Length: 19.6 km (12.2 miles). Toughness: 3/10
10:01 Thameslink Horsham - Peterborough service from London Bridge (but this train calls at multiple London stations including: Coulsdon South 9.39, East Croydon 9.45, Blackfriars 10.07, City Thameslink 10.09, Farringdon 10.11, St. Pancras 10.16, Finsbury Park 10:23), arriving Sandy at 11:05.
Return trains from Biggleswade to London are at xx:00 and xx:30. Buy a return to Sandy.
Originally written by Pete B and inspired by the Guardian‘s Country Diary, this stile-free walk has only gentle gradients. It follows the Greensand Ridge Walk in the morning. The route is a mix of attractive broad grassy tracks along field edges and woodland trails. Muntjac deer and hares have been spotted in the area. We visit two lovely villages – Northill and Old Warden. Optional diversions lead to Queen Anne's Summerhouse and Keepers Cottage.
Refreshments:
The Crown at Northill. (01767 627337) is after about 25% (5km) of the walk and The Hare and Hounds, Old Warden (01767 627225) is after about 60% (12km) of the walk. As it's Bank Holiday and both pubs are said to be "excellent" I'd suggest calling and booking a table wherever you can (perhaps stopping for a snack at both)
The walk notes say "Biggleswade has a number of pubs, cafés and restaurants dotted around the central area". For tea, coffee and cakes the suggested place is the popular Surfin café in Market Place (01525 403783), five minutes before reaching the station. It's website says it stays open until 17.00 on Bank Holidays. Alternatively, you could opt for one of the pubs in town.
These walks don't have a leader so you'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.264
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I counted 9 Mr A.N.Other counted N=10 The day w=started-cloudy-finished-sunny
Mr Tiger had recently discovered his phone could tell him what plants were called. First it was crimson clover. Then we passed hawthorn woods with a rich carpet of grass underneath. Brachypodium sylvaticum, if you must know.
We looked in the church in Northill but we didn’t stop in the Crown there. No, we went on to the next one. Nobody sulked. Not much, anyway. After all, it was “only” one and a half hours further.
We pressed on through big agricultural fields, woods, hedges with indistinct green flowers (spindle) covered with caterpillar webs* until the church at Upper Caldecote was reached. We admired the interior and the carved snake on the pews. Most had lunch in the churchyard. Then, at last, after passing innumerable posters encouraging us to report hare-coursing, we reached the Hare and Hounds. They’d stopped doing food by then (2 pm) but everyone had eaten anyway. More alarming, readers, they had RUN OUT OF CIDER!! Mr Tiger made do with a pint of Inkwell Stout which turned out to be rather nice.
In the next section, one or two fell behind and, perhaps mercifully, didn’t notice the faster ones add in a 3km detour to Jordan’s Mill. They got to Biggleswade just in time to see the Surfin Cafe close. They and two more waited for the 5:30. Then, surprise, surprise, walker number n=11 (who had started the walk 30 minutes late) arrived.
The Jordan’s contingent got the 6:00 train.
*putting two and two together, spindle ermine moth
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