Woburn Sands to Water Eaton

This was a varied and enjoyable walk on a lovely spring afternoon. There was just one problem: mud! For much of the time we were walking on the Greensand Ridge which is, surprise surprise, a ridge made of greensand (a sandstone with a greenish colour). The ridge covers a longer distance (and we were hoping to walk the Greensand Ridge Walk soon) but it rises particularly prominently to the south of Bow Brickhill and Woburn Sands, close to The Old Stables, the Bed and Breakfast I used to use when in the area for work before I started renting accommodation. I was very familiar with the Greensand Ridge as a feature in the landscape, but am ashamed to say that this was the first time I've walked in this area. The photograph shows the road up to the ridge at Bow Brickhill.

We left home in Norfolk around 10.30am and drove to a little parking place (SP883318) near the Grand Union Canal, north of the A4146 to the south-east of Bletchley. There wasn't a lot of space, but we were able to leave one car here. We had intended to leave the other car where we parked last tine we were here, on Cranfield Road to the north of Woburn Sands. However, after driving back via Bow Brickhill to Woburn Sands, we were thwarted by a closed level crossing. We parked on a modern development by the Station (SP926364) and picked our way across the level crossing on foot. We were soon back on the route of the Milton Keynes Boundary Walk, heading off through a housing estate and remarkably quickly back to open country.

We crossed the railway again and headed across the Woburn Sands and Aspley Guise Golf Course, emerging past the club house onto the road between AspleyGuise and Woburn Sands. We then followed a footpath on the edge of woodland round to the top end of Woburn Sands. This is familiar territory; we crossed the road by The Swan, where I have eaten several times, then headed up the road that I have driven along very many times on the way to The Old Stables. Mind you, it was Richard who had spotted a little park off The Leys on Google Maps, and we stopped here for lunch. We crossed the road to an attractive field of sheep, with a sign telling us this was Edgewick Farm, with the Greensand Ridge opening up in front of us.

We took a track that climbed up to Aspley Heath. There were initially good views back to Woburn Sands, but we were soon in woodland. The walking was attractive though it was rather muddy in places and the route of the MK Boundary Walk was not always clear (most of the time this didn't matter - routes diverged and then came together again, and once we realised that we were skirting around yet another golf course we became more confident that we were heading in approximately the right direction.

As we crossed a minor road we encountered signs that made us realise that we were on, or close to, the Woburn Estate, and that the golf course was the Woburn Golf Course. After a short section of more open countryside, we headed back into the woods, crossed another minor road, and joined up with the Greensand Ridge Walk. Lots of lovely mud!

The views opened up again to our left as we followed a narrow path, still with woodland to our right, and we turned right onto a road heading towards the A5. The map showed a right hand turning off the road onto a path after a short distance, but there was no signpost and we missed it at the first attempt. Once we found the path, the route across fields to the A5 was very obvious.

We crossed the main road and continued towards Rammamere Farm, with lots of horses and horsey activity. We again struggled to find the correct route, but a woman who was doing things with the horses turned out to be the owner, and she directed us onto the "path to Great Brickhill" and we parted company with the Greensand Ridge Walk. The signposting in this section wasn't terribly clear - we missed another turn (to the left this time), but we eventually found the way to the village, passing two rams with magnificent horns.

Great Brickhill is an attractive village. We opted to follow Heath Road to the centre of the village rather than taking the footpath that is the official route of the MK Boundary Walk, thus reducing the danger of further route confusion and taking us past a bench on which we sat for long enough to eat a hot cross bun! There were a lot of people about, with the most likely explanation being that a funeral or memorial service had just ended in the delightful Church.

We turned left in front of the Church and descended steeply off the Greensand Ridge, with lovely views back to Great Brickhill. At the bottom of the hill the route on the map is shown as going diagonally across a field, the route on the ground is signposted as left then right around the field, and we chose to go straight ahead and then left! All three options bring you to the same place on a minor road by Westfield Farm.

I'd expected the next kilometre of walking, along the road, to be boring, but it was actually very pleasant, taking us over the River Ouzel (which skirts the Open University campus, just three or four miles to the north) near a weir, then bringing us to the Grand Union Canal. We turned right onto the towing path to the east of the canal and followed this, past a variety of houseboats, back to the little car park where we had left the car, near the A4146 on the outskirts of Water Eaton and close to Bletchley.

following leg (MK Boundary walk)

following leg (Grand Union Canal Walk)