On the 200th Birthday of the first British railway train service ever,  at Bedford station I met 9 polyramblers who arrived on the fast train from St Pancras. I had already met another previously on the slower train from Flitwick into Bedford. We made our way onto platform 1A, where the two coach Bletchley DMU soon pulled in. All 11 of us boarded this little train setting off for the Kempston Hardwick halt, 2 stops away.

Kempston Hardwick has the reputation of being the least used station in Bedfordshire. It is easy to see why as there is very little surrounding it, other than a level crossing, a minor road and open fields. There was a small adjacent car park where I held our safety briefing. Much of the farmland surrounding this halt has been purchased by Universal Studios in order to construct a theme park for pleasure rides (possibly similar to Alton Towers?) and this received Government backing last April.

It was a slightly overcast morning with sunny spells. The initial part of the walk went eastwards away from the halt, along Manor Road where we had to keep in single file, there being no footway. Soon the side verges widened, where we reached a gateway opposite. I explained to the party that behind these gates is the Concrete Slab, being a former brickwork site about an acre in size. It is likely that Universal will use this space as their Park offices.

Continuing further along the road, passing a row of houses some now derelict, we then turned right, into the car park of a conference venue, onto a path, doubling back westwards through some woodland where, fenced to our left,  the humungous car park of British Car Auctions(BCA) appeared. Then ahead the path took us between two metal wedges onto an open field. This had been recently ploughed, and indeed a tractor could be seen moving in the distance doing the ploughing! We carried onwards towards, and in between, two more metal wedges at the opposite side of this field, then entered into another ploughed field, and crossed the Marston Vale railway  into a third field.

These fields are now part of the Universal  site. I explained that this third field would be developed into their transport hub, by bringing in a link spur from the A421 dual carriageway visible beyond the distant end of the field. Parking here will be provided for visitors, a new station to be built on the Marston Vale line, and possibly a hotel.

We then retraced our steps back over the railway to the second field, then proceeded along a southward path towards Broadmead Farm. This path was  not easily visible, but thanks to the OS Maps App, navigating us across the two metal wedges at the far field end proved to be no problem.  From this farm we continued south along a road to the edge of Stewartby, and going further down the road we passed some ex brickworks sites. Then the road curved round to the right taking us across to Stewartby station and level crossing.  At this point we took a left path into the Forest of Marston Vale.

The Forest of Marston Vale is a community forest set in 225 hectares, previously a large clay extraction site for brickmaking, now an area with several lakes yielding a wildlife habitat. After a mile or so of woodland tracks we reached the forest’s Visitor Centre. Some polyramblers ate their sandwiches in the garden, the rest of us ate in the centre’s cafeteria.

By now we were well over halfway through the ramble. After lunch we continued around the edge of the forest along shady tracks with occasional seats carved of of logs with various patterned shapes. A mile and a bit later we reached Millbrook station in good time for the Bedford train. Attached to the platform fences were some information boards about Captain Sir Tom Moore, a local hero during COVID times, including some lovely poetry.  We all boarded the train to Bedford. At Bedford station I directed most of the party to the next fast London train and we said our goodbyes as they boarded.

Geoffrey

Photos by Geoffrey and Mary

16 of us set off on this walk in bright sunshine towards the village of Bledlow Ridge, passing horses and alpacas on the way. We recovered from our first steep climb with a quick stop at the Boot pub before following the Chiltern Way, gradually wending our way down via beautiful views across the valley, freshly green fields and a beech wood, before circling around to meet the Ridgeway.

The rain held off for our picnic at Lodge Hill with fantastic views as well as an 80th birthday cake and bubbly for one of our members. We were lucky to see a horizontal rainbow over towards Princes Risborough, the first of several fabulous rainbows of the afternoon, which more than compensated for the occasional sharp squalls of rain.

We crossed the railway tracks and the Saunderton tunnel before leaving the Ridgeway and heading towards Lacey Green. Our route took us through the pretty village of Loosley Hill up a second fairly sustained climb. The Black Horse pub at Lacey Green provided an extremely welcome stopping point. From here, 7 miles in, two members of the group decided to take the 300 bus down to High Wycombe. After our stop at the lovely old pub the rest of the party headed off into the undulating Chilterns farmland for the next part of the walk.

We navigated some of the first mud of the season and sheltered from a heavy rain storm at the top of Highwood Bottom. We met horses taking shelter in the pretty Flowers Bottom, before navigating past a herd of Friesian cows as we completed the final climb of the walk to the outskirts of Bradenham.  From here we walked down through Brandenham Beeches where the fabulous trees afforded us shelter and some beautiful glimpses of sunshine. As we came to the edge of the wood we had a wonderful sunny view across Saunderton and towards the ridge opposite where we had started the walk. The party made it to the station in time for the 6 o’clock train, having completed 11 miles and a total ascent and descent of around 1300 feet. 

