Flilut two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Flilut here.

Walked from Flitwick to Luton. I was essentially following FliLut one, but this version corrects a few minor inaccuracies in the GPX plotting, and does not take impossible short-cuts in Flitwick. It also reflects a couple of places where the right of way lines are becoming overgrown and almost unwalkable because there are better trodden alternatives along the edges of the adjacent fields. The route is mostly enjoyable, but for walkers only, and I would recommend long trousers in summer as there are plenty of nettles. A few steps, gates and kissing gates but no stiles.

Starting at Flitwick, we follow pavements out to the edge of the village on Water Lane. We take the footpath over the bridge, then take the path left which is getting quite overgrown. This leads into a wood where we leave the better trodden concessionary path right, initially along a field edge and then on Birchwood Lane. We head left on the surprisingly busy Westoning Lane, then right up a tarmacked lane that leads to a caravan site.

Beyond the caravans the right of way should stay in the old lane, but it is so overgrown that progress looked impossible. Having read Ruth's review of FliLut one, I was looking for the route into the field to the right and soon found it - the field edge path seems well trodden and soon leads us back to the right of way. Further up the hill the old path stuck close to the right hand edge of a field, but this path, though just about viable, is becoming very overgrown and it appears most locals stay in the field until just before the house.

We then turn right onto a good path that follows a high wall and then goes along field edges to reach Samphill Road, where we turn sharp left. Beyond the second farm the road is unsurfaced and quite muddy in places, and has clearly not seen vehicle traffic for many years. Eventually after many twists and turns we emerge on Harlington Lane, and the short section of road walking requires care, and one blind bend is quite disconcerting. We soon leave the lane on a bridleway, that is in danger of disappearing as it crosses some very overgrown fallow fields. Once we cross another bridleway the path improves - we are now on one of the Chiltern Way extensions.

We eventually reach a pub car park, where I was grateful for the signpost that helped find the A6 crossing. There are no lights here, but the sight lines are good and the crossing is clearly well used, with a path between the central barriers. Beyond the main road there is a short muddy section and we then follow an alleyway into Barton-le-Clay, which has plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants.

There is a pelican crossing over Bedford Road by the Morrisons mini-supermarket. We continue south onto Old Road (I deliberately plotted the route along pavements, and on Old Road these are some distance from the road). Beyond the houses we are on an unsurfaced but well compacted old lane, which climbs fairly steeply past an old quarry to reach flatter fields beyond, where the path is mostly between high hedges.

A short section of road walking takes us to another well used path that goes south towards Galley Hill. Note that there is one point where the right of way line is impossible to follow as it goes through hedges, though the OS map shows the actual and obvious path as a black dashed line.

Eventually, beyond a small wood, we reach the Icknield Way lane which heads right between high hedges through a golf course. We go left past the club house and continue to skirt the edge of the built-up area, eventually rising into a field to a path crossroads where we head right towards a wood. There is a choice of paths here too - I chose the right of way which passes between hedges, then crosses Bushmead Road and rejoins it near a roundabout.

The OS map is a little confusing here, as our surfaced path up the hill looks like a road. There are a few steps before we turn right on a path with nature trail signs. This path emerges on a cycle track where we turn left steeply uphill to join Bradgers Hill Lane, where we go down to the right a few steps then take the path sharp left (unmarked on OS and OpenStreetMap but well trodden), that threads its way between houses and a school to reach the path down to Sunningdale.

From here on the rest of the route follows pavements of main roads through houses to the railway, beyond which we turn left to find the meeting point at the bus stops beyond the railway station (I will admit to going straight into the station without visiting the meeting point).

This is mostly an excellent route, and some of the downland scenery is good, but had I been designing it from scratch I would have taken in the tops of Galley Hill and Warden Hill. There may also be better alternatives in the northern half via Pulloxhill but I have not walked them.

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