Sandy to Arlesey walk

The Lodge Nature Reserve, Biggleswade Common and Jordans Mill on the River Ivel

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.

Date	Option	Post	#	Weather
Sat, 23-Sep-23		Sandy to Arlesey [new walk]	22	warm and sometimes sunny

Sat, 23-Sep-23 : Sandy to Arlesey [new walk] 22

Margaret

Sandy to Arlesey, via Jordans Mill

Length: Length: 17¾ km (11.0 miles). Toughness: 2/10

10:07 Thameslink Horsham to Peterborough train from London Blackfriars (BUT calls at multiple stations, including Coulsdon South 9:25, Purley 9.29, East Croydon 9:36, City Thameslink 10:09, Farringdon 10:12, St. Pancras International 10:16, Finsbury Park 10:23, etc...), arriving Sandy at 11:05

Buy a Super Off Peak return to Sandy.

Return trains from Arlesey are at xx:05 and xx.35

Adapted from the walk notes: The morning section of this new walk by Sean takes in the The Lodge, the UK headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) where it explore parts of the nature trails in this oasis of heathland, acid grassland and woodland. The walk then continues across Biggleswade Common to the riverbank, where it joins the Kingfisher Way for the remainder of the morning section.

The suggested lunch stop is the Riverside Cafe (01767-603940) at Jordans Mill, a “food heritage attraction situated on the banks of the River Ivel”. Visitors can freely wander around its attractive garden of cereals, fruit and vegetables as well as ornamental flowers (there's a charge for tours of the Victorian mill building itself). The afternoon section uses a new permissive path alongside the river before passing Henlow Grange and, towards the end of the walk, a short loop alongside the River Hiz takes you to Arlesey station.

For end of walk refreshment, there is a traditional pub with a garden 150m beyond Arlesey station, The Old Oak (01462-612536)

For full details and to download your copy of the directions see the L=swc.412 page.

Sandy

24-Sep-23

A good turnout of 22 to baptize this walk on a warm and sometimes sunny day. My little group got separated from most of the walkers amongst the twists and turns of the delightful heathland around the Lodge - we stopped a few times to confirm we were on the right route. Four of us picknicked at the tables at Fairfield, but there was a nicer picnic spot a little further on, away from the road.
We were briefly reunited with most of the group at Jordans Mill, including two who had (inadvertently?) done the Broom East loop. Most lunched at Jordans and had headed off again by the time five of us had finished having tea and exploring the gardens there. We thought the path along the river Ivel was very beautiful, especially next section on the permissive path where one of us spotted a kingfisher. That bit was very peaceful except when an antique plane buzzed about overhead.
Two of us zipped back to London on the very fast 1705 train so I can't report on the pub in Arlesey. Many thanks to Sean for devising and Margaret for posting this excellent walk through an area well worth exploring.