Yesterday (Friday 13th March 2009) I did a very long circular walk from my home in Kensworth to Pitstone Hill and back. I have created a Google map of the route, which measures the distance at 17.75 miles :-
The route is basically my Kensworth-Ivinghoe Beacon walk, but extended from Ashridge through Aldbury and over Pitstone Hill before rejoining that route at Steps Hill. I had done this walk only once before, and I adjusted the route slightly in a couple of places this time.
It was a very grey day, so I took very few photos – because of the weather conditions, I had no intention of recording the walk on my web site. I had a few spots of rain when I reached Aldbury, enough for me to put the rain-cover on my daypack, but otherwise it remained dry. The low grey clouds did slightly restrict the views from Pitstone Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon.
It was a great walk for spotting birds – Red Kite, Raven, two Buzzards, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Fieldfare, Long-tailed Tits, Song Thrush, Yellowhammer and Jay. There was a lot of Dog’s Mercury growing in several places – this had been the only wildflower I’d seen this year, but today I finally spotted some Coltsfoot, Red Dead-nettle and Lesser Celandine.