Deadman's Cross to Oak Farm
Walked by Sally and Richard, Sunday 24th July 2016.
A|bout 4 miles of walking, 3 miles progress along Greensand Ridge Walk
Click here for all our photos of this walk.
We were only planning a short walk today, but it ended up even shorter. This was primarily because we didn't manage to leave home in Norfolk until nearly 3 pm, but given the hot weather we'd been having, short also seemed sensible. In fact it was quite a lot cooler than in the past few days and, amazingly, the rain that was forecast for 5pm didn't fall on us, though when we got back to Richard's car that we'd left at the start of the walk, it had rain on it.
We started by leaving my car in a lay-by on Mox Hill (TL126468) close to the edge of the western sheet of OS Explorer Sheet 208. The drive around to the start of our walk near the A600 at Chicksands Bike Park (TL115416) was a lot further than the 4 miles that we ended up walking, and on narrow minor roads through Northill, Ickfield and Old Warden, close to the home of the Shuttleworth Collection and past the Hare and Hounds pub, where I have been out for a meal with a friend (and I'd recommend it).
When we were last on the Greensand Ridge Walk, the car park at Chicksands Bike Park was completely full, but as you'd expect for late afternoon, today there was plenty of space. We also discovered that the Greensand Ridge Walk is signposted (on what is technically a permissive summer route) somewhat further to the north than is shown on our 2012 map. However there doesn't seem to be a more convenient car park, so we walked the half mile or so up the A600 through the hamlet of Deadman's Cross to the point on the map immediately to the left of the words "Deadman's Cross". Here we crossed a stile and took a track heading almost due north, at about 45 degrees to the A600.
I've given all that detail in the previous paragraph because the route here is shown as a track but not as a public right of way, so I feel a need to describe the route as clearly as possible. However don't be fooled - this is not some minor track, but rather a wide stony route heading to and then through first Warden Great Wood and then Warden Little Wood. I was somewhat disappointed by the track, but the woods themselves were attractive enough, with a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees, and in the gaps between trees there were good views over a rolling landscape.
We crossed over a road and rejoined the route of the Greensand Ridge Walk as shown on a map. It was now quite obvious that we were on a ridge, with good views particularly to the north, where the Cardington Hangars came into view. These iconic landmarks were the site where airships were built and housed between 1916 and 1930, when the crash of the R101 over France killed 48 people, and effectively stopped work on airships in Britain. Cardington then became home to barrage balloons, though more recently airships have again been produced; most recently the company Hybrid Air Vehicles is developing a hybrid airship, the Airlander 10. Meanwhile, most of the land from the former RAF Cardington has been sold to a large property developer and a housing estate is being build in shadow of the hangars, close to the original "Shortstown" (named after Short Brothers who started the airship-building venture here).
A restoration of the Cardington Hangars (or "Sheds") was completed in October 2015 and they are now a bright shiny monument to aviation history; as we walked, it initially appeared that there was just one hangar (though I see them in the distance every time I drive from home to Milton Keynes, so know very well that there are two), beyond a field of broad beans. Later, in particular as we returned to the car on Mox Hill, there was a clearer view to the hangars, now briefly bathed in sunshine. We were walking almost due north east, so the distance to the hangars remained approximately constant; they were two or three miles way.
I'm getting ahead of myself! As we walked the track became less broad and stony and more grassy and footpath-like. We did a dog-leg to the right then the left near a wooded area (not shown on the map), then continued on an attractive tree-lined track. Now there were occasional views to the east to the Sandy Heath television transmitter. At a junction of paths, the Greensand Ridge Walk left us to the east, but we continued straight ahead, down to the road at Oak Farm. We turned left and walked the short distance to the car.
