Walks Day walks # 195

Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard walk

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Updated: Sun, 07-Mar-21

Date	#	Post
Sat, 02-Nov-19	1	Thomas G Saturday Walk - Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard Length: 24.8 km (15.5 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below] Ascent/Descent: 254 m Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours Toughness: 5 out of 10 Take the 09.24 Rugeley Trent Valley train from Euston (Watford Junction 09.39), arriving Cheddington at 10.03. From Clapham Junction, take the 08.40 Milton Keynes Central train, change at Watford Junction (09.20/09.39). Return trains: xx.10, xx.34 and xx.54 (30-47 minutes journey time), on xx.24 you can catch a train to Clapham Junction (68 minutes journey time). Buy a Leighton Buzzard return. “A splendid walk through East Buckinghamshire’s rolling landscape of fields and wooded areas on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, linking up a handful of delightful hill top villages to provide panoramic views across pleasant countryside. Broadly following the Thames/Great Ouse watershed in the morning, it initially heads west, mostly with grand views of the Chilterns (when not walking in wooded areas), to then turn north with far views into Aylesbury Vale to the west, on to lunch pubs at either Aston Abbotts or Cublington. The afternoon route is more level, but still features the hilltop village of Wing and ends with a fairly tranquil descent into Linslade (for Leighton Buzzard station).“ It is possible to shorten the walk by taking a bus to Leighton Buzzard station, for details see the ‘Walk Options’ chapter on page 2 of the directions. Disclaimer: This walk involves a level crossing of the Leighton Buzzard-bypass dual carriageway. Lunch: The Unicorn in Cublington (13.9 km/8.7 mi, food to 14.30), or (a little earlier and 250m off-route) the Royal Oak Inn in Aston Abbotts (11.5 km/7.1 mi). Tea: several pubs listed in the directions, they are all in the Linslade part of town, i.e. close to the station. There is also a re-opened pub in Leighton Buzzard’s centre (The Black Lion at 20 High Street), a bit further away, which has been voted ‘CAMRA Pub of the Year Bedfordshire’ in its first year. Or The Bald Buzzard, a micropub at 6 Hockcliffe Street. For walk directions, map, height profile, comments, and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.195 Mike, 03-Nov-19 I arrived from the unwashed North a few mins after the scheduled train but there was nobody in sight at Cheddington, perhaps because of the rain or the rugby (I did consider wearing my South Africa woolly hat). The rain soon stopped and a curious golden orb briefly appeared in the sky, but the wind never relented. The Unicorn (1pm) was closed so this habitual early eater gutsed it out till 2pm and the Cock Inn at Wing. The rain returned with a vengeance. I had a few minor route problems owing to ploughed fields, but nothing serious. Lots of mud! Anonymous, 03-Nov-19 1 very windy and sometimes very wet ??
Sat, 24-Mar-18	9	Thomas G Saturday Walk - Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard Length: 24.5 km (15.2 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below] Ascent/Descent: 234 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours Toughness: 5 out of 10 Take the 09.24 Milton Keynes Central train from Euston (Watford Junction 09.41), arriving Cheddington at 10.04. Return trains: XX.33, XX.53 and XX.59 (34-47 minutes journey time), on XX.24 you can catch a train to Clapham Junction (68 minutes journey times). Buy a Leighton Buzzard return. “A splendid walk through East Buckinghamshire’s rolling landscape of fields and wooded areas on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, linking up a handful of delightful hill top villages to provide panoramic views across pleasant countryside. Broadly following the Thames/Great Ouse watershed in the morning, it initially heads west, mostly with grand views of the Chilterns (when not walking in wooded areas), to then turn north with far views into Aylesbury Vale to the west, on to lunch pubs at either Aston Abbotts or Cublington. The afternoon route is more level, but still features the hilltop village of Wing and ends with a fairly tranquil descent into Linslade (for Leighton Buzzard station).“ It is possible to shorten the walk by taking a bus to Leighton Buzzard station, for details see the ‘Walk Options’ chapter on page 2 of the directions. Disclaimer: This walk involves a level crossing of a dual carriageway. Lunch: The Unicorn in Cublington (13.9 km/8.7 mi, food all day), or (a little earlier and 250m off-route) the Royal Oak Inn in Aston Abbotts (11.5 km/7.1 mi). Tea: several pubs listed in the directions, they are all in the Linslade part of town, i.e. close to the station. There is also a re-opened pub in Leighton Buzzard’s centre (The Black Lion at 20 High Street), a bit further away, which has been voted ‘CAMRA Pub of the Year Bedfordshire’ in its first year. Or The Bald Buzzard, a micropub at 6 Hockcliffe Street. For walk directions, map, height profile, comments, and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.195 Thomas G, 24-Mar-18 9 on this walk of small pleasures: undramatic if slightly rolling countryside with some pleasant villages and some nice views, although those were curtailed today in dry weather with low clouds. So much so that The Chilterns were obscured almost all the time. But mysteriously it never rained until we were on the train home, result! There was a fair amount of mud after recent rainfalls, complemented by overnight downpours, and some of the arable fields (mostly pre lunch) led to mud assemblages on boots. But for every arable field there were at least two pastures to quickly get rid of the mud again. We made good progress and got to The Unicorn just before some large groups arrived, so the 3 lunchers' orders were reasonably quickly executed. And fine food it was. All picknickers joined us inside for their teas/coffees/cakes, and on we went as one group. We then lost one of the usually fast guys to him falling behind (taken a wrong turning?) and the rest of us got to LB just before 5 o'clock, for the 16.59 train.
