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Milton KeynesWalk Details:
The Walk: |
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We’d spent a good New Years Eve partly at my sister-in-law Fiona’s, and partly at the Tudor Tavern in St Albans. Unfortunately a good New Years Eve invariably means a New Years Day hangover, we all felt pretty under the weather in the morning. Jim and I proposed remedying this by going to bag a few hills, saying the fresh air would clear our heads. The girls had been all up for this the night before, but now wanted to stay in Fi’s flat and watch DVD’s instead. Despite our attempts at persuasion, they stuck to their guns (and their chairs) and so it was just Jim & I that headed off up the M1 to bag a small group of three county tops that we’d been saving especially for this moment.
After weaving through rhododendrons, and with the help of the GPS we eventually tracked down the trig point (and the highest point in Milton Keynes Unitary Authority) set just inside the woodland boundary, where it met a golf course. It must be a pleasant golf course to play, with the fairways weaving through the trees. Job done, we turned and headed back from whence we came, noting on the way that between the trees there were glimpses of what might have been (had it not been for the woods) a good view out over Milton Keynes itself. Our hangover remedies had worked and we were both feeling quite invigorated – so much so that we decided we didn’t feel like heading back to the car straight away. Instead we decided to go and visit the local church. We headed downhill into the pleasant village of Bow Brickhill, then turned sharply back on ourselves to ascend a steep track up to All Saints church. When we found it, it was a delightful towered building of congenial hue. The grounds looked a little shabby – but bearing in mind the track that tools have to be bought up (and parishioners bearing funds) this was perhaps not surprising. In fact, this isolation made me like the place even more. The door was locked, but the porch had a couple of interestingly shaped windows in it Beyond the church, the track took us back to the car.
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The first was Milton Keynes, set amidst woodland
to the south west of this most huge of new towns. We parked in a muddy
lay-by amongst many other cars, walked downhill on Church Road a little
distance and past another packed-out parking area, then took a footpath
into the woods on the right. There were dozens of people out walking –
many, we suspected, were like us trying to blow away New Years Day hangovers.
We followed the footpath through the woods, ignoring many crossing trackways
and paths (most of which weren’t on the map). It was quite a light
and airy woodland, and it felt good having the soft bronzed leaves crunching
beneath our feet.