I know, this has already been posted twice this year! But try finding a "Country Walk from London", on this very strike day...
Anyway, on its last posting only 2 punters turned up, and the previous outing was for the bluebells rather than for the scenery...
Length: 20.6 km (12.8 mi) [shorter walk possible]
Ascent/Descent: about 360m
Net Walking Time: ca. 5 hours
Toughness: 4 out of 10
Take the 09.33 Northampton train from Euston (09.55
Watford Junction), arriving Tring at 10.17.
Return trains from Tring: xx.00 and xx.19, but only to 17.19!
Return trains from Berkhamsted: xx.05 and xx.24, but only to 17.24!
Chiltern escarpment to Ivinghoe Beacon, ancient beechwoods of the Ashridge
Estate etc.
Walk Options: Circular Walk back to Tring. Shortcut possible. See
webpage or pdf for details.
Tea: See the webpage or the pdf for details. T=2.5
2 comments:
Brilliant will try to come Jane
N=13 on this walk, including 12 at the start and one who got the train an hour earlier (I understand: I never saw her, but others did). It was w=a-glorious-sunny-day, the most perfect walking weather I can remember for a long time - barely a cloud in the sky and delightfully warm in a way it probably won’t be again till next spring….
After the fine downland stretch to Ivinghoe Beacon, passing larks on Pitstone Hill that seemed to think it was April, we passed into more wooded territory. A good deal of autumn colour was on display here, including more than usual amounts of maroon, pink and gold, the recent cold nights (perhaps combined with a sunny summer) having their effect.
Six of us lunched in the Bridgewater Arms (fairly nice food but small portion sizes and sour-faced staff). None of the rest of the group turned up at the pub and we never saw any of them again. Three may have done the shortcut to the Bridgewater Monument, the other three possibly went on to Berkhamsted. They alone can tell their stories.
The six of us carried on through the pleasant woods to the Brownlow Cafe, but I was the only one to have tea there. Three went to Tring station, the rest of us pioneered our own route to the northern edge of Berkhamsted, where after a drink one went to get the last train of the day (the 5.16).
That left two of us to walk in the wonderful golden sunset towards Chesham, a walk of about five miles. We were disappointed of our planned mid walk pub stop when we found it closed for “maintenance”, but our reward was a beautiful dusk crossing of a valley, with a golden near full moon rising slightly shyly above the trees and several hundred jackdaws bedding down noisily in the surrounding trees.
We then walked into Chesham in partial moonlight, serenaded by owls, and had a Lebanese meal before finding the 8.56pm Metropolitan Line train had been cancelled due to a suicide at Harrow. Cue a pub stop and the 9.26, which thankfully operated without incident.
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