Sat, 05-Mar-16	16	Thomas G Saturday Second Walk - Hill top villages in East Bucks. Panoramic views of The Chilterns and Aylesbury Vale SWC Walk 195 – Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard Length: 24.5 km (15.2 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below] Ascent/Descent: 234 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours Toughness: 5 out of 10 Take the 09.24 Milton Keynes Central train from Euston (calls Watford Junction 09.41), arriving Cheddington at 10.04; Return trains: xx.33, xx.53 and xx.59 (34 to 47 minutes journey time) to Euston; alternatively, at xx.24 there's a train to Clapham Junction (68 minutes journey time). Buy a Leighton Buzzard return. “A splendid walk through East Buckinghamshire’s rolling landscape of fields and wooded areas on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, linking up a handful of delightful hill top villages to provide panoramic views across pleasant countryside. Broadly following the Thames/Great Ouse watershed in the morning, it initially heads west, mostly with grand views of the Chilterns (when not walking in wooded areas), to then turn north with far views into Aylesbury Vale to the west, on to lunch pubs at either Aston Abbotts or Cublington. The afternoon route is more level, but still features the hilltop village of Wing and ends with a fairly tranquil descent into Linslade (for Leighton Buzzard station).“ The walk includes several arable field crossings before lunch, this might be the right time of year to walk it. Please see the comments section on the website for one walker’s remarks on recent route changes. We will investigate them to then update the directions. Disclaimer: This walk involves a level crossing of a dual carriageway, close to the end. So far, every SWC walker has survived the experience intact. It is possible to shorten the walk by taking a bus to Leighton Buzzard station, for details see the ‘Walk Options’ chapter on page 2 of the directions. The recommended lunch options are The Unicorn in Cublington (13.9 km/8.7 mi) [a table has been booked], or (a little earlier and 250m off-route) the Royal Oak Inn in Aston Abbotts (11.5 km/7.1 mi). For tea, there are several pubs listed in the directions, they are all in the Linslade part of town, i.e. close to the station. There is also a new or re-opened pub in Leighton Buzzard’s centre (The Black Lion at 20 High Street), which has been voted ‘CAMRA Pub of the Year Bedfordshire’ in its first year. That is asking to be tried out. As is The Bald Buzzard, a new micropub at 6 Hockcliffe Street. For walk directions, map, height profile, comments, and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.195 L=swc.195 Anonymous, 29-Feb-16 Planning to do this walk. middle neighbour, 04-Mar-16 coming with all my neighbours, maps, gps and most importantly a current bus timetable in case we get sleeted/snowed/hailed/rained in, or rather out. I know rather weak. David F, 06-Mar-16 There are a couple of amendments to be made after passing All Saints Church in Wing. Firstly, the sharp left turn is into Church Walk (not Church Lane). Secondly, the allotments at the junction of High Street and Stewkley Road no longer exist. A new housing development is being built there. The new directions should read, "In 130m reach a junction with Stewkley Road and follow the main road round to the right. Take the first road on the left (Dormer Avenue). In just over 100m, veer left into Castle Close" Thomas G, 06-Mar-16 16 cold wind with occasional hail Two first timers amongst the 16 walkers, only equipped with summer footwork, but gamely lasting the distance as far as can be ascertained (they shuffled off from the lunch pub with the fast sandwichers). Muddy in places, but not too bad, some of the field crossings left the boots with clingy mud, but mostly the soil was firm and easy to walk on. A bitey wind at times, especially felt on the middle stretch when we ventured North, straight into it. Leaden skies, with patches of blue, the sun at times threatening to break through, but not quite making it. Interesting cloudscapes therefore. And some fine ish views to the Chilterns and Aylesbury Vale. 1 walker then succumbed to a mixture of bugs & hangover and called a taxi from the lunch pub. Food service was exceedingly slow, they were clearly understaffed on the day, both front of house and kitchen. Food was tasty though when it eventually arrived. 2 hours at the pub for the first arivals...! At the end of twe walk 4 of the group stayed on in Leighton Buzzard to search out the CAMRA Pub of the Year and the micropub mentioned in the posting, and that proved a worthwhile excursion. 21.something train, followed by one more drink in London: the Euston Tap was packed, so off we went to the Bree Louise, mentioned in the recent Welcome Collection post (Turkish Delight Ale anyone ? Tasting nothing like Turkish Delight, unfortunately...). Several route changes, as outlined by the previous blogger and a bit further along the route where a wood had newly been opened to the public, will be included. middle neighbour, 06-Mar-16 excellent walk with glorious views over the Chilterns, and indeed much better weather than predicted and therefore the hardy 16 who came out had a deserved treat and great walk as a result. luckily our leader had timed the hale to descend during our longish lunchtime with customary German precision. Bravo! unwell walker exceptionally well looked after by various members and, I can faithfully report, has returned to her usual spring chicken feeling today. That's what neighbours are for.
Sun, 20-Apr-14	0	Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard
Wed, 07-Aug-13		Cheddington to Leighton Buzzard