After yesterday’s walk I knew today was going to be sunny, so all day at work I was itching to get out. I decided quite early on to challenge myself and walk to Milton Keynes; 11.6 miles with nine of them cross-country and the remainder on tarmac. I knew it’d be dark by the time I finished, but guessed correctly that I could make it to civilisation before I ran out of light. I knew it would be an adventure – it turned out to be uneventful but the challenge of getting to the station for a particular time and perhaps having to navigate the last few miles in the dark really motivated me to keep my speed up.
I set off at 3.25pm having been home after work to get my boots and map and pack my tiny bag. I packed water but forgot something to eat which turned out to be a mistake – much of the walk I was haunted by images of rich exotic foods and when the first pang of hunger twisted in my stomach, the knowledge that the nearest shop was ten miles away drove me onward. I’d rather not have had the distraction to be honest, but lesson learned.
I walked from the flat via Maids Moreton playing fields to Lockmeadow Farm. Here, the footpath has no obvious direction and I often find myself wandering among the crap and the caravans trying to find a suitable route through. The route I usually take is now occupied by a static caravan and a locked gate and, not wishing to disturb the residents, I hopped a different fence and made my way into open countryside, following the Great Ouse for a stretch before joining the canal-side path at Hyde Lane. The canal group have done a great job of tidying-up the canal and shoring-up this path; it’s starting to look rather pretty. The running water near the lock has been cleared and it seems a rather nice place for lunch. This time however I strode on along the path, spotting sheep with brand new babies over the way and getting quite close to some few-days-old lambs on the approach to the main road. I headed out past Thornton College and across a few fields to Beachampton.
Every time I get to this village I’m somewhat relieved to find civilisation and distracted enough to miss investigating the beautiful circular church tower that guides you into the village. One day I’ll remember. It’s a short walk into the village before turning towards MK again, following my ever-lengthening shadow which pointed the way for much of the trip. Shortly after leaving Beachampton I crossed four stiles in fifty metres – some kind of record this; I’ll be interested to see if I can better it at any point. Further down and the map says you can go either side of the hedge – you can’t. I ended up hopping a barbed-wire fence to join the path proper which ran in an almost-straight line all the way to Calverton.
You see very little of this pretty village on the way through but it seems a thoroughly nice place to live, although it seems to be a bit of a rat-run at this time of day. As I left the village the sun was starting to drift slowly behind the trees and it started to cool down, so I rolled my sleeves to my wrists and pushed on to MK. I found the path to the main road which I failed to find last time and plugged my earphones in as the traffic flew past.
It’s deceptively far from the footpath to the central station. I upped my pace as the temperature dropped, racing through Two Mile Ash in the dusk and Loughton in the almost-dark. I rounded on the station and spotted from some distance that my bus was waiting at the stop, so I instigated the first running finish to a walk I’ve ever done to save me having to wait 25 minutes for the next one. I hopped on the bus in the nick of time and enjoyed the feel of the seat under my backside.
The whole walk was virtually non-stop; just a couple of ten-second stops to get my bearings. I’m very proud of this, and chuffed with the fact that my legs and feet didn’t ache afterwards nor do they now, the following day. This 11.5 miles followed 6.8 miles yesterday, making my two-day total 18.3 miles. There’s a chance I’ll pop another eight or ten on that total this afternoon depending on how I feel when I get home – I woke with a slight headache and sore throat this morning so I may invest my spare time in some rest, although the challenge of walking three days in a row is calling me quite insistently.
I set off at 3.25pm having been home after work to get my boots and map and pack my tiny bag. I packed water but forgot something to eat which turned out to be a mistake – much of the walk I was haunted by images of rich exotic foods and when the first pang of hunger twisted in my stomach, the knowledge that the nearest shop was ten miles away drove me onward. I’d rather not have had the distraction to be honest, but lesson learned.
I walked from the flat via Maids Moreton playing fields to Lockmeadow Farm. Here, the footpath has no obvious direction and I often find myself wandering among the crap and the caravans trying to find a suitable route through. The route I usually take is now occupied by a static caravan and a locked gate and, not wishing to disturb the residents, I hopped a different fence and made my way into open countryside, following the Great Ouse for a stretch before joining the canal-side path at Hyde Lane. The canal group have done a great job of tidying-up the canal and shoring-up this path; it’s starting to look rather pretty. The running water near the lock has been cleared and it seems a rather nice place for lunch. This time however I strode on along the path, spotting sheep with brand new babies over the way and getting quite close to some few-days-old lambs on the approach to the main road. I headed out past Thornton College and across a few fields to Beachampton.
Every time I get to this village I’m somewhat relieved to find civilisation and distracted enough to miss investigating the beautiful circular church tower that guides you into the village. One day I’ll remember. It’s a short walk into the village before turning towards MK again, following my ever-lengthening shadow which pointed the way for much of the trip. Shortly after leaving Beachampton I crossed four stiles in fifty metres – some kind of record this; I’ll be interested to see if I can better it at any point. Further down and the map says you can go either side of the hedge – you can’t. I ended up hopping a barbed-wire fence to join the path proper which ran in an almost-straight line all the way to Calverton.
You see very little of this pretty village on the way through but it seems a thoroughly nice place to live, although it seems to be a bit of a rat-run at this time of day. As I left the village the sun was starting to drift slowly behind the trees and it started to cool down, so I rolled my sleeves to my wrists and pushed on to MK. I found the path to the main road which I failed to find last time and plugged my earphones in as the traffic flew past.
It’s deceptively far from the footpath to the central station. I upped my pace as the temperature dropped, racing through Two Mile Ash in the dusk and Loughton in the almost-dark. I rounded on the station and spotted from some distance that my bus was waiting at the stop, so I instigated the first running finish to a walk I’ve ever done to save me having to wait 25 minutes for the next one. I hopped on the bus in the nick of time and enjoyed the feel of the seat under my backside.
The whole walk was virtually non-stop; just a couple of ten-second stops to get my bearings. I’m very proud of this, and chuffed with the fact that my legs and feet didn’t ache afterwards nor do they now, the following day. This 11.5 miles followed 6.8 miles yesterday, making my two-day total 18.3 miles. There’s a chance I’ll pop another eight or ten on that total this afternoon depending on how I feel when I get home – I woke with a slight headache and sore throat this morning so I may invest my spare time in some rest, although the challenge of walking three days in a row is calling me quite insistently.
