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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.

Sunday 10 July 2016

Sunday Second Walk: meadows & green lanes in Herts & Beds

Extra Walk 233: Arlesey to Letchworth Garden City

Length: 24.5km (15.2 miles) Toughness: 5/10

10:22 Peterborough train from Kings Cross (Finsbury Park 10:28) arriving Arlesey at 10:57. Buy a Super Off-Peak Day Return to Letchworth Garden City (as recommended in the walk notes) or to Arlesey (further from London). The fare to both is the same, and both stations are one stop beyond Hitchin, but on different lines, so you might have to buy a single ticket for the short journey from or to Hitchin.

Return trains from Letchworth Garden City to Kings Cross are at xx:29 (journey time 50 minutes) and at xx:53 (journey time 37 minutes).

A longish but not too challenging walk on the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire borders, through riverside meadows, fields, hilltop villages and green lanes, with views of the Chilterns. A couple of optional shortcuts around lunchtime reduce the length of the walk by 3.0 or 1.4km respectively. This is only the second outing, and the first on a Sunday, for this walk, which had its baptism in 2014. Please provide your comments on the walk, and particularly on the lunch pubs, on the walk's Feedback Page

Several possible lunch pubs are suggested in the walk directions, but the most conveniently placed seem to be The Crown (01462 711667), 7 miles from the start, or The Musgrave Arms (01462 711286), 8 miles from the start, both located in the village of Shillington, which is bypassed by one of the shortcuts. The walk directions list plenty of places for tea in Letchworth.

You will need to download the Walk Directions, which include excellent informative notes about the features passed en route.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the max short cut? From what I can see, it is only 3 km, just over 1 mile, is there way to make this walk 10 miles ish?

Chris L said...

This walk has been posted specifically to please those walkers who enjoy doing longer walks during the summer. The 3km shortcut reduces the length by almost two miles. The walk directions do not offer any greater shortcuts, though you might be able to devise your own if you take an OS map.

If 13 miles is still too long for you, you could consider doing the other walk today which is only 6.8 miles with options to extend it to 10 or 11 miles.

Thomas G said...

...a bit of a late start, I'd say, if you want to get to the Lavender Farm and Cafe in time (closes at 17.00)... http://www.hitchinlavender.com/

Chris L said...

The latish start has been deliberately chosen to suit the many walkers who like a bit of a lie-in on Sundays. It contrasts with the early start for today's other walk. Even if you miss the lavender farm, there are plenty of other delights en route, and there's no danger of running out of daylight before you finish.

Fi said...

Am going to do the walk but get the earlier train

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the late start Chris! appreciated

Barbara said...

Fi, When is the earlier start. I would love to join you.

Anonymous said...

I will aim for 9:22 train - Brian

PeteG said...

n=13 w=sunny-with-some-showers We ate at The Crown, which was almost empty at 1.40pm when we arrived. We did the full walk, but in retrospect, given the late start, it would have been better to take the shortcut after visiting the church. Most people went to the Lavender Farm arriving just before 17:00, but they'd sold out of most things.

Fi said...

Saw a Fox walking on the path in front of me and followed it for about 50 metres till it noticed me and ran into the field. Also saw a red squirrel sitting in the middle of the path too. It ran of when it noticed me.