14 km (8.7 miles) 2/10
There's been a gap of several years since this walk was posted before Christmas and the last attempt was thwarted when heavy snow cancelled the trains (see picture). A recurrence of that seems unlikely.
Despite the proximity of urban areas and the M25, some of the walk has a surprisingly wild feel and before the motorway, it must have seemed like untamed rainforest. Then at the end of the walk it's nice to visit St Alban's Cathedral where there is usually a Christmas market and possibly choral evensong at 5 pm.
There
is mention in the walk notes of a flooded area between Park Street
and St Albans, but I checked this recently after several days of rain
and it was no wetter than the water meadow near Henley which we
traversed without complaint last week. Be sure to wear waterproof
footwear though!
Travel: You need to get to Watford Junction in time for the 1045 from Platform 11, getting to Garston at 1050. From Euston you could get 1009 arr 1029 or the quicker 1023 arr 1037. From Clapham Junction there's the 0939, arr 1021. The Lioness line also goes to Watford Junction e.g. from Harrow & Wealdstone 1015; it's pretty slow but may be useful for some north Londoners.
Return train from St Albans Abbey at 1607, 1651, 1736, 1822 or very frequent Thameslink trains from St Albans City which is about a mile further north. Buy two singles for the outward and return trains unless you are sure you are going back from St Albans Abbey, in which case get a return to there.
Lunch: See the walk notes. The main suggestion for a sit-down lunch is the Moor Mill Beefeater restaurant (bookable online with very competitive midweek prices) 01727 875 557; there are a couple of pubs further on in Park Street but they don't make good lunch options. There are scenic benches by some ponds between How Wood and Park Street which would be good for a picnic stop.
Tea: numerous options in St Albans but the walk notes suggest the Abbot's Kitchen in the cathedral, (open until 4-30), Abigails (tel: 01727-8560039), in the cathedral precincts (open until 5) and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub (tel: 017227 869152), below the Cathedral.
Shortening the walk: the walk route passes close to the Watford-St Albans railway line near How Wood and Park Street stations so you could finish the walk at either of those. Trains only hourly through the day though.
L=1.7
7 comments:
Yes I may attempt this walk on Wednesday suitably attired in rain ware. Then may go to take some presents to my niece in nearby Hitchin late afternoon Jane Anyway Merry Christmas everyone.
A member of train crew being unavailable between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey means that services operating to / from these stations have been cancelled.
This is expected until 14:30.
Customer advice:
The following rail replacement buses will operate as follows:
Departing St Albans Abbey, calling at all stations to Watford Junction, at approximately:
07:50 / 08:30 / 09:20 / 10:20 / 11:20 / 12:20 / 13:20 / 14:20
Departing Watford Junction, calling at all stations to St Albans Abbey, at approximately:
07:25 / 08:10 / 08:55 / 09:55 / 10:55 / 11:55 / 12:55 / 13:55
There are buses Jane
Taking 9 39 to Watford Junction Jane
Given it is only two stops from Watford to Garston (the latter is essentially on the edge of Watford), the replacement bus might not be too bad.
24 hours later no one seems to have done a report for this walk, so I will jump in. As I was not expecting to be writing this I did not count, but I would say about n=15 on this walk, this despite some brouhaha about the rail connection from Watford to Garston, which was cancelled, basically, due to the one staff member who was able to operate it being off sick. After some uncertainty, however, the promised replacement bus service did arrive - we being its only customers - and we only started the walk 18 minutes late.
It is a long time since I did this walk, but apart from its proximity to not one but TWO motorways (a certain other walk creator must be eating his heart out), it is a much pleasanter outing than you might think - even on a w=grey winter's day - with woods and some pastures, the latter probably lovely in the spring. On the sections along the clear River Ver I was also thinking of summer dragonflies and riverside flowers... It is probably a very pretty walk then.
Mid morning there was a lengthy consultation about whether to go the proper route or a variation, the latter being exactly the same length, but supposedly less muddy. This took longer to resolve than talks to end the Ukraine War, but the result was the same either way. I and two others did the variation, while the rest of the group (including the person who had first suggested the variation) went the normal way. We met up after our respective routes without incident, neither having encountered problematic mud.
I have fond memories of the lunch pub, but winter days mean one is wary of waiting for service, so like everyone else I had sandwiches. Most of us sat outside on the pub's picnic tables: three or four then went inside for drinks. In keeping with sandwichista tradition the outside group left without telling the inside group. We did an unauthorised route straight under the motorway north of the pub: the inside drinkers did the proper route. As before, both parties survived the experience.
Group cohesion in general suffered a bit in the afternoon, partly because of works blocking the path when it gets into St Albans. So we all arrived in that very pretty town in dribs and drabs. Myself and the walk poster were one drib, but when we got to St Albans cathedral instantly split into two separate driblets, his going to see the cathedral first and mine going straight to tea (and then seeing the cathedral later).
But eventually there were several of us having tea together and after some doctrinal disputes about whether true blue Remainers should swell the profits of an arch Leaver, quite a few of us ended up in the very nice Weatherspoons in the town centre for a cheerful (and stunningly cheap) drink. (I enjoyed the plum porter). One went home via St Albans Abbey station, the rest via St Albans City. On the later train I got to enjoy a pleasure familiar to you South Londoners but not to us hardy northerners of getting off after a handful of stops and taking a bus home without having to go into central London.
Sorry as I have been busy today I didn’t do a report but I can add that the official count was #16. Special thanks to Gouldman for finding out the replacement bus times
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