Icknield Way: Dunstable Downs to Ivinghoe Beacon (9.5 miles)

My walks along the Ridgeway finished where the Trail ends at the top of Ivinghoe Beacon. Here, the Ridgeway passes the baton to the Icknield Way, which continues along prehistoric routes to Norfolk. In this walk, I covered the first part of this trail to Dunstable Downs, although for logistical convenience, I walked it in the reverse direction, starting from the NT 'Chilterns Gateway' visitor centre on Dunstable Downs.

NB The map shows my route, with various diversions and excursions which you may not wish to follow precisely. You can download the Google map info, as a KML/KMZ file, then convert to GPX using a site like GPS Visualiser. Main walk to Ivinghoe Beacon in BLUE, return from bus stop to the start in RED.

Essentials:

Logistics: Park at NT Chilterns Gateway Visitor Centre (free for NT members). Return on the 61 bus (approx hourly, check on Google Maps or Bustimes.org.)

Walk: Reasonably well signed as 'Icknield Way', but a GPX file will always be handy.

Distance: 8 miles for the main walk, plus 1.5 miles climbing back up to the start, making 9.5 miles in all. The main walk took around 3.5 hours.

Refreshments: Good cafe in the NT Chilterns Gateway Visitor Centre. Red Lion Pub in Dagnall. Near the start, the Asda Superstore in Dunstable is handy for supplies, comfort break etc.

Points of Interest: Dunstable Downs and Ivinghoe Beacon: open downland with great views. Tree Cathedral. Possibility of seeing wild beasts through the Whipsnade Zoo perimeter fence (hopefully, not outside it). Dagnall Church, with unusual clerestory.

Notes: Expect mud after rain and in winter, when slopes will become slippery.

Although the Centre was on Winter hours (10:00-16:00), the car park was open when I arrived around 09:45: the centre staff say it opens around 08:30, and the exit gates are always open (they have tyre-rippers to prevent cars entering). The Centre has a good cafe, with great views out over the flat plains of Bucks and beyond. Suitably primed with a caffeine hit, I finally set off at around 10:30 following the Icknield Way along the impressive downland scarp, looking down on the glider airfield below, and across to my destination, Ivinghoe Beacon, 3 miles away as the crow flies.

The open downland ended all too quickly and the chalk lion figure on the slope ahead indicated I was approaching the perimeter of Whipsnade Zoo. First I passed the 'tree cathedral', created by one Edmund Blyth in memory of friends who died in WW1. I had a look round. Trees are planted in avenues to resemble a cathedral, and there is a touching memorial where the alter would be. It is in the care of the NT.

After crossing Whipsnade village green, the next mile or so followed the Zoo perimeter fence, and I was disappointed that no wild beasts could be seen, perhaps they were inside for the winter. The only exception was a herd of deer, which you can now see quite commonly roaming the countryside across Southern England.

I emerged onto and crossed the Whipsnade Park Golf Course, being careful to watch out for flying golf balls, then descended to pass through the village of Dagnell. I stopped to look at the church with its unusual clerestory. The village was apparently predominantly Methodist, so Anglicans had to walk some way to the nearest church at Edlesbrough, so, circa 1863, the local lord built this as a 'Chapel of Ease', to save them the walk. A lady happened to be changing the flowers, she kindly showed me round and explained it also served as a school, and shared its ministry with the Methodists until recently.

On the road out of Dagnall, I passed the Red Lion Pub, which looked welcoming but I pressed on, ignoring the board advertising Clarkson's ale.

Red Lion, Dagnall

There was then a long stretch on a farm track rising to Ward's Hurst Farm. As I climbed the track, good views back to Dunstable Downs, including the Whipsnade Lion, opened up.

From here, I joined the route I took on the previous (circular) walk, with a steep descent through the woods, mercifully provided with steps by the NT (this is part of the NT Ashridge Estate), before climbing up to Ivinghoe Beacon. It had been a gloomy day until this point, but as I reached the summit at around 2pm, the sun emerged lighting up the far-reaching views over to my start on Dunstable Downs, with the Whipsnade Lion prominent, and out across the relatively flat plains. This truly has to be one of the best viewpoints in the Chilterns, embracing large swathes of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire (at least).

I then descended on a steep grass path to the bus stop on the Tring Road, and got the 61 bus back towards Dunstable, alighting after a 20-minute ride near the foot of Dunstable Downs, and made the walk back up to the Visitor Centre, once again admiring the impressive scarp slope and distant views on the way up. I was just in time for a cuppa in the Visitor Centre before it closed at 4pm.

My Ridgeway walks can be found on this page.

The final leg of my Ridgeway walk, from Tring to Ivinghoe Beacon, could be combined with the present walk to make a one way walk from Tring to Dunstable Downs, returning from the foot of Dunstable Downs by the 61 bus (around 12 miles total).

Photos: A surprisingly mild early November day, dry but generally rather gloomy, with a sunny interval on Ivinghoe Beacon