I started planning this next section of the Icknield Way Path as soon as I arrived home from finishing the first half to Great Chesterford in Essex. If I complete it, I will link up with the Peddars Way, which I walked with Mel way back in 2003. All part of the Great Chalkway, though I didn’t know it at the time.

My walk from Ivinghoe Beacon through Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Essex was a success, with well-maintained paths, diverse wildlife, a selection of pubs, and interesting churches and towns. I’m heading into a different scenery, after Kentford, the chalk is overlaid with sand. This is the Breckland – open sandy heath with Scots Pines. 80% of Breckland heathland was lost between 1934 and 1980. Huge areas have been planted with conifer plantations, and many heaths have been ploughed for arable crops.

I won’t be passing any large towns. Sorting out accommodation in the small villages along the way hasn’t been easy. But for a change, I’ve been able to find somewhere each night virtually on the route, so no faffing with bus timetables. Perhaps restocking with food might be difficult. The weather will take care of itself. I have a day’s journey down by train to Cambridge and on to start in Great Chesterford.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, an old Yiddish saying.

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Since my last walk, I have sourced a copy of a book, The Icknield Way, written by Edward Thomas in 1913, with illustrations by A L Collins. Thomas had walked the route in 1911. He talks of byways and paths and gives a vivid, if lengthy, description of the chalk highways. I realise, upon reading bits of it, how much has changed over a century. Lanes that he used are now dual carriageways; hence, the current guidebook seeks out the most interesting way as close as possible to the historical road.

Thomas (1878 -1917) gained a second-class degree in History at Oxford. He then decided to pursue a career as a writer, encouraged to publish essays based on the detailed notes he took on his walks. His first book, The Woodland Life, was published in 1897. He endured years of poorly paid writing but became one of the foremost critics of the day. He developed a close friendship with the American poet Robert Frost, and it was he who encouraged Thomas to write poetry. (Frost’s most famous poem, “The Road Not Taken”, was inspired by walks with Thomas and Thomas’s indecisiveness about which route to take.) In the last years of his life, Thomas wrote over 140 poems. He was killed in battle in France in April 1917. The poems that made his name were published after his death.

Cambridge here I come.

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I leave a dull and rainy NW. The Preston Station waiting room had this message—an apt start to my journey.

I didn’t realise I’ve booked a first-class seat to Birmingham, all for £30.

The ongoing cross-country train wasn’t as comfy. Nuneaton, Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Grantham, Stamford, Peterborough, March, Ely, all pass by in a blur.

The sun comes out as I reach Peterborough. Cambridge is somewhat chaotic, with no trains going further south. Eventually, I find a bus taking me back to Great Chesterford, where I finished last time. The bus takes forever to negotiate Addenbrooke’s Hospital, what a place.

My hotel is an old English Grade II listed house with lots of character inside; ie somewhat dated and jaded but perfect for my tastes. It dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries and was once a coaching inn on the London to Newmarket road. Somewhere below it are Roman remains.

The name Chesterford is of Roman origin, but little remains as more recent builders plundered the stone over the centuries.

The room upgrade was a bonus: a bath and a four-poster.

I’ve become accustomed to a bit of luxury at the start of my trips.

An early night is called for after a journey of nearly 10 hours.