The Chiltern Hills

The Chiltern Hills or The Chilterns are a chalk escarpment that stretches around 50 miles from The Thames at Goring in Oxfordshire, at the south-western edge, to Hitchin in Hertfordshire, at the north-eastern tip.  The area covers around 324 square miles of the countryside, and the Chilterns go across four English counties: Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire

This visit is to the north-eastern area with the Cambridge Rambling Club as part of a figure of 8 walk from Hexton, near Hitchin.  From Hexton we walk part of the John Bunyan Trail and then head on towards Barton-le-Clay; this village is in Central Bedfordshire, and southeast of the parish are the Barton Hills, which form part of the northeast extremity of the Chiltern Hills and are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - much of this area of chalk downland is now a national nature reserve, managed by Natural England.  It is very beautiful, and there are Dartmoor ponies here during the summer months.  We then walk south for a while and back up to Hexton for a lunch break.

We then walk towards Pegsdon and up to the Pegsdon Hills, another nature reserve managed by the Wildlife Trust; the reserve covers Pegsdon Hills, part of the adjacent Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire, and Hoo Bit in Hertfordshire and is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  It is a lovely place for a walk, if a little steep in places!

It has been a 12-mile walk in a very interesting area.Read more