11.6 miles, difficulty 4/10.
This walk, a variant of the Knebworth Circular, goes through Knebworth Park, glimpses Knebworth House and, later, passes near the ancestral home of the Queen Mother. You also pass a church associated with the family, that’s worth a look. But today’s big stars are the bluebells. These ones could eat Dockey Wood’s offerings for breakfast.
Trains:
Get the 10:02 (possibly Royston) train from Kings Cross (Finsbury Park 10:08) arriving Knebworth 10:39.
Return from Hitchin at x:00 and xx:30. Get a return to Hitchin.
Lunch
The recommended choice, after you’ve turned onto the Hitchin walk, is the community-owned, CAMRA-recognised, Red Lion in Preston 01462 459585. You should reach this about 1:30. Booking advised.
An earlier possibility would be a short diversion to the village of Whitwell, using the main (circular) directions (page 9), to find Emily's Teashop 01438 871928. (The Bull Inn there 01438 871513 also does food).
The Strathmore Arms in St Pauls Walden doesn’t seem to do food on a Sunday.
Tea The directions recommend Halsey's Deli in Hitchin - near St Mary's Church - open till 5.
If it's beer you're after, Mr Tiger would recommend the Half Moon, 57 Queen Street (01462 452 448), winner of several CAMRA awards You'll find this on the right hand side where you would turn left into Bridge Street (para 25).
Walk Directions here
If you like to use a printout, the pages needed are 6-9, then 21-25 When you get to point 17 in the main walk, skip forward to page 21 where the walk to Hitchin continues. (If you do finish in Knebworth, trains back from there are at xx:44). t=swc.353
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Only n=3 of us showed up for what arguably is the best bluebell walk in the SWC repertoire. Our fair weather walkers who wimped out due to the inclement weather forecast missed some glorious displays of bluebells in the many woods along the walk route. OK - the weather could have been better: w=drizzle-for-most-of-the-day-with-a-cold-wind which required us to layer up, but having done so, we managed to enjoy this excellent walk, despite plentiful mud and many flooded paths which took some navigating. We arrived bang on time at the Red Lion, Preston for our reserved table. The pub was packed but the delay in my food arriving was very acceptable in the circumstances - and my pint of Timmy Taylor's Landlord was just what the doctor ordered. My companions joined me for a drink after enjoying their sandwiches under shelter nearby.
After lunch, more bluebell woods and more mud and floods, but the sun came out as we entered Hitchin, where two of us enjoyed a good cuppa and cake in Halsey's Deli before catching the 17-00 hrs fast service back to London - our companion having skipped tea in order to be in time for the 16-31 hrs train.
A grand day out - shame there were not more of us to enjoy the best bluebell displays in Southern England.
Post a Comment