About my walk
It took me two attempts to walk the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail. On 4th August 2006 I set out to do the walk from the Visitors Centre, but after only an hour or so my legs felt very weak and wobbly. I managed to carry on for another hour, but then cut the walk short when I reached a point quite close to where I’d started. I suspect I had a virus, as I’d felt ever so slightly ‘off-colour’ the previous couple of days and my eyes had felt tired. These symptoms persisted for some days, so I saw a doctor and had some tests taken. These all came back negative and the symptoms went away after another week or so.
After checking my fitness by doing a couple of 2-3 hour long walks over the next week, I attempted the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail again on Tuesday 29th August 2006. I decided to start this time from near where I’d got to on the previous walk, so that if I did feel unwell again I could hopefully at least complete the section of the walk I’d not done the first time. As it turned out, I felt fine and had no problem walking the whole 16 miles of the route.
Path along Galley Hill, looking towards Whipsnade zoo
For once, I didn’t do the walk ‘both ways’, 16 miles being quite long enough for a day’s walk for me! I did the walk in the clockwise direction, for no particular reason other than that this somehow feels more natural than going in an anti-clockwise direction.
It may seem odd to write a journal for a walk that only took one day. However, the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail is an ‘official’ path of sorts, having been created by the National Trust, and this journal may be of use to anyone else in the area thinking of doing this walk. In any case, I enjoy writing these journals!
Click here to see a very rough map of the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail (but only if you have already read my disclaimer and notes regarding maps).
Note: I have numbered each photograph (in red) and inserted the same number in the text to show where in the walk the photo was taken.
Note: I didn't take very many photos when I originally did this walk. I have done it a few times since and, in order to do the walk and the scenery justice, I have now added some more photos from when I walked it on November 12th, 2008. This explains the late autumn foliage in some of the photos accompanying a walk I did in August, as well as a few other discrepancies! As usual, I have indicated where the photos were taken at a different date.