HOOP photo gallery 2a: Old Westmill to Ickleford
In these photos, the Hitchin Outer Orbital Path heads off north west into open fields, before swinging round to cross the busy Bedford Road and enter the outskirts of Ickleford. We stopped to pick blackberries and watch the cricket – as these photos show.
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- The correct route swings left behind the shed
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- A red herring: this is a path you don’t take
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- A house with many visitors came close to blocking the path
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- A decoratively-illustrated finger post shows the Pirton/Hitchin route
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- Mill Way takes a gentle curve to the north
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- Looking north east across the fields
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- Another path you don’t take – go right instead
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- Agricultural skies
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- Pathside flora
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- More signage on the Pirton/Hitchin path
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- This stage is characterised by easy field-edge walking
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- Miles and miles of healthy crops
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- The end of this field seems to take forever to arrive
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- Not a shortcut
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- The stone axe waymarks are for the Icknield Way
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- The big brown barn at Pound Farm
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- Looking over at the fringes of Ickleford
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- At the A600 the path is safely fenced off for a while
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- Inevitably on a path the rings a town, there are a few big roads to cross
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- An abandoned glasshouse slowly surrenders to decay
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- Brambles colonise the empty skeleton of a glasshouse
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- The way ahead is clear and easy
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- A great opportunity for blackberrying
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- Village cricket at Ickleford recreation ground
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- A firm prod into Extra Cover
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- Running between the wickets
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- Chasing down a possible four at Third Man
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- The walk into Ickleford’s village centre