A trip up the Downs

On the second day of my trip to England, I decided to go for a long walk here in Dunstable, where my fraternal aunt and cousins live. I was well-rested after a long sleep and I was raring to try out the new hiking shoes I'd purchased from High Tor Gear Exchange. I picked up a map from the tourism bureau which offered a walk up Blow's Down, a natural area that's to the south of the down.

After a long walk through the town, trying to read the map, I finally went through a kissing gate and found this sign which described this "mosaic of grasslands and scrub on the steep scarp slopes of the Chilterns." I'd remembered going here when I was a child and again when I was here in the summer of 2013. This time, though, I know a little bit more about the need to have wildlife areas within proximity of urban density.

Here's a close-up of this sign. To me, it's informative to learn how natural areas are managed. People must better understand how our systems work together to ensure clean air, clean water and biodiversity. 

As I climbed the hill,  the middle third of this picture began to widen to reveal a density that people in the United Kingdom don't question. The infrastructure is impressive and I want to know more about how these systems work. 

As I climbed I the band of trees began to reveal housetops. 

As I walked upon the path, I came up to this gate. This was a public path and I and anybody else has the right to go through it as this is a public pathway.  But what was behind the gates, and why were they there? 

Cows. That's why. As part of the grass management strategy, cattle roam sections of the natural area to graze. I don't know what happens to the cows later in their life, but this is their habitat and human strangers such as myself are allowed in to co-exist. This was their spot and it was 

The middle third fills with more houses. 

The Chilterns are largely made of chalk. It's remarkable to see as it is so different from the red clay of Virginia. 

Now you can begin to see the residential density involved here. Note that at least some of the homes have solar panels on their roof, a sight that has become more common in the years I've been visiting here. 

This is near a place referred to on the map as a former chalk pit. Notice how the pathway is all white. Also notice that big structure in the middle of the picture? That's an Amazon distribution site. It's massive. 

What does that sea of houses look like close-up? I zoomed in to give a little slice of life. This is human scale and with a standardized infrastructure. I wish more Americans could see what this looks like on the ground. Or at least from Blow's Down! 

In the distance, I could clearly make out the M1, the major north-south highway in Britain. 

But up on Blow's Down, civilization can be escaped through pathways such as this. There were so many trails and pathways to explore and I only had so much time. 

There were even blackberries. Of course, up on an Down, all I could think of was my favorite book, Watership Down and the character of Blackberry, one of the more clever characters who escaped from  the Sandleford Warren. 

In this shot, you can see a double-decked bus traveling in the distance upon the Luton Busway. More on that later, but I took this picture from one of the many pathways covered in full canopy. 

From this shot, you'd think I was in the American Midwest, but I was less than a mile or so away from an urban community.  From this point, I could see none of that. I was in the wilderness. 

A bus travels on the Luton Busway, created in recent years from a former railway. It has changed public transportation in this region. The fastest trip is more or less guaranteed to be on a bus because nothing else can travel upon this space. Private companies compete to get the contracts to provide the services. 

Even amidst the density, space for athletics is also preserved. I do not actually know who runs the fields depicted in the middle. But look at how efficiently this land appears to be used. Look at how much activity you can see in this image. Natural area, busway, residential, open space, residential, and then a massive "industrial" space used by Amazon. 

I'll conclude this post with this image. Remember that sign at the beginning? It's located more or less at the triangle of green space in the middle of the image. Note the sea of urbanity bisected by this wonderful natural area. There are so many lessons to be learned here.