Pete's Walks- Barton and Deacon Hill (page 2 of 3)
When the road turned left, I continued ahead along a track, still on part of the Icknield Way path. The broad track ran between hedgerows, gradually approaching Telegraph Hill. At the foot of the hill the track forked (the waymarks sited in the middle of the junction unhelpfully pointed straight on!), but I went a few yards along the right fork then turned left, off the track, and took a grassy path up the slopes of Telegraph Hill (again, it might have been helpful if there'd been a waymark where I turned off the track). Strangely, I didn't remember this pleasant grassy slope, but did recall the next section at the top of the hill where the path ran along the left edge of a field with trees on my left (the last time I came this way was on my second Chiltern Way walk in 2007)
The section of the Icknield Way, just after the road
The Icknield Way, continuing towards Telegraph Hill
The Icknield Way, continuing towards Telegraph Hill
The path up Telegraph Hill
The path along the top of Telegraph Hill
In the field corner the path went through a gap in the trees and reached a track, where I turned right. There were tall hedgerows on either side, making it slightly gloomy on this gloriously sunny day. After a few yards I spotted a stoat - it was running round and round a muddy puddle in the track, occasionally jumping straight up in the air. It would sometimes disappear into the undergrowth on one side or another, but then reappear after a few seconds. I don't know what it was doing, possibly hunting a frog I thought. It didn't notice me at all and I got within 20 yards of it, but because of its constant movement and the poor light conditions I failed to get any really sharp photos of it.
The Icknield Way continuing from Telegraph Hill
The Icknield Way continuing from Telegraph Hill
The Icknield Way continuing from Telegraph Hill
After following the track for about half a mile, I went through two field gates on the left and took the path up the grassy slopes of Deacon Hill. I spotted a couple more Chalkhill Blues here, but nowhere near as many as I once saw here when I did my Lilley-Barton walk. At the top of the hill I was rather amused to find that the trig column had been painted a fetching shade of pink. As ever there were far-reaching views northwards over the flat lands of these parts of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire (Barton is in Beds, but I was now standing in Herts).
The path up Deacon Hill
Reaching the top of Deacon Hill
View from the top of Deacon Hill - with the pink trig point!
The next section of the walk was the bit I'd most been looking forward to. I turned left, and followed a path along the top of the grassy escarpment, still with the expansive views over the flat areas to my right. As at Barton Hills, there were plenty of butterflies and wildflowers on this chalk downland. The path went through a kissing-gate or stile at one point, then a little further on went up and down a slight dip as it passed a steep-sided valley cutting into the escarpment, then went round the end of a similar but larger such valley, name Barn Hole.
View from Deacon Hill, looking over Pegsdon
The path along the Pegsdon Hills
The path along the Pegsdon Hills
The path along the Pegsdon Hills
View from the the path along the Pegsdon Hills, along a side valley that is a smaller version of Barn Hole
The path along the Pegsdon Hills, going round the end of Barn Hole