Oakley to Elstow

We didn't have the greatest of expectations for today's walk, with a route through the centre of Bedford on a rather murky winter day (though at least it wasn't raining!) but there were some pleasant surprises, including family links and surprisingly rural sections. The fact that we were rather late leaving home in Norfolk meant that we had to walk quite quickly in order to get the walk completed in daylight; this also had a positive outcome in that I felt quite invigorated at the end of the walk, even though it was short and mostly on a tarmacked surface.

We crossed the A6 and took a footpath through a modern housing estate on the outskirts of the village of Clapham; it would probably have been more straightforward to go around by road! Then we walked straight down Clapham High Street, the former route of the A6; how boring you might think, but suddenly through a little park there was the River Great Ouse, on a meander that we hadn't followed when on the Ouse Valley Way. We walked through the park down to the river and admired the swans, then returned to our walk along Clapham High Street.

We turned left, up towards Clapham Parish Church, and an avenue of trees led up to the Church.The battery on my camera gave out and Richard's camera started playing up, but we managed to get some photographs of the Church. We climbed over a stile, but then realised that we'd turned right too soon, so back over the stile we went, continuing along the road for a little longer before turning right onto Carriage Drive towards Clapham Park. It was delightfully rural, complete with grazing cattle and views across open countryside.

We met another couple at the end of Carriage Drive, then continued straight ahead on a muddy track before turning right, leaving Clapham Park behind us. We were soon walking past a little industrial estate; Richard remembers visiting a Texas Instruments factory somewhere near here years ago, when staying with his Bedford Grandma. We crossed Brickhill Drive, close to the Bedford Travelodge where we have stayed before, then continued down on a narrow strip of green towards the town centre.

We were soon descending quite steeply alongside the Bedford Cemetery, and we emerged onto Park Road North. Apparently some relative of Richard's Dad lived here, and there are family members buried in the cemetery. We just took photographs for now, but I expect we'll be back.

We crossed the edge of Bedford Park to the Robinson Swimming Pool, which Richard also remembers from when he was a little boy, visiting his Bedford Grandma. Then we walked down De Parys Avenue, past Bedford School and some interesting buildings - the decoration on the building that we eventually discovered to be the Bedford Club particularly attracted our attention.

At the end of De Parys Avenue we reached the Church of St Peter de Murton and the Bunyan Statue, then we continued through the town centre, passing an interesting bronze bust of Trevor Huddleston (and also passing close to the "Bunyan Meeting" Church and Museum). We soon reached the site of Bedford Charter Market, by St Peter's Church; it was quiet today, in contrast with the hussle and bussle of the market on the hot Saturday on which we walked through Bedford on the Ouse Valley Way.

We crossed the river and passed a couple more old churches, with a blue plaque indicating that it was at the Church of St John the Baptist that John Bunyan received his "spiritual awakening" in 1653. We crossed the busy London Road and turned right onto Elstow Road, which took us through a residential area which seemed to go on and on. However we eventually emerged from the 20th and 21st Century urban sprawl to reach the delightful ancient village of Elstow, complete with its Moot Hall and Abbey. It was something after 5pm and just beginning to get dark; we were somewhat relieved that the access to the car park had not been shut in our absence!

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