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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 27 May 2018

Sunday Walk - The Rolling Hills of Hertfordshire: Watton-at-Stone Circular

Length:  21.5 km (13.4 mi)
Ascent/Descent:  300m
Net Walking Time:  5 hours
Toughness:  5 out of 10 
  
Take the 10.17 Stevenage train from Moorgate (Old Street 10.19, Essex Road 10.22, Highbury & Islington 10.25, Finsbury Park 10.30 etc.), arrives Watton-at-Stone 11.14.
Note: due to late-running engineering works, this train may leave from King’s Cross (but will always go via Finsbury Park), so watch this space and the National Rail website.
Return trains: xx.06 and xx.36.

As I said in my walk report after this walk’s last outing on a Wednesday in early 2017: “Very pleasant, possibly one of the most underrated walks on the website.”

This walk is in the gentle rolling hills and little wooded areas of rural Hertfordshire, with a particularly attractive stretch alongside the River Beane near the end and a brutalist water tower at Tonwell along the way and a cozy pub with a big open fire at the end.

Lunch: The Boot Inn in Dane End, Ware (8.0 km/5.0 mi, food 13.00-16.00) or at The Robin Hood Inn in Tonwell (14.8 km/9.2 mi, although this is closed on Sundays acc. to the CAMRA website).

Tea: The Bull or The George & Dragon, both on the High Street in Watton.

For walk directions, map, height profile, some photos and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.94

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good morning,

Is there any one else to join me on this one?

Can do with someone familiar with maps and directions :-)

Mike

Thomas G said...

It's a fully written up walk with very detailed directions, so there is no need for map or compassing skills (although - of course - they are always useful to have). But, yes, there will be other people.

Archie said...

I am planning to go.

Unknown said...

is anyone up for meeting at moorgate station and getting a group saver?

Unknown said...

I am happy to meet for the group saver ticket next to the ticket office

Thomas G said...

According to nationalrail.co.uk just now, this train WILL depart from Moorgate. Being of the non-trusting kind, I will check again in the morning though.

Unknown said...

cool i'll be there at 10

Thomas G said...

n=10 on the walk, incl. 1 first-timer, sucked in by our meet-up posting, in weather that was w=hot-and-humid-with-just-an-occasional-breeze. As promised by the bombastic walk post, this was a varied walk with plenty of rolling hillocks and fields, some shady green lanes, quiet country lanes, some rivers, occasional far views and several attractive houses, with the last and largest of them - Woodhall near Watton, the most impressive. All this for a mere £6.20 rtn (with a Railcard)!
8 went to the pub in Dane End, which had just lost its front-of-house manager, so the owners filled in, struggling a little with the till and with sequencing the meals, but it was still a pleasant stay there. A very friendly couple and one hopes they find another manager soon to keep it going. The 2 sandwichers had taken the route around the village but we 'caught' them just before the last stretch along the Beane River into Watton. As we had just missed the 17.06, we all went into The Bull for refreshments, where there was a beer festival in the garden and a nice shady corner free for us.