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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, 22 March 2025

Welwyn Circular

Length: 11 miles (17.7 km) 2 out of 10 T=swc.69

"Once out of the Garden City and over the A1(M) you are in some attractive Hertfordshire countryside, including the landscaped parkland of Brocket Hall and Lamer House. In the afternoon you reach the picturesque village of Ayot St Lawrence, which has two unusual churches – one reminiscent of a Greek temple, the other an ivied Gothic ruin – and if you wish you can visit the home of George Bernard Shaw, Shaw's Corner, now owned by the National Trust. (Open to the public from 1300, garden 1200)"

Trains: Get the Thameslink 0957 Royston train from Kings Cross (Finsbury Park 1003) arriving Welwyn 1026. Return fast trains at xx21 xx51 to Kings cross (29 minutes), with slow trains at xx00 & xx30 to Moorgate (51 minutes).

Lunch: The recommended lunch pub for this walk is The Brocket Arms (01438 820250) (14th century) (food 12-2.30) in Ayot St Lawrence, 11km from the start. You pass a couple of benches just before the pub for a picnic.

Tea: a walk report recommends the Doctor's Tonic pub "very cosy and well appointed", Greene King pub/restaurant.  The directions also have The Waggoners, 1km from the end or Simmons cafe, close to the railway station.

1 comment:

Sarah H said...

Seven alighted from the station and six proceeded walking clockwise around this circular route. 1 person had ticket issues at the station and inadvertently walked anti-clockwise, we met her half way round and she seemed OK about it. This is a very pleasant walk, with a lovely stretch along the river Lee, past some wonderful old houses, bridges and picturesque villages. Some assertive golfers told us where to go, as we wandered slightly off route, the heat was rising but conflict was averted.
Most ate at the Brocket Arms, which is a great pub, a small open fire in an enormous fireplace, low beams and very hearty, if somewhat traditional pub grub. We met two others in the pub having taken a different route starting from Harlington, making n=9 in total. Two sandwichers left early and we did not see them again.
We saw celandines, daffodils and plenty of kites (or were they buzzards), soaring overhead. The delightful Lucille, glory of the snow, was in abundance outside Barton House, we even saw a frog crawling across out path towards a muddy backwater of the Lee. Mostly flat, with several stretches along hard surfaces. w=cloudy_warm_and_dry
Two had tea and flapjacks in Simmons, the highly recommended tea stop, and got the 17:21 back to KGX, others got earlier trains. Very nice walk, highly recommended