Backup Only

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 21 November 2015

Third Walk

Extra Walk 94 - Watton-at-Stone Circular
Length: 18km (11.2 miles). Toughness: 2/10

Catch the 9:26 from London Kings Cross arrives Watton-at-Stone 10:15. (Return trains xx:37 until 23:37.)
Early lunch at the re-opened Boot, Dane End. This walk is overdue for a walk check (last checked March 2010) and will be taking the opportunity. This walk may be longer than the official 18km as measured by the magic wheel. (Noted as 22km June 2011 in the comments section - no doubt logged by a gps device.) T=swc.94

6 comments:

DAC said...

Intend going.

Pia said...

lucky seniores with 60+ oystercard should buy return Crews Hill, the boundary zone station, to Watton at Stone. cost £3.65 equivalent to a v large latte. can't do Sat but will check walking instructions on Friday and let DAC know if I make any unintended detours.

Anonymous said...

No need to work out the boundary zone station. You can just buy a ticket to or from "boundary zone x" from ticket machines. Just start typing "Bou" and it should come up.

Pia said...

about tickets bought from boundary zones: not every ticket machine has that facility (I have never seen one). And to be honest, thanks for the advise of typing 'bou' I never knew you could do that. If you buy online (Trainline.com does not charge a fee if bought on the day of travel and I think the website of the train company does not charge you anytime then you have to find out which of the 10+ lines out of London you are travelling on, so trainline wins it here) then you have to know your boundary zone to buy your return ticket. I find it also quicker to buy tickets beforehand and just pick them up.

However I was caught out yesterday because my train went from Highbury & Islington to Watton-at-Stone and there is no rail ticket machine at all at H&I. Advise was to get off at Finsbury Park, get the ticket, and hop on to next train to WaS, losing an hour, which I could not afford with the sun setting at 4pm. So I risked it, was lucky and picked up my return tickets at WoS. However the SWC rarely if ever goes from small stations but it might be useful for the midweek walkers.

The walk itself was absolutely glorious, as was the weather with bright sun in the afternoon and light cloud in the morning; wide views over Hertfordshire agriculture land, meadows with only some horses and some beautiful deer running across a field for company. Quite muddy and wet underfoot but that was to be expected. Pub at Dane End (The Boot) was closed but the clubhouse at a nearby golf club was not. People know my fondness for gatecrashing clubs of all sorts (a certain yacht club in Essex springs to mind) and I had a simple but delicious lunch. I lingered so long, answering emails from work, that I took the shortcut again and trying to avoid a nasty chunk of busy road took a patch west of Sacombebury Farm thinking it would link up with a track leading back to the road. Well it does not; so after some tresspassing (not recommended) got back on track. Finally at WaS there was a very cosy pub The Bull with an open fire who were happy to serve tea unlike the local tea shop which closed at 4pm.

Chris L said...

So far as I know, only Southern ticket machines (e.g. Victoria, East Croydon) allow you to purchase tickets from 'Boundary Zone x'.

Karen said...

n=9 w=cold_and_windy_but_sunny

A really charming walk, not too far from London, with a very reasonable train fare (£5.90 with network railcard from Kings Cross). The countryside is quite lovely with gentle hills and little wooded areas. Not too muddy considering the weather during the past week. Very cold, but dry and sunny from when we arrived at Watton until the end of the day.

The first couple of kilometers were very cold as we walked headfirst into the wind across some open fields. 6 dined at the Boot, Dane End. There was a long wait for food, but it was fine when it came. The picnickers carried on ahead as the rest were quite some time at the pub. Anyone planning to do this walk should phone ahead to check whether food will be served.

After lunch, the six became five as one walker raced ahead. Arrived back at Watton-at-Stone in time for the 16:37, which one walker chose to take, the remaining four deciding to check out the beer offerings at The George and Dragon. A very cozy pub with a big open fire. Took the 17:37 back to London, where three continued their studies in beer at the aptly named The Perseverance in Bloomsbury.