Road, and hasn't had its atmosphere
completely suppressed by the advent of commuterville.
8 September 2007: Baldock to Streatley, 14 miles
Half a year later ... ! Letchworth was the original 'garden city'
but maybe we don't see its best side, other perhaps than the magnificent
Spirella building
(pictured right). Eventually open fields return,
and Ickleford is reached through pretty water meadows.
Lunch was at the Motte & Bailey in the interesting village of
Pirton,
and it set us up nicely for classic stretch of the path, up and over Telegraph Hill.
It's the first taste of the Chilterns, and not a moment too soon.
Suddenly there are deep little coombes
(like the Pegsdon Hills, pictured left),
small entrancing woods and hills with proper edges to them.
We cut off through access land to the hillfort atop one such,
Deacon Hill, a few hundred yards off route and an excellent viewpoint, all the more
remarkable for having had nothing like it since Norfolk. Below Galley Hill, where the
Chiltern Way is joined (I walked it in 2003-05, and it will be added to the site
in due course), it's decision time for the IWP walker: stick close to the prehistoric
way through urban Luton and Dunstable, or divert to the north. We diverted north.
6 October 2007: Streatley to Whipsnade, 15 miles
Matthew joined us for this stage, which starts along the Chiltern escarpment of Sundon Hills,
the promontory of Sharpenhoe Clappers jutting out north. A traverse over the MI takes
you to Toddington, better known for its motorway services, but still home to several
pubs and a broad green - a far better place for the motorist in the know.
It's also a major stop on the
Greensand Ridge Walk,
which I plan after finishing the Bledlow extension.
Our pub though was the beautiful little Plough at Wingfield (pictured left).
North of Houghton Regis, it's back on the Chiltern Way, with the
magnificent hillfort of Maiden Bower the highlight of a stretch that includes too much
dull plodding round the edge of Houghton Regis and Dunstable. Catch Maiden Bower while you can:
off-road motorbikers and housing developers are two types of vandal having a pop at it. Finally, though, it's
onto the open
Dunstable Downs
(pictured right) before the final cut south to Whipsnade.
7 October 2007: Whipsnade to Ivinghoe Beacon, 6 miles
Adrian joined us for this short stage, as a prelimary to our Hadrian's Wall excursion.
Skirting the famous zoo,
we soon made Dagnall, which has a dedicated real ale pub the
Golden Rule - so dedicated that it has no food though, silly people. We lunched instead (with Dave's wife Rachel,
who was in charge of transport this weekend) at the Red Lion, which doesn't do real ale
because the Golden Rule does! It's a nice climb from here back to
the escarpment and the final push on chalk to the Beacon, seen behind me in Dave's picture.
The Beacon is a splendid viewpoint, and Dave met Rachel here;
Adrian and I wanted a bit more though, so the two of us continued to the Ashridge Estate
car park, from where Dave and Rachel kindly drove us back to Tring station. These extra miles will help too when
I continue by the extension to Bledlow in due course.