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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.

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Midweek day walk - Wendens Ambo Circular

Wendens Ambo Circular

An easy walk through the Essex countryside

Book 3* Walk 116    *online only

Length :  18 km or 11 miles

Toughness :  2 out of 10

Getting there :  Catch the 10:28 am train from London Liverpool Street ( 10:40 am at Tottenham Hale ) to Audley End

Meeting point :  Audley End Station at 11:30 am

Tickets :  Buy a cheap day return to Audley End

Brief Description

You may find full details of this walk here

Suggested Lunch stop

The Axe & Compasses Arkesden t: 01799 550272

Suggested Tea stop

The Bell Inn, Royston Road, Wendens Ambo  t: 01799 540382

Maps

OS Explorer : 194  195

Return train times

Trains return from Audley End at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour.

There are other trains to and from Audley End via Stansted Airport, but these may well be more expensive.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

arthur, there doesn't seem to be very many instructions - is it easy to get lost follow please?

Thomas G said...

we'll be fine

Marion said...

Jayne and I intend coming

Marion said...

Thank you Thomas for leading us today. The short cut route passes near a fab fishing lake with bird life. ideal for picnic. Very scenic and a much nicer route than anything else seen in the morning.

If you are re-writng the route could I suggest taking a look at the stately home of Audley End- the foremost Elizabethan manor house run by English Heritage lived in by Queen Elizabeth I? Also Saffron Walden -Essex's foremost village for pubs and medieval buildings-a jewel in the crown of Essex fine villages which outshines the countryside of large fields and featureless vegetation in winter.

I left Jane's purse at the station booking office.
Warning to fellow walkers. If you use a rucksack similar to other walkers check before putting your valuables inside. it was only discovered after the owner looked inside to retrieve a banana and found a wallet purse with money and train tickets! We need to exchange phone numbers and make sure we answer our mobiles otherwise Jane's purse would be in East London now.

Hope the longer walkers enjoyed the Bell pub which only opens after 5pm

Walker said...

The Great Newport to Chesterfield walk goes through Audley End and Saffron Walden, Marion

Thomas G said...

n=15 w=overcast-to-start-then-sunny
14 walkers off the train, 1 materialising out of thin air at the lunch pub. How she always does it, we'll never know...
Quite a good attendance for a harmless map lead Essex walk with minimal directions onethinks, especially when considering some Wednesday regulars were said to have gone on a different walk of the 'via Clapham Junction'-variety.
Well, we were rewarded with the perfect weather for the rolling uplands of Northern Essex, incl. some pretty perfect villages with loads of beautiful old buildings, and a very cosy pub serving excellent food with East Med influences (downside: it comes very early in the walk).
No problems with the route finding, but there may be room for a tweak or two to the route, and maybe a longer alternative routing further West, where there are more pubs to chose from, more conveniently spaced throughout the day.

Order taking at the Axe & Compasses was a bit slow in fairness, while food delivery was very fast, so that some people were already eating before everyone else had placed orders.
Inevitably that prompted the sandwichers to move on (well...the sun had just come out). Later three walkers took the shortcut, the rest stayed together and arrived back at Wendens just as the sky turned red. Most settled in at The Bell for a drink or two. The final two standing then ended up at the SuperTuscan in Spitalfields upon return to the Smoke for some more refreshments.

Jane from Kew said...

Thank you very much Marion for re connecting me with my wallet.It would have been a long walk back to London from Wenders Ambo .jfk

delia's barmy army said...

Aha, all's well that ends well. I would particularly like to express my thanks to John, who had the common sense to bring a torch, and thereby sparing me the inconvenience of falling headlong into a ditch after a wobbly return to the station from the Bell Inn. It really was a 'grand day out'.