Start: Studham War Memorial, on the corner of Church Road and Clement End Road, Studham (A) LU6 2QG. Grid ref: TL 022 158.
(S/E) From the memorial turn left up Church Road and take the path on the right just after the Methodist church. Walk along the edge of the first field for 350m to a path junction.
(1) Turn right along the edge of the same field and the next, and go through a gate onto a road (Dunstable Road). Cross, turn left along the pavement and take the path on the right just after No.132. Walk up through the wood, stay in the same direction between the fields and follow the path along the edge of a housing estate. Continue alongside the next field and pass more houses on the left to drop down to a path junction.
(2) Bear left onto the path that runs parallel to the road on the right, and follow it for 400m before turning left up into an estate. Turn right along the pavement, take the path on the right immediately after No.11 Bramblewood, and follow it along the field edge to reach a busy road (Dunstable Road).
(3) Cross the road and turn left along it for 50m. Look out for a kissing gate on the right in trees. Go through the gate into a field. Walk along the left-hand edge of the first field and stay in the same direction to go through the gate into the grounds of the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Whipsnade (B). Walk past the church and leave the grounds at the front gate onto Whipsnade Green.
(4) Bear half right over the grass towards a pair of national speed limit signs. Cross the road (B4540) in front of the signs onto a wide grass triangle. Follow the hedgerow round to the left to join a bridleway. Stay straight ahead for 1km to a path junction at the communication mast.
(5) Turn right on the main track (not the mud track by the fence). Turn right again when you meet a surfaced access road and walk to the National Trust Chiltern Gateway Centre. On the way go past Dunstable Downs (C). Before you reach the car-park and road you should be able to cut across the field direct to the Gateway Centre.
(6) Walk down from the Centre to the Windcatcher sculpture. Turn left along the top of the ridge and to the right of the hedgerow. Go through a gate, continue in the same direction near the top of the slope for 1km and go through a gate.
(7) Bear round to the left onto a wide bridleway heading away from the ridge between hedges. Continue along the track for 600m to the footpath left just after a bungalow.
(8) Turn left past the barrier and through a gate into a field. Follow the hedgerow on the right through two more gates into the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral (D). Bear to the right of the Cathedral to the car park.
(9) Take the car park access track half-right, then turn left past houses to meet the B4540 road near Chapel Cottage. Bear right over the road to the lane opposite and walk past Maple Cottage and The Old Post Office to drop down the grassy slope to a lane (Studham Lane). Turn left along it for 600m to reach a path on the right just before the second set of barriers.
(10) Take this path, signed for The Chiltern Way, as it runs alongside the high fencing of Whipsnade Zoo (E). Where the fencing ends, continue to the path junction and go straight ahead. Keep to the left-hand edge of two fields, enter a wood and follow the path round to the left. Walk along the edge of the wood for 180m to a path junction with a small footbridge on the left.
(11) Turn right to leave The Chiltern Way, and stay on this path for 240m to reach a T-junction. Turn left, follow the path round to the right and, after 50m, turn left on a path along the edge of the wood.
(12) Where the path inside the wood turns sharply left, turn right down a rough slope into a field. Turn left through a gate and continue to the right of a hedge following the line of the overhead cables. Stay in the same direction through a gate and over a lane to the bridleway opposite. Continue past a school and onto the wide grassy path to return to the start.(S/E)
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