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Last updated
19th December 2004

The Greensand Gambol

Take the footpath to the right of the British Legion hall. Shortly take the right hand fork to pass a large metal gate on your right and go through a wooden gate. Keep straight ahead. The path descends through a gate with a sign for Stockgrove Country Park. Continue ahead towards the Visitors Centre Car Park. The path meets a fence. Turn right away from the Car Park to go through a wooden gate and cross the road. Go through a metal gate and take the footpath signposted Greensand Ridge Walk (GRW).

Almost immediately take the left forking path to walk parallel to the road, now on the left. At the end of the path go over a stile onto a narrow path overgrown on both sides. Go over the next stile, at the side of which is a sign ‘Danger Lorries Crossing’, onto a track. Turn right along the track until you reach a point where the track bears left. Straight ahead are posts with the GRW Muntjak Deer symbol and to the right a narrower sandy path. Take this path shortly to pass a Rammamere Heath information sign.

Rolling countryside and an area that is teeming with wildlife ensures that there are plenty of focal points on this delightful woodland walk.

Go straight ahead. Enter a thicket, shortly to pass a GRW post. Later ignore a crossing path, continue straight ahead and eventually arrive at a stile waymarked GRW. Go over the stile. You now stand at the edge of a large open field with farm buildings ahead. Turn left and cross a stile in the hedge to the right of an opening to another field. Take the path to the left edge. Pass into the next field again taking the left edge, shortly passing a pond surrounded by trees. You are now on a path parallel with telegraph wires but where the wires pass into the next field, near a footpath sign, do not turn left but carry straight on until you come to another sign, pointing you across the corner of the field. Look out for a stile hidden in the hedgerow on the far side of the field.

Go over the stile and bear slightly right. The footpath goes across the field to a hedge. The way through the hedge is by two wooden gateposts. Continue ahead towards a large tree. Cross a wooden stile on the right of the tree into the next field. The buildings of Home Farm are directly ahead. Continue ahead with the hedge on the right. Before the hedge ends, watch very carefully for a stile. Go over it and the wooden bridge to cross a ditch. The line of the path is diagonally across a riding-school enclosure in front of the farm buildings. Turn left along the lane beside the farm and walk towards Great Brickhill. At a T-junction with a road, turn left. Walk into Great Brickhill, arriving at The Old Red Lion pub.

Take the lane opposite the pub, then Cuff Lane on the right which, after a house on the right called the Willows, becomes a gravel footpath. Pass the gates of a sewage works then cross a stream. Bear right with the now sandy path. Go through a wooden gate. The way becomes more open, then enters a wooded area rising gradually to a fork; take the right hand path.

Ignore a path to the left and continue ahead as it enters a more densely wooded area, soon to descend steeply, converging with a fence on the right, at the end of which and at the bottom of the descent, is a junction of paths. Take the path straight ahead signposted Greensand Ridge Walk. Eventually pass a large pond on the left and cross a stream. Go straight ahead, almost immediately crossing a stile. The path rises shortly to arrive at a footpath on the left (GRW signed straight on).

Take this footpath to eventually cross a broader track. The path descends steeply to a dip where you cross a stream. Shortly the path climbs steeply. As it levels out, ignore a path to the left leading to a very sandy area with signs of excavation. Take instead the path that goes slightly to the right. Continue on this path away from the sandy area. At the fork, take the right hand path where the area is more open, then straight on to arrive at a stile. Cross the stile and bear right then straight on, to return to the Royal British Legion hall.

Summary

Start

Royal British Legion Club, Heath and Reach

Distance

5½ miles

Parking

Thrift Road, Heath and Reach

Refreshments

Kiosk at Stockgrove Country Park

The Old Red Lion, Great Brickhill

Pictures from top:
One of many delightful shaded paths through Stockgrove Country Park.
A path through Stockgrove Park near the visitors' car park.
Lizards seen here basking in the sun in Stockgrove.

Map: Use Explorer 192

Other walks:

The Southcott Stroll  (1.5 miles)
The Stockgrove Strut  (3 miles)
Eggington in the slips  (4 miles)
The Bluebell Polka  (4.5 miles)
The Canal-side Canter  (4.5 miles)
The Greensand Gambol  (5.5 miles)
The Bragenham Bash  (6.5 miles)
Mentmore Vistas  (7 miles)
The Soulbury Saunter  (7 miles)
The Leighton-Linslade Loop  (20 miles)

 

                                                     


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