Getting to the start.

I spotted the first Red Kites as my train pulled into Milton Keynes, we’re on the edge of the Chilterns, where they were successfully reintroduced over thirty years ago. I was last here in 2010, walking the Ridgeway with my good old mate Mel. I well remember that the birds from that time were relying on their release feeding stations. They have spread their wings since then, and I sometimes see them up in Bowland.

Getting here across the country isn’t easy. After a long day, my third train had me to Tring, with a glimpse of Ivinghoe Beacon on the way.

This is getting close to London, and frequent trains flash through the station heading to the smoke, as the capital was known before the Clean Air Acts. As a student, I arrived in London after the worst of the smog had passed, but I do remember it from Manchester when I was a child. I digress.

Walking down the lane, I realise from the properties, behind their walls and locked gates, that I’m in the stockbroker belt, within easy commuting distance of the city.

My lodgings for the night are in Pendley Manor Hotel, an impressive Victorian neo-Jacobean pile.

Peacocks strut around the grounds. There are some impressive cedars and pine trees.

The house has a long history.  The last private individual to own and live at Pendley
Manor was Dorian Williams, the BBC’s voice of show jumping. He was responsible for starting a yearly Shakespearean Festival in the grounds, which continued until the Covid pandemic, and I don’t think it has restarted. The hotel has many memorabilia from these productions, and its bar has a Shakespearean theme.

I get an upgrade to a superior room, which is probably wasted on me for one night, but I appreciate the gesture. A drink in the bar, £6 for a pint of IPA; they don’t serve real ales, and I’m ready for bed.

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I’m here to walk along the Icknield Way, or paths close to the old chalkways. This is the beginning of my link-up between the Ridgeway mentioned above and the Peddars Way in Norfolk (I walked the Peddars Way with Mel in 2003), although I only plan to walk five days to Royston on this visit.

I’ve got to hand the guidebook from the Icknield Way Association.

Or rather, just the relevant pages, sacrilegiously torn out of it, to get me about halfway. As you can see, the mapping in the guide is à la Wainwright, hopefully making it easy to follow.

In the morning, I’ll be catching an early bus to the base of Ivinghoe Beacon to commence my journey.