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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 18 September 2016

Sunday Walk 1 – the East Hertfordshire countryside

Extra Walk 165a – St Margarets Circular (omitting Wadesmill)
Length: 19.5 km (12.2 miles), with longer options. Toughness: 3/10

09:44 Hertford East train from Stratford (Lea Bridge 09:50, Tottenham Hale 09:55, etc), arriving St Margarets (Herts) at 10:21. If it's more convenient you can take the 09:32 Stansted Airport train from Liverpool Street (or a Victoria Line tube) and change at Tottenham Hale.

Trains back to Stratford via Tottenham Hale are at 17 & 47 minutes past the hour.

St Margarets is one of those stations outside the TfL Zones which now take Oyster PAYG, which is convenient but might not be your cheapest option.

I'm suggesting you do the ‘short’ version of this walk through “quiet rolling East Hertfordshire countryside”, although it seems to me that 12 miles is still a pretty decent workout. However, I've chosen a slightly earlier train than recommended in case you want to do the full 16 miles instead. In fact the lunch option on the short walk comes after a slightly longer morning; on this variation you do two-thirds of the walk before lunch in Wareside, whereas the lunch stops on the full version (in Wadesmill or High Cross) come before halfway. At any rate you don't have to decide which option to go for until you've got a fair way through the walk.

You'll need to print the directions from this pdf document, which lists a number of pubs for refreshment at the end of the walk.
T=swc.165.a

2 comments:

Kelda said...

Thank you Pete (& everyone) for a fantastic day out! You'll be pleased to hear we safely caught the 15.47 so were safely back in London in time (phew)!

PeteB said...

n=8 alighted from the train but one stayed behind at the station to wait for a friend who was driving but sadly we never saw them again.

Perfect early autumnal weather for walking, w=dry-mild-and-cloudy, and we set off at a medium pace to try to reach the lunch-time pub around 1pm as we all opted to do the 12 mile option. The splendid rolling countryside and woodland was only marred by the sad sight of the horse chestnut trees autumnal leaves ruined by the depredations of the leaf miner ant. Will they ever find a way to get rid of this pest?

Excellent roasts and fish at the lunch-time pub before the gentle amble back along lovely riverside valley paths. Three opted for the 15.47 whilst 3 others (Moontiger was marching to his own drum) had a riverside drink before catching the next train 30mins later. Lovely day out on one of our often under-appreciated Hertfordshire walks. One or two issues with the written directions which will be passed on to the walks author. I also made a note to make a winter visit to the bird watching and nature reserve near St Margarets which would make a nice short day out.