Sundon Hills Country Park to Westoning
Walked by Sally and Richard, Sunday 17th September 2017
Nearly 10 miles (4.5 hours), mostly on the route of the John Bunyan Trail
For photographs taken on this walk click here
Most people who walk the whole John Bunyan Trail start with this leg and we had intended to do it somewhere in the middle. However circumstances meant that it was actually the last leg that we walked; the following legs are described so as to maintain a consistent order, but they were actually walked on earlier and earlier dates through summer 2017. At long last, on 17th September we had sufficient time to walk this leg, and the weather forecast seemed reasonable. We left home in mist and, somewhat to our surprise, this persisted all the way. En route we passed a cycle race, and during the following week a colleague asked if I had driven past! He had gone to take part in the race then decided that it was too foggy, so pulled out. We parked one car at the at the Recreation Ground in Westoning (TL035327) then drove the short distance to the Sundon Hills Country Park (TL047286). Google Maps shows the driving distance between these two spots as 3.4 miles, but yet the walk back to Westoning was nearly 10 miles. This is because the route is extremely meandering.
We set off walking about 11.45 am, along the northern edge of the Chilterns. The route is initially shared by both the Chiltern Way and the Icknield Way Path (on a leg we walked on another misty day in November 2011) but we were here rather more recently, on the previous leg of the John Bunyan Trail on Easter Monday 2017. The mist was clearing (though there were a few spots of rain as we walked along the ridge) and there were good views over the flatter ground to the north.
The weather got better as we retraced our route from the spring, then our previous route left us to head south whilst we headed towards the Iron Age promontory fort of Sharpenhoe Clappers. Close to the Sharpenhoe Clappers car park there was a bench, with glorious views, and here we sat on for lunch. It turns out that the bench is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Edwards, who created the Bunyan Way Trail - most appropriate. The bench was surprisingly dry and by now the sun was shining; better and better!
From our lunch spot, the route was initially straightforward, but as we approached the trees there was an upper and lower route with no indication which to take. We chose the upper route, the more major one, which with the benefit of hindsight was perhaps not the correct option, as the John Bunyan Trail signs disappeared. We reached the trees on Sharpenhoe Clappers and in a clearing there was a monument; this is the so-called Robertson Memorial, with a plaque explaining that W.A. Robertson gave this area to the National Trust in memory of his brothers who died in the Great War. We walked past the monument and found the correct route without too much difficulty. We descended very steeply; thankfully there were steps to help us.
At the base of Sharpenhoe Clappers there was a road which we walked along briefly, then we crossed the road and took a drive which passed some farm buildings then turned into a track. There were good views behind us to Sharpenhoe Clappers, and ahead to Pulloxhill Water Tower. We were being followed by another couple in this section; the cows on the path in the approach to Portobello Farm moved out of the way for us, but appeared slightly aggressive when they passed. We stopped to take off our fleeces and let the other walkers pass us, then the path turned slightly to the right and climbed up towards Pulloxhill. Eventually we reached the edge of the village, just by the water tower and turned left (away from the village).
The road took us past Hill Farm then, by a right-hand turn, we caught up with the other two walkers. I'm not sure what they'd been doing, but they were looking at a very attractive herd of cows when we arrived. Between here and Bunyan's Oak we were playing leap-frog. At the White House we turned left, on a narrow path past Higham Bury - they don't let you see a great deal, but there were some nicely manicured grounds! As we continued straight ahead, it started to spot with rain. We stopped to put on waterproofs whilst the other walkers decided to shelter (so we got ahead for a while); on this occasion the rain didn't come to much, so they were right! They came past us by Samshill Farm (where Bunyan was arrested) then we stopped for a chat near Upper Sampshill Farm; they were walking a circuit from Harlington as a recce for the Ramblers - they'd done this walk before but, like us had not found the "approved" route in the woods of Sharpenhoe Clappers. At least one half of the couple is from Newport Pagnell, just a couple of miles from where I live during the week. Small world!
There were glorious views back to the Chilterns and the route from here took a path through undulating countryside, albeit across relatively recently ploughed fields. We passed Bunyan's Oak (dead!), under which Bunyan is reputed to have preached, then climbed up to Horsehill Spinney. We emerged at the eastern end of Harlington, only about a quarter of a mile from the path out of the village, but the route does a circuit of the village, taking us to the pretty older area and past the Church. We sat on a bench by the Church for a while (avoiding the other bench which was more than a little broken!), then passageways led through housing to the place we could have reached far more directly.
Our route out of Harlington took us past Harlington Upper School. It was a narrow and rather muddy path, but there were good views as we climbed. We enjoyed a rainbow...unfortunately soon after the rainbow came rain, heavy this time, and we got a bit wet just whilst putting on our waterproofs. Then we had to walk over a recently ploughed field, so although the rain stopped soon, we ended the walk wet and muddy. After crossing fields, the path went alongside the railway to the outskirts of Westoning. Here we walked down the road to complete the circuit of the John Bunyan Way, then turned right past Westoning Clock Tower to return to the car on the recreation ground.