Jo

Many thanks to Chris and Mary for the fantastic photographs.

We were eighteen in number when we arrived at Chelmsford Station, along with many others heading for the Radio 2 in the Park music event. Fortunately, they had their own buses to take them to the venue so we all managed to get seats on our bus to Maldon.

This estuary town has a thriving centre, as well as pretty surroundings of saltmarshes and waterways. With the sun shining brightly, we headed down a steep hill to the River Chelmer. We then followed it through woodland to the town bypass, built on the route of a disused railway. Crossing underneath, we continued to Beeleigh Abbey. This used to be the site of a monastery but is now a private residence once owned by William Foyle, co-founder of Foyles Bookshop.

Further on, we reached the Beeleigh ‘Falls’, a collection of roaring weirs, and then the towpath of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation, built in 1796 to provide reliable access to Chelmsford. This took us back to the river which we crossed back into Maldon. Skirting the quaysides, we got to the busy Queen’s Head pub where we stopped for lunch.

Suitably refreshed, we passed a number of magnificent Thames sailing barges as we headed along the promenade to a statue of Byrhtnoth, the hero of the Battle of Maldon in 991AD. We retraced our steps back to the Queen’s Head and then up to the High Street from where we got our bus back to Chelmsford and onward to London by train.  

Danny

Photos courtesy of Joyanna and Gillian

Sixteen Polyramblers assembled at Merstham station having all taken a train from London Bridge. Shenanigans were to be had, with  unmanned ticket barriers providing the only way out from the (Brighton) platform! Firstly they failed my outward portion return ticket to Merstham. Several  of us had the same problem. It became apparent there was a screen on the sidewall where you could display your ticket to a gateman on the opposite platform who could open the barrier by remote control. Having cleared the barriers, my safety briefing then ensued and we set off northeasterly, crossing under the fast quarry line, then over the M25 footbridge.   Soon a left turn uphill on a footpath took us under the M23 underpass, which I called “acoustic underpass”. I decided to stop the party here awhile and demonstrate by singing a short song.  Unfortunately the echo didn’t sound quite as good as it did on the walkover version, which proves how the clothing of an extra 15 people can absorb the sound!  (Les has posted a short sample video of this rendition to the Club’s Social Group!) The path then took us further northeastward up the escarpment, then at the top joined the North Downs Way as a  level  bridleway eastward.

Soon there were good views of Redhill below, on our right.  We then passed Willey Park farm, then onto a lane where taking a left turn, we called at the The Harrow PH, being on the outskirts of Chaldon.  This was our half hour liquid refreshment halt. Continuing eastward we took War Coppice Road coming across the folly of Whitehill Tower, built by Jeremiah Long in 1862 as an ornament in the grounds of his Surrey villa, but has been neglected for years, needing desperate attention before it may collapse. In half a mile we reached a wooded track which soon took us onto a lovely open area at the top of the escarpment, this was Caterham view point with excellent views to the southeast, south and southwest,  including Godstone.  With several benches overlooking the views, it proved an ideal picnic spot. The sky became very grey, but the rain mainly held off save a few short sprinkles.

After lunch, we followed a wooded track around Pilgrim Fort and down via stepped section to the A22 Caterham bypass which we crossed via a footbridge. Beyond the bridge we came across the site of a hauliers firm and our track took us  across Winders Hill.  Our route then continued through Hanging Wood, then along the side of Gangers Hill and South Hawke, until we reached a sudden descent of steps.  These were placed straight above the tunnel carrying the Oxted to Croydon railway.  Near the bottom of the steps was a viewing balcony with a seat where you could see the railway in a straight line below as it comes out of the tunnel towards Oxted.  About a mile later we crossed a rather busy lane, and proceeded uphill on the other side, then below the slopes of Beach Plantation, until we reached the Greensand Way path.  At this point we left the North Downs Way, which would carry on to Botley Hill(where the club ended one of the NDW sections back in July 1985).  But today we turned right onto the Greensand Way downhill  and over another M25 bridge and across a meadow into the urban area of Oxted.  We reached that station just in time for the trains back to London.

I would like to thank Mary for doing the roll call at the start, and to Kim for backmarking.

Geoffrey

Photos by Les, Chris and Geoffrey

As I always do when I’m leading a walk, I arrived early at the station (St Pancras) ready to meet my fellow walkers. For a long time I was the only Poly Rambler there as far as I could see and I feared my ‘big beautiful’ walk along the Kent coast may not be as appealing to others as it was to me. However, my fears proved unfounded as a flurry of walkers arrived before the high speed train departed and by the time we assembled at the other end outside Dover Priory station we were a very respectable group of 16 walkers.
It took us a while to get going as the train had been full and there was a very long queue for the ladies. But thanks to the generosity of a publican across the road, allowing us to use his toilets, we managed to ensure we were comfortable before we set out. Continue reading Dover to Deal walk – 16 August 2025 →