Woburn village, Woburn Abbey and deer park via woodland and many gentle hills.
LENGTH 18.7km (11.6 miles)
DIFFICULTY 6 out of 10
TRAINS Get the 09.56 from Euston (destination Birmingham New Street). Arrive Bletchley 10.31
Change to the Bedford train at 10.45 and arrive at Bow Brickhill at 10.51
Return trains are at .18 mins past the hour and take 59 minutes to return to Euston
LUNCH The recommended lunch pub is the
But there are many other options detailed in the walk description including a Thai restaurant and Loch Fyne seafood restaurant
TEA
Please note the footpath no longer runs through the Safari Park
L=1.17
3 comments:
Buy a return to Woburn Sands
#10 walkers on a day of #beatiful-sunshine-but-often-a-cold-wind. The mainly wooded morning section was really nice at the time of year. There were a few confusing path junctions (and we noticed, as the web page points out, that the path is not always where the map says it is) with the result that most of us strayed from the route on a golf course and disturbed a slall group of muntjacs.
After further divergences, we arrived at Woburn in two groups and ate on two different churchyards, my group sitting on gravestones beside a noisy playground.
Two decided they had had the best of the walk and got the bus from Woburn. The rest of us regrouped for the walk through the deer park wondering where the deer were. When we got near the safari park we found them sheltering from the wind in lower-lying fields. Numerous signs througout the deer park told us not to leave the path so we were required to bear the brunt.
There was a lot of speculation about the diversion of the former path through the safari park and it turns out that the new path keeps us well away fom any more interesting animals. Some of the group managed to spot an elephant in the distance though.
After the safari park there's still 6km to go, including a lot of road walking. I got a bit behind and found this section quite tedious, something I'm afraid I couldn't stop myself pointing out in the pub. As it turned out most of us arrived at the Station Tavern 40 minutes before the next train, perfect timing to enjoy an excellent beer in the pub "garden" (more of a back yard) before the 1618.
Apart from the last bit the walk was much better than I remembered, a good choice
The 2 who opted out of the afternoon walk went to Flootes cafe in Woburn for coffee and cake - both good. The bus stop was nearby and we stood there looking out for an approaching bus at 2pm and paying no attention to the Dial-a-ride minibus parked on our left until its engine was turned on and we went to ask the driver where he was going. It turned out this was the bus advertised in the bus shelter and the driver offered to drop us wherever we wanted to go - Freedom passes accepted. We opted for Woburn Sands and after a tour around all the intervening villages and a detour up and down the motorway to get to some of them, we were dropped at Woburn Sands about 20 minutes walk from the station. We were the only passengers up to that point though there were a few people waiting at the W.S . bus stop. We caught the 15.18 train narrowly missed by the afternoon walkers.
Post a Comment