Walking closer to home: Ivinghoe Beacon

We're always championing the Lakes and Peaks for their exquisite scenery and beautiful walking routes, and rightly so, but we always seem to forget whats right on our doorstep. In our case, once you get out of the urban chaos that is Luton, a short drive and you hit the rolling Chiltern Hills and countryside that's just as green and welcoming as anywhere else in the UK.

We thought we'd showcase a lovely little walk featured in this months Country Walking magazine taking in the northern tip of the National Trust's Ashridge Estate and around Ivinghoe Beacon.

Getting there and starting the route is nice a simple, with there being a national trust car park situated between Ivinghoe and Aldbury. (Grid Ref SP957149). The walk itself is around 10km and has been marked as a moderate route.

From the car park cross the road and enter through the gate and along a grassy path (the Ridgeway National Trail). Once you reach a signed junction, keep ahead and pass Incombe Hole, a deep sided dry valley quite likely to have been formed during glacial times when the chalk was frozen and then thawed, resulting in a rather impressive wide crevasse. As the route inclines ignore a marked path on your right and continue heading on up until you reach a right hand fork in the path through a wooden gate. Follow through the area of scrub which eventually drops to a bend in a road. Cross said road and head onwards to Ivinghoe Beacon.

Incombe Hole

Beacon Hill itself stands at 233m above sea level and is a highly popular spot for walkers, model aircraft enthusiasts and kite flyers who use the lift generated from up the hill to cast their planes and kites skywards. It's an ideal spot to take in the views and take a few snaps. On from the hill, head east along the spine of Beacon Hill and you can take in another famous landmark, the White Lion etched into the chalk, signalling the edges of Whipsnade Zoo. The Lion was designed in 1933 by R.B Brookes-Greaves and is quite a sight from the air.

Ivinghoe Beacon

After having a gander at the White Lion go through the wooden gates ahead and continue as the path drops down through another gate. At a marker post not that far after go over a grassy knoll then turn ever so slightly right and go through another gate and head across the field. At the far corner of the field, pass through a wooded area, turn right at the wire fence on your left. Continue for around 1.5km until you hit another road, turn right along the verge and continue for another 650m or so.

White Lion at Whipsnade

At this point you hit the outskirts of Dagnell and need to turn right along a signed path label Icknield Way/Hog Hall Lane. Once you've got to Hog Hall Lane, bear left and then right. Head through the kissing gate and climb uphill once more, following the strip of woodland on your right and through another wooden gate further on. You then reach a farmyard, turn right and go through yet another gate and follow the signed footpath, passing a pond on your left, go through another kissing gate and turn left. Go through another wooden gate, with a wire fence now on your right. Fairly soon after bear right again through a gap between two wooden posts, cross a grassy field, keeping yourself to the edge of the woods on your right, head through the gates at the corner of the field out to the road.

At this point of the walk you've got 8.5km under your belt. Back from the road head right along a woodland path which runs alongside the road. Continue on, entering through another gate, bearing left afterwards across the grass over to the road. Cross over the road my friend and pass between two more wooden posts to follow a signed footpath. At this point you now start to drop downhill and head between a gate, with some more fantastic scenic views to take in. Turn left along the path, passing Incombe Hole once more on your right. Stay ahead and you'll be back at the car park and ready for some well earned refreshments and a bite to eat.