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Photos 4th May 2008
Today was my 4th time as the fearless leader. Thanks to the 13 people who came and joined me today on a very successful JWalk, some from as far away as Brighton. If you wish to see a map of the planned walk route then please click here.
For those who didn't come, the walk got off to an ominous start when we arrived to discover the target car park had been closed! Doh! So we went half a mile up the road to Upper Sundon to dump the cars and walked back to the start point. That added half a mile to the walk length at the start. However for the end of the walk I was able to adjust by taking an alternative path directly to Upper Sundon (instead of back to the car park) without incurring any more extra distance. So all sorted in the end.
The walk started off along the top of the Sundon Hills from the closed car park. Then we walked past woods that were carpetted with thousands if not millions of bluebells - what a wonderful sight! Then we entered a woodland path before turning off and heading over to Streatley for lunch. It did rain lightly before lunch, but given the warm and humid conditions it was actually quite pleasant. The pub I think didn't know what hit them when we arrived, but they coped admirably and were very quick in their service of the food.
After lunch the rain had stopped, and it got quite bright for a while, enough to tempt some butterflies out. We ascended the ridge again (nice gentle climb so easy peasy), with Orange Tips fluttering by. Fromt he top the views were outstanding as the visibility was quite good. After walking the East side of the ridge, rounding the Beech forest and walking the West side of the Clappers, we emerged at a triangular meadow where we paused for water and breath.
After admiring the views from the ridge we descended a steep slope down into the fields below. We had to navigate a chalky bog at one point just before waypoint 4, but we got round OK without losing anyone so cool! After a steady flat walk past a pond and crossing a road, we then ascended back up towards the cars. That last section was quite a slog as after 6.5 miles my feet were starting to hurt. But we all made it and appeared to enjoy the day. In the end we finished at 4:40PM, which given my estimate of between 4:30 and 5PM I was pretty pleased with.
Since I am a keen butterflyer, I can say that we saw 5 species today - numerous Orange Tips and Peacocks, the odd Brimstone, a few Small Tortoiseshells and one Holly Blue for those who are interested. See my gallery for more details once I have updated it. You can also click on the links in this paragraph to see more pictures of these butterflies from my main gallery (of which there are loads admittedly so may take a few moments for the thumbnails to load).
Glad everyone enjoyed the walk. And thanks to Paul Freeman for inviting us back to his place for tea afterwards too. Now feel free to enjoy the photos I took below. If anyone else wants to submit pictures then please do send them to me and I will and then and credit you accordingly.
External links: Wikipedia: Sharpenhoe | Walk Like The Clappers (Sharpenhoe Clappers page on Chilterns AONB website with downloadable PDF of further walks.)
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| Climbing over the fence at the closed car park to start the walk! | Peering through a swarm of flies at Sharpenhoe Clappers that dominated the landscape. | JWalkers traversing the rolling Sundon Hills. | Someone pointing out a 'valley' in the hills leading down to a disused pit. | ||
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| Thousands of Bluebells carpetting Holt Wood and Fernhill wood. | Pretty flowers. | More Bluebells. | Into the woods. | ||
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| JWalkers passing under a huge overhanging branch. | Woodland path. | Lunch at The Chequers pub in Streatley. It was fairly full inside but there was a cool little hut outside that was perfect given the warm weather. | Passing allotments on the way out of Streatley. | ||
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| The ghostly remains of a dead tree silhouetted against the sky. | Ascending the ridge to Sharpenhoe Clappers. Rapeseed on one side, a steep drop on the other side. | Peering across the foliage and Watergutter Hole to the ridge further along the path. | First view East from Smithcombe Hill. | Female Orange Tip resting on a grass stem. | Looking Northeastwards over Smithcombe Valley. |
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| JWalkers on Smithcombe Hill. | Some event on East Hill across the main road. Some sort of 4x4 challenge? | Dandelion seeds. | Cowslip flowers. | Barton Le Clay as seen from the East side of Sharpenhoe Clappers. | Now in the Beech forest on top of the Clappers. Those roots made for nice natural steps. |
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| The Beech Forest on top of the Clappers. | Emerging from the forest via the ridge top path on the West side of the Clappers. | Pictures taken while walking the narrow path on the top of the West ridge of Sharpenhoe Clappers. In the last one you can see the village of Sharpenhoe in the background. | |||
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| JWalkers walking single file along the ridge top path. | Those sheep in the valley below weren't half making a lot of noise. | A crazy root pattern on the path as we approach the triangular meadow south of the Beech trees. | A large hairy caterpillar (of a moth called 'The Drinker') feeding on Sticky Weed. | The view west from the triangular meadow. | The last section of path on the ridge before we descend to the valley. |
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| Descending from the ridge. Thanks Paul for taking the shot with me in it. | Looking back up to the triangular meadow from the sheep field below. | Walking along a footpath below the ridge. Sundon Hills where we started visible in the background. | A tatty Peacock butterfly. Probably a male with many battle scars! | The bridge over a stream at 'waypoint 4' just after the chalky bog. | |
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| A pond west of Waypoint 4. | JWalkers making progress below the ridge, with Shapenhoe Clappers now looking rather distant. | Cherry Blossom near Burnt Ground Spinney. | Pushing uphill to the finish through one more wooded section. | Through the trees on the left is a view across a grass field to the start point. | |
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| Crossing one last field to the finish. | Phew we all made it! Now to go away and collapse in a tired heap somewhere! |