Coronavirus walk no. 181, Steppingley, 4th November 2023
Destination
Steppingley via Flitwick
Distance
12.4 miles (total on foot)
I first visited Flitwick¹ on the train in November two years ago and I have always wanted to go back and explore further the area that I didn’t get chance to visit at the time. There is a public bridleway that extends out from Flitwick and, although I walked along it at the time, I turned round and came back. This time, I decided to pay the village of Steppingley a visit, by way of that same bridleway. Mixed weather again, of course.
¹ (pronounced “Flittick”)
Walking to the station …
It’s been over five years since we changed from a circular to a 12-sided £1 coin, yet somehow I have ended up with an old “round pound” in my change!The leaves are turning
One train journey later:
Arriving at Flitwick (the town, not the Harry Potter character)Alighting the (not very clean) train
For SnakesInBowties on Imgur, I made to sure to cover some of Flitwick itself. I need to take a tour around the town itself one day.
Modern housesThe edge of the shopsStrange looking housesSomething a little more interestingThis is Steppingley Road, although it doesn’t point in the same direction as Steppingley; to the east is the other main road, to Ampthill. Interesting bodge job with the zig-zag lines in the middle of the road!Older houses; beyond the road you can see a headspan OLE assembly for the Midland Main Line railway.
To the left here is that bridleway, that begins the journey to Steppingley:
Bridleway off Steppingley RoadKatherine is a nice name … not sure it makes my shortlist for prospective girlfriend names but it’s up there.This is the bridleway I discovered on my first visit; as I was exploring without a plan or a map I had no idea where it went and thus I had to turn around otherwise I would just have walked off into the distance.And here we go: mud. Lots and lots and lots and lots of mud.Looking back towards FlitwickMaybe I was too hasty in coming here this early in autumn, as we’re not quite there yet with regards the colours, but it was still pretty.Looking down at a house, with the Sundon–Grendon Supergrid line in the backgroundStill close to civilisation hereBright little treeNot even sure where this is, but the sun has come out!
On every walk there is somewhere I could turn off and explore but don’t.
This path is the right direction in compass terms, but we don’t want to turn north for some while yetLeft through this gate leads into Flitwick Wood
Continuing onwards, despite the mud …
Sundon–Grendon 400 kV Supergrid line on L2 towersQuite the scenic routeWater droplets from the rain shaken down from the branches by the windLooking up at the treesIn Britain, walkers have to follow public footpaths and bridleways: specific routes across the land permitted for walking and horseriding respectively, which often go right through farmers’ fields. I have no idea how this works in the US.The sun is back, for a fleeting momentNot just mud but puddles. Not going this way, but I ended up coming back this way by mistake. I left a route off my map sketch owing to confusion of how footpathmap.co.uk works: some footpaths are shown in the underlying map data but not traced and it’s easy to confuse untraced footpaths and other boundaries.Water droplet on a berry. I walked past this scene before it registered consciously, then I returned to photograph it as it looked interesting.I took the footpath to the right at that gate above (the gate was leading left).Distant houses (at maximum zoom, 300 mm focal length)Sunlight gleaming off an L2 tower.Looking out over, at a guess, Flitwick and (hogging the sunlight) AmpthillPassing under the Sundon–Grendon 400 kV power line
Finally arriving at the edge of Steppingley.
Weird looking place just outside Steppingley.BrokenArriving at Steppingley in the rainQuaint old building on the edge of Steppingley, possibly a church turned into a houseApproaching Steppingley villageSteppingley “proper”Parish Church of St Lawrence, SteppingleyWar memorial in the churchyardWonderful old wall outside the churchModern housingCurious-looking placeOld, or modern but designed to look old?The Ampthill walk (Flitwick–Steppingley–Ampthill–Flitwick) is for another day. Note the spelling of “Steppingly”.Quaint old cottageVery meowy cat!Bookshelf in the bus shelterBungalowsMore bungalowsTerraced housesQuince jelly (not jam?) and (formerly) flowers (at least, I assume that is what was in those containers) left out for sale, outside of a house.
Here we reach the edge of Steppingley, and turn back towards Flitwick. I’ve not included all the photos from Steppingley, but is really is a tiny place.
Road to nowhereClock turret, Steppingley Village HallVillage centre with the French Horn pub, with the church visible in the distanceSteppingley sign under the autumn leaves
Leaving Steppingley …
This house dates to 1895It seems odd to want to write the year on a brand new house, but it’s handy in the future to have it there!HumbugThatched cottageA reminder of why I started these walks and how my pylon hobby came to be33 kV power line against the low autumn sunFarm buildingsEven in the afternoon you can still get a worm. Moral in this somewhere …Looking out across the fieldsA sign?Woodland on the way home; this was not the route I intended to take, though. (I didn’t photograph much of that, not even when I came to a dead end somewhere.)Back in Flitwick; the battery ran out shortly afterwards!
