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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Saturday 15 April 2017

Saturday Walk – Saffron Walden and Audley End Park

Extra Walk 130 – Great Chesterford to Newport (Essex)
Length: 18.5 km (11.5 miles). Toughness: 3/10

10:28 Cambridge train from Liverpool Street (Tottenham Hale 10:40), arriving Great Chesterford at 11:35. Buy a return to Great Chesterford.

Trains back from Newport are hourly at 43 minutes past. If you do the shorter afternoon to Audley End, direct trains back from there are at 19 (fast) & 40 minutes past the hour (you could also take a Stansted Airport train and change there for a fast train to Liverpool Street).

This gentle walk through the Essex countryside has had regular Sunday postings but its only previous Saturday outing was five years ago. Its two main features are the historic market town of Saffron Walden (well worth ambling around at lunchtime), swiftly followed by the parkland and mansion at Audley End. If you want to get your money's worth with a fairly long visit to the (English Heritage) house and gardens you can cut the walk short afterwards by diverting to Audley End station, although much of this ending is along roads.

There are many places for refreshment in Saffron Walden (plus a nice picnic spot in Bridge End Garden), but I've never made it past the first pub you come to (the Eight Bells) so can't comment on the alternatives. At the end of the full walk Newport doesn't have that much to offer but there's a friendly pub on the way to the station.

You'll need to print the directions from the Great Chesterford to Newport (Essex) Walk page.
T=swc.130

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

is anyone doing this non-bluebell walk please ?

Bridie said...

I expect to do this walk

Thomas G said...

same here (always up for a good Essex walk)

Thomas G said...

Despite announcements, not a bluebell-free walk: Rosy Grove had quite a few of them.
Else we had rolling fields, almost Tuscan in appearance this time of year, sans growth. Not one field crossing though, just grassy boundaries, tracks between belts of trees and farm tracks. Plenty of waterways, scattered woods, and lovely Saffron Walden, pargeted houses galore, one lovely lunch pub and one impressive stately pile (Audley End) incl. its parkland. And a miniature steam train just passing when we did walk past Audley End.
n=14 walkers, most lunching in the 8 Bells, to some mixed reports: some had great food, others weren't quite so sure. Great interior in any case.
About half of the 14 took the shortcut option to Audley End Station, the others (bar 1) were found on the 17.43.
The weather was w=dry-with-passing-clouds. And with a lengthy tour through Bridge End Garden and the optional tourist route through Saffron Walden, it even scraped past the magical 20 km-mark! What's not to like?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this walk Sean, thought it was lovely! agree with comments below + can you possibly post walks more often S ?