Oak Farm to Sandy
Walked by Sally and Richard, Sunday 4th September 2016
About 5 miles of walking, about 4.5 miles progress on the Greensand Ridge Walk
Click here for all our photos of this walk.
This short walk didn't look anything special on the map, but it was very enjoyable; rain threatened from time to time, but it remained dry. We left home after lunch and parked one car in the free car-park off the High Street in Sandy (TL174493), before driving the other back to the lay-by on Mox Hill (TL126468) where we parked when we were last here in July. Since July we have not been idle; we have had two proper walking holidays in which we have completed the South Tyne Trail and St Oswald's Way as well as (by a fair amount of double-counting) walking most of the Northumberland Coast Path. Meanwhile, whilst we were away there was a somewhat embarrassing test flight for the Airlander 10 airship, which is being developed in one of the Cardington "sheds" (aka hangars) visible in the distance from the start of our walk; essentially the airship nose-dived on landing. Finally, there is some indication that summer is turning to autumn, though the autumn colours today were mostly as a result of leaf miner infestation in the horse chestnut trees.
The lay-by where were were parked was opposite a covered reservoir and we walked past this and up to Oak Farm. From here we took a track back the way we had come last time we were here, past horses and the back end of the farmyard, then we turned left onto the Greensand Ridge Walk.We were walking across delightful undulying countryside towards the woodland of Highlands Ashes, with quite a lot of old airplanes about, presumably because of our closeness to the Shuttleworth Aerodrome at Old Warden.
We crossed through a narrow belt of trees and walked past Highlands Farm, with its grand house and interesting looking barn. We crossed through another belt of trees and then initially around the edge of and then through Home Wood. It was an atmospheric place, and we emerged by an ancient fish pond and a wooden bench and carved post, bearing a plaque which claims to be one of six on the Greensand Ridge Walk commissioned to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 (though we haven't noticed any others yet). The words on the plaques were written by local residents, in this case one Ed Burnett who wrote:
You who walk to think,
May seek your path in life,
On the Greensand Ridge.
Be wary, you may stumble like me
Into the spell of a mighty Queen.
She'll whisper you scarlet secrets
To set alight a jubilee sunset.
Hope you do not find what you seek
For those who search all their lives
Are blessed with a welcoming road.
I certainly "walk to think" (as in the first line). I'm not sure I understand all of it, but the concept of NOT finding what you seek (in the final verse) is an interesting one.
We walked down to the pretty village of Northill. Opposite the church (obviously made of greensand) people were standing outside the village hall; it appears that some event was just ending. We turned left and walked past a selection of bungalows and thatched cottages, then turned right onto a track. We passed a couple of (fishing?) lakes and reached another road.
A man had just parked a pick-up truck in a lay-by opposite, and our way forward was just the other side of it. This drew our attention to the driver, who had got out of the truck and was walking around the field we were about to cross with a garden fork, stopping occasionally to poke it into the ground. I've no idea what he was doing. Our path meanwhile took us between a double row of little frees, include rowan trees with lovely berries. At the end of this section we turned left onto a track then right onto a rather overgrown footpath past a crop that we couldn't have identify, though it looked a bit like a brasica of some sort that had gone to seed. We then walked around a field of (sweet)corn with good views ahead the TV transmitter on Sandy Heath.
We emerged onto Beeston's village green, and passed a display board which told us about the different trees on the green. It would have been attractive were it not for the fact that we were within a few hundred metres of the A1, so there was very noticeable traffic noise. The route (not clear on the OS map) then took us along a residential road and then through a passageway towards the A1; there was a woman out walking an adorable dog, which seemed more interested in looking around then in getting on with its walk!
The passageway led straight to a footbridge over the A1 and after crossing it we walked a short distance on the pavement alongside the busy road. We then turned right, on road that became a track and then a footpath, which brought us to the "The Riddy", a nature reserve on the flood plain of the River Ivel. The river is in several channels here; there was a swan swimming on the first little channel then we crossed the main channel on a bridge above a weir. Then the path followed alongside another minor channel which ran behind a row of houses.
The path curved around and brought us to a road on the outskirts of Sandy. We followed the road for a short distance, then made the mistake of turning right, because this was signposted as the route of Greensand Ridge cycleway and the signs for the Greensand Ridge Walk had disappeared! I think we should have carried on straight ahead at this point, which would have taken us to the High Street, but we meanwhile took a diversion to the Station! We walked back towards the centre of Sandy and, just past the delightfully named St Swithun's Church, returned to the car park.
