Start: Cross Keys pub, Castle Hill Road, Totternhoe (LU6 2DA). Grid ref SP 979 219
(S/E) From the pub car park, turn left along Castle Hill Road for 70m to Chapel Lane. Turn left down the lane for 200m.
(1) Just short of Lane Farm and the duck pond, you will see a stile and path off to the right. Take this path half left through Old Apple Tree Orchard to a footbridge, with two stiles across the stream. Cross the bridge and continue with the hedge on your left to a stile. Go over and continue with the hedge now on your right to cross another stile onto a track. Follow the track for 75m to a path crossroads and go ahead through a gate to continue on the track for 200m to some large farm buildings.
(2) At the farm buildings, turn left along the track (Dyers Lane). As you follow this track there are good views ahead of Dunstable Downs, including the chalk lion at Whipsnade Zoo, Ivinghoe Beacon to the right and Totternhoe Knolls to the left. Follow the track for 1.4km, ignoring several paths to left and right, to the junction with Dunstable Road.
Cross the road and carry straight on down Doolittle Lane to Doolittle Mill (A).
(3) Just before the mill, turn left along a wide but sometimes muddy bridleway for 900m to pass through a bridleway gate onto Well Head Road.
(4) Turn right along the road for 150m to the junction with the B489. Cross with great care and take the bridleway track to the left of the entrance to London Gliding Club. Continue between high hedges for 650m to go through a gate at the foot of Dunstable Downs.
(5) Turn left and follow the path beside the fence, keeping to the left of paths that lead up to the top of the ridge, eventually ascending a short steep slope around the left-side of the hill top.
Look back for views of the Gliding Club, Totternhoe, Leighton Buzzard in the distance and Dunstable Downs towering to the right.
The path narrows behind some back gardens then opens out to a wide open, grassy slope. Follow the left-hand hedge down to the main road, the B489. Cross it at the pedestrian/horse traffic lights.
(6) Turn right as far as the roundabout, then left down the slope to the Green Lane byway. Follow the gravel path, with a housing estate on your right (B). After 1.2km you reach a crossroads by a carved wooden seat and large illustrations of local butterflies. Continue straight on along the byway for 800m, passing Maiden Bower ancient settlement on the right (C).
(7) Follow the main track as it turns left at a waymark post ignoring the path straight on. After 150m bear right to follow a track which climbs gently along the side of a disused quarry and ancient chalk workings (D). On a clear day you will have views of Ivinghoe Beacon to the South and the Bedfordshire plain to the North.
Continue downhill across an offset crossroad. Continue for a further 100m across a further path crossroads to where a path joins from the left (from the National Trust Car Park).
(8) Follow the track round to the right and climb uphill, passing a bridleway on your left just before a metal barrier. Continue for a further 400m and look for a footpath on the left going steeply downhill into a wood.
(9) Take the path downhill into the trees - there is a waymark post in the undergrowth. The path drops steeply, over a number of tree roots, to Castle Hill Road. Cross over and turn right to finish the walk and enjoy a well-earned drink at the pub. (S/E)
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