Pete’s Walks

I did one of my local walks from home again today. I started by walking to Church End, the old part of Kensworth where the church is, then following the long path behind Kensworth Quarry up to Dunstable Downs. I walked along the top of the Downs, where I saw Meadow Cranesbill and both Great and Dark Mullein, then followed the path along the bottom of the Downs past the gliding club. I managed to get a nice photo of a Red Admiral butterfly as I started up a path back to the top of the Downs.

I then took a bridleway towards Whipsnade, then a lane and footpaths to Studham. I had my lunch on Studham Common, and then set off again towards Markyate. But there was a very brief shower, and the skies continued to look threatening, so I cut the walk a bit short and took the quickest route back to Kensworth. I still walked for almost 5 hours, anyway.

11/08/07

On Saturday morning I went to Totternhoe again, to both the Knolls and the Quarry reserves. Didn’t see much that was new, but I had a very pleasant morning there nevertheless. Parts of the quarry were almost carpeted in Clustered Bellflower – one of my books says it grows from between 3cm to 30cm high, and I saw examples throughout that range. I also saw several gentians, which I thought were autumn gentians, but people on the Wild About Britain web site think they are Chiltern gentians.