My car needs a bit of work doing to it, so rather than drive to Goring and finish Swan’s Way I did a local walk today – my favourite one to Nettleden and Hudnall.
Early on, as I was walking near Holywell and Oldhill Wood I heard and saw a pair of Ravens – there are only a few pairs of these birds in the Chilterns, so I was very lucky. The walk took on me on round the outskirts of Studham to Clements End and Jockey End (Gaddesden Row), then on a very pleasant path to Great Gaddesden. I went past the Buddhist monastery here, and on to the edge of Nettleden.
I then followed a path that runs along a valley bottom for over a mile, not even passing so nuch as a hedgerow let alone a building – most unusual for this part of the country. That took me to Little Gaddesden – I found some orange Fox-and-Cubs growing just before I reached the village.
I had lunch in the usual place, on a log in a wood between Little Gaddesden and Hudnall. From Hudnall I recrossed the wide and deep Gade valley, where I saw a distant Buzzard. I climbed steadily up the other side and crossed a field to reach Studham. Then it was a very familiar route back to Kensworth, following the boundary fence of the zoo and along a former lane to Whipsnade, then across Whipsnade Heath and a couple of fields back to Kensworth.