Walk 366: Tring to Berkhamsted by Toms Hill T=3.366
Toughness: 4 out of 10
10.03 train from Euston to Tring, arriving at 10.49 *
or
9.40 train from Clapham Junction to Watford Junction, arriving 10.20, to connect to the above train, departing WJ at 10.26
* Just missed the train at Euston? Get the 10.24, arriving Tring at 10.57
Buy a day return to Tring
*** Please meet outside Tring station (turn left on the footbridge), where we will rapidly split into groups of no more than six
Back in the hot hazy days of summer, the midweek walkers debuted this walk, which takes a quite different route from any other Tring to Berkhamsted walks you may have done. It initially follows the Grand Union Canal, and then goes up into the woods of the Ashridge Estate. Famous last words, but I remember lots of firm-under-foot tracks on this section, overtopped by arching beeches, and I thought then what a good autumn leaf colour walk this would make.
A pub lunch, for those inclined or permitted to do such things, can be had at the Bridgewater Arms, the familiar lunch stop on the other Tring walks. In the afternoon you then get a close-up view of Ashridge College, the former grand mansion of the estate, and discover some WW1 training trenches in the woods. Descent to Berkhamsted is by a ridge with fine views (again, different from the one used by the book one walk). For tea, Berkhamsted has canalside pubs, or cafes in the High Street where you can get takeaways, if no outdoor seating is available.
Trains back from Berkhamsted are at 01, 24 (but 16.26), 30 and 46 past, taking 35 to 40 minutes
For Clapham Junction the easiest train is the 30 past, with a five minute change at Harrow and Wealdstone, taking 1hr 02 minutes. Otherwise the 01 past takes 1hr 09/12 minutes, with changes at Wembley Central and Willesden Junction.
10 comments:
I walked the second half of this walk last Saturday and the paths in the woods are very easy and now mostly covered with a layer of leaves so it is relatively mud free. However still recommend waterproof shoes for those stretches which have unavoidable puddles with the current rainfall. Wonderful sweet chestnut trees shedding their nuts as you walk along (be careful) you can then roast...Great walk.
Typo alert
Its the Bridgewater Arms, surely.
Ha! Classic case of the upper brain thinking one thing and the lower brain writing another. Corrected!
If travelling from Clapham Junction, you may prefer to change trains at Harrow and Wealdstone as you don't have to change platforms there, according to the currently advertised timetables. Best to check again nearer the time though, in case things change.
A lovely walk, but beware the locals near Berkhamsted: yesterday on a field edge path we met a man with dog and wife; we'd moved off the path to socially distance from oncoming people including them, and he came very close (dangerously so) and aggressively berated us for killing the crop (winter wheat), assuming I think we had no idea it was a crop that he'd forced us to walk on. We were left bewildered and badly shaken. By far the worst experience in 20 years of such walks - beware of Berkhamsted.
It's a good one.
Very sorry you had such a bad experience. Interesting that you mentioned the wife after the dog, though.
For anyone interested in a longer walk in the area, I am planning to take the 9:24 train from London Euston to Tring and add a circuit out to Ivanhoe Beacon from Book 2: Walk 5 (Tring Circular) and pick up the main walk near the top of Tom's Hill....It should add about 5 miles to the route...
Ivinghoe
Ivanhoe is a novel by Walter Scott.
There was a brief flash of sunshine as we left Euston, raising our hopes, but it was raining steadily, not to say relentlessly, once we got to Tring and carried on doing so all morning. Nevertheless 12 assembled at the station, two of them having adventured into the northlands from Clapham Junction, and it later transpired there was a thirteenth, and one had got the slightly later fast train. Plus three got an earlier train so they could get even wetter by doing a longer walk via Ivinghoe Beacon. (What private griefs they had, alas, I know not that made them do this: they are wise and honourable and will no doubt with reasons answer you...). So, long story short, n=17 in all, which ain't bad for a Chilterns walk on a day with a miserable weather forecast.
Before setting off two said they might just walk the canal to Berkhamsted. The rest of us followed the main walk route. Along the canal the shrubbery was getting a bit overgrown in places, narrowing the path: I hope someone will give it a clip over the winter. Once we got up to Toms Hill the autumn colour was glorious, the beeches a riot of gold and russet, the sweet chestnuts too. Back in the summer I had thought the walk would also have the advantage of dry tracks underfoot. Well, I was wrong about that, but it was more paddling than mud (though certainly a bit of both).
Approaching the Bridgewater Arms several sandwich eaters went....wherever sandwich eaters go in a torrential downpour. I tried my luck in the pub where I had joined four others already there. The pub was pretty empty, but they nevertheless put another group (ie not SWC walkers) right next to us. Otherwise the social distancing was scrupulous and the service very efficient, though being a Grinch I could have done without the Halloween costumes.... The three long walkers turned up a bit later and ate at a separate table.
Among other pressing topics, we discussed over lunch when or whether the rain might stop. It was thus a huge surprise when we finally emerged from the windowless gloom of the pub to discover bright sunshine. But oh my God there was a cold wind. Just for once I did not think I had brought too much clothing. The sun also had an annoying habit of sinking low behind the trees, but for the last ridge stretch into Berkhamsted shone glorious. So for the record w=very-wet-and-then-sunny-and-cold
In Berkhamsted there was a, shall we say, fin-de-siècle, last drink on the Titanic feel as we awaited a certain government pronouncement (future readers: about the second Covid lockdown). We went to the Boat pub, where all the layers again came in useful as we sat at an outside table demolishing a bottle of wine. Getting to the station, we discovered it had, of all things, a wine shop. Our duty to support small businesses being clear (Spend money: Save livelihoods!), we purchased another bottle and demolished that on delayed 6.12pm train back to Euston.
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