Net Walking Time: ca. 4 hours, Toughness: 3 out of
10
Take the 10.28 Cambridge North train from
Liverpool Street (Tottenham Hale [Victoria Line] 10.40), arrives Great
Chesterford 11.35.
Return trains from Newport (Essex): xx.13,
xx.43. Buy a Great Chesterford return.
Most
Essex walks feature lines of pylons marching across enormous crop fields and
this one is no exception. On the plus side, most of the farmland walking is
along wide grassy field edges and there are pleasant interludes through small
woods and river valleys to add variety.
The
centrepiece of the walk is the historic market town of Saffron Walden.
Originally called Chipping Walden, the town acquired its present name in the
Middle Ages when it became the centre for the saffron crocus industry; the
yellow pigment was used in cloth-making, food-colouring and medicine. The
north-west corner of the town has retained many
attractive medieval buildings with fine examples of pargeting, the East Anglian
craft of decorating external plaster walls. You enter the town through the
elegant Bridge End Garden and after lunch you could visit the Fry Art Gallery of works by
local artists and the impressive church of St Mary
the Virgin, the largest parish church in Essex. If you have time for a
longer tour of the town you can see a notable Museum of local and
natural history, the Norman ruins of Walden Castle and the largest
surviving historic Turf Labyrinth in England.
Immediately
after leaving the town the walk route goes through the spacious parkland
surrounding Audley
End. The house was adapted from the buildings of a Benedictine
monastery (Walden Abbey) and since the Dissolution there have been many
alterations by a succession of owners. Now one of Britain's finest stately
homes, the mansion mostly dates from the 18thC, with interior rooms
designed by Robert Adam and parkland landscaped by Lancelot “Capability” Brown.
From
Audley End the Main Walk route follows part of the Harcamlow Way, a
long-distance walk linking Harlow and Cambridge; Newport is the
crossover point of this unusual figure-of-eight walk. This large village
acquired its (rather confusing) name at a time when “port” meant a town with
market privileges.
Tea: The White Horse in Newport, 10 mins from the station (open
all day).
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.130
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.130
1 comment:
The ground is getting a bit muddier, finally, this late in winter, although only one stretch was really annoying (it was a long one though: an ascending, newly made up with chalky clayey topsoil, farm track). We saw snowdrops practically everywhere, especially around the Audley End estate, in some places together with Winter Aconites (don't ask, just google it), which made for a nice picture. We saw a muntjac (we think), and lots of geese (Brent/Canada/Barnacle, who knows?). The landscape was mildly rolling, the sky grey, the views far enough and the temperature mild. And Saffron Walden as impressive as ever.
About half the group lunched at the 8 Bells, and we had the magnificent 16th century ex-barn dining room almost to ourselves (it is always fully booked on weekends). The leader ("The SWC does NOT have leaders." Ed.) then stealthily made that group of diners walk off-route, up to Norman Castle and Turf Maze, and on we went. Audley End (closed for the winter) was quiet and peaceful as never before, the miniature railway was closed as well, and then 4 split off to end at Audley End station, claiming early appointments back in the Smoke.
The remaining 4 of this group then met 3 of the picnickers on the platform at Newport, just in time for the 17.13.
w=grey-dry-warm-for-the-season.
16 off the train, 1 an hour later, he walked in from Audley End station to the lunch pub in a roundabout way, i.e. n=17, which incidentally seems to be a record attendance for this particular walk!
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