Posted for the walk author who will be present
This is a first posting. The walk follows the South and West shores of Stewartby Lake before turning North to Lower Shelton and across farmland. Next you head West through the lovely woods of Marston Thrift to Cranfield. The route then largely follows a Sustrans cycle route heading South, but it makes for excellent and surprisingly remote walking to Holcot Wood. Finally head South-West across open countryside, largely following the John Bunyan Trail to Brogborough and Ridgmont station.
Lunch: The Swan/Gurkha Kitchen, 2 Court Road, Cranfield. 11.7 kms in to the walk. This specialises in Nepalese, Indian and Chinese cuisine, including some vegetarian dishes. Or the Cross Keys, 159 High Street, Cranfield. This adds 700 metres to the distance (largely on road).
Note that Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre (the tea stop) will not be open. The short cuts in the text were intended to make sure you got there before closing, so best to stick to the main route.
For walk directions, map, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.404
3 comments:
May do this Saturday if there are any trains.
n=5 out for this walk, including 2 younger ones, despite their Network Railcard not yet valid pre-10.00 hours. The walk started with it not really starting at all, i.e. we were stuck for 20 minutes (!!!) behind the level crossing barrier at Stewartby, as the barrierman waited for the train in the opposite direction to also pass. Even the locals were puzzled. Very strange.
The weather was w=sunny-and-cold , the ground conditions firm where the sun didn't reach, and a bit soapy where it did. Some mud in one or other wood, especially on bridleways and only 1 (from memory at least) large ploughed field to cross.
There were some fine views from the elevated sections, back into the Marston Vale and some neighbouring valleys, one or other interesting wood and also some fine lakes, but also a busy narrow road section, some road noise and indifferent suburbia. All in, an OK walk that will be much better in spring and summer.
We got to the lunch pub just in time before the kitchen closed and the Gurkha cuisine was pretty good by everyone's judgment. What with the delay at the start, we knew though that we had little chance to catch the
16.xx trains, so stayed a bit longer and made it to Ridgmont with 10 minutes to spare before the 17.xx ones, with 2 travelling to Bedford and 3 to Bletchley for their respective connections.
Spotted: some muntjac and large birds of prey over Stewartby Lake.
Just to clarify, Ridgmont tea room has now closed, but the heritage centre re-opens in a fortnight
https://ridgmontheritage.org.uk/ridgmont-tea-room-closure-announcement/
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