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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 13 November 2016

Sunday Walk 1 – Views from the North Chiltern hills

Extra Walk 229 – Leagrave to Harlington (with Shortcut I)
Length: 17.3 km (10.7 miles). Toughness: 4/10

10:08 Bedford train from St Pancras (Kentish Town 10:12, West Hampstead Thameslink 10:17, etc), arriving Leagrave at 11:02. Buy a return to Harlington.

South Londoners can pick up this Thameslink train at East Croydon (09:34), Blackfriars (09:58), etc.

Trains back from Harlington (one stop further out on the same line) are half-hourly, at 20 & 50 minutes past.

When this walk was last posted on a Saturday a few off us spotted the magic word ‘shortcut’, caught a later train and enjoyed a leisurely walk while the main group were whizzing round the full course. Although apparently missing “the best part of the walk” (the Barton Hills) I wasn't disappointed with the splendid views which this variation offers, along the delightfully-named Sharpenhoe Clappers. I remember a good-value lunch pub in Streatley (after 9 km) and another nice pub in Harlington for refreshments at the end.

With sunset at 4:15pm there won't be enough time to do the full 23 km walk in daylight (unless you catch an earlier train). However, if you forget to break off from the main walk after 6 km then Shortcut II would come to your rescue later on.

You'll need to print the walk directions from this pdf document.
T=swc.229.a

1 comment:

PeteB said...

Nine off the train and we picked up another two who had caught different trains near the end so n=11 in all. Weather w=sunny.
Nice walk with friendly lunch pub but the best is after lunch with excellent views from the Clappers. Route finding in the woods after lunch can be tricky with drifts of leaves often obscuring the paths before you tackle a steep stepped descent. (Perhaps a few too many route options given here?) Five of us had a drink in the excellent pub near the station before enjoying the almost "supermoon" in the cloudless sky. We met up with those who had gone for an earlier train after theirs had been taken out of service.