Wednesday Walk: Harpenden to St Albans.

Length: 17.6 km (10.9 miles)
Difficulty 3/10
A green and pleasant walk, first through common land, then a newly-created Woodland Trust forest (Heartwood), a pretty country estate (Childwickbury) and finally  the ancient settlement of St Albans. There you’ll find lots of old stuff: the abbey (worth a look),  Roman remains (also worth a look), and most importantly, the ‘oldest pub in England’.
Lunch
There are 3 pubs in Sandridge normally serving food 12-2.30. (Covid restrictions may impact. Consider bringing a picnic and water).
The 17th century Queens Head (tel 01727 855069) at 7 Church End .Vegetarian and vegan options. Booking ahead is advisable.  The nearby churchyard would make a convenient picnic stop.
The Green Man (tel 01727 854845) at 31 High Street.
The 400 year old Rose & Crown (tel  01727 859739) at 24 High Street A country pub with a beer garden,  specialising in cask ales.
The Heartwood Tearooms appear to be closed till next year.
Tea     
The suggested tea place is the Cathedral Cafeteria, just inside the Cathedral, which is open daily until 4 pm .
An alternative is Abigails (tel: 01727-8560039) in the Village Arcade in the Cathedral precincts, which is open daily until 5 pm.
Lovers of fine ale (yay! me! me!) might like to visit Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub (tel: 017227 865830), below the Cathedral. It is one of several pubs claiming to be the oldest public house in England.

Trains
You want a Thameslink return to Harpenden, arriving there 11:01.
You can get on at St Pancras at 10:36. Direction Bedford.
South Londoners can catch this train at East Croydon 10:03, Norwood Jct 10:08, London Bridge 10:21, Blackfriars 10:27.
There are frequent return trains (4 an hour) from St Albans City. 

(The notes suggest St Albans Abbey station as an alternative finish but there only seems to be one train today, the 16:13 changing at Watford. It requires a different ticket).

Directions: here
Covid-19 Compliance: Please note the current guidance on this website and observe social distancing. Please sign up for this walk in advance if you can, using the London Walkers User Group site. (This saves time collecting contact details). Otherwise bring a piece of paper with your email address on it (in your neatest handwriting). It will be put in an envelope and accessed if needed for contact tracing. To report a Covid case after this walk, use covid@lwug.co.uk /   
t=swc.351

Sunday Walk - Quiet Chalky Uplands of NW Essex: Wendens Ambo (Audley End station) Circular

COVID 19

Track-and-Trace: please provide email address (preferred) or mobile phone number at the start

Rule of Thirty: for the foreseeable

 

Length: 23.7 km (14.7 mi) or 17.5 km/10.9 mi 

Ascent/Descent: 240 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ¼ hours (both: full walk)

Toughness: 4 out of 10 or 3 out of 10

A slightly longer, more westerly route (25.7 km/16.0 mi) takes you over Essex’ highest point itself.

 

Take the 09.57 Cambridge North train from Liverpool Street (Hackney Downs 10.03, Tottenham Hale [Victoria Line] 10.10), arriving Audley End at 11.00.

Return trains: at xx.10 and xx.47. Buy an Audley End return.

 

This is a relaxing walk in the quiet chalky uplands of north-west Essex, on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, very much off the beaten track, and with gently rolling hills, plenty of woods and copses as well as some pretty villages. Right from the start the walk takes you past picturesque thatched cottages with ample examples of pargeting, a decorative medieval plastering technique, and on through some farmland to the early lunch stop in Arkesden, one of the prettiest villages in Essex with one of the best pubs and loveliest churches.

The route then gently ascends to Chrishall, the dedicated lunch stop on the full walk, along field boundaries and green lanes. Chrishall village is close to Essex’ highest point and the approach offers fine views into the Hertfordshire plain and back down the wide ‘winding valley’ that gives Wendens Ambo its name. After lunch you follow the Icknield Way to Elmdon, with views north out across the Cambridgeshire plain to Cambridge, then alongside a high hedge with views off to your right into the winding valley back to Wendens Ambo.

 

Lunch: The Axe & Compasses in Arkesden (4.9 km/3.0 mi, food from 12.00) for the short walk or The Red Cow in Chrishall (13.1 km/8.2 mi, food to 15.30).

Tea: The Bell Inn, 10 minutes from the station.

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.116

Saturday Walk: Herne Bay to Faversham

SWC 12 - Herne Bay to Faversham

14.8 miles / 23.8 km

A seaside walk along the North Kent coast following the Saxon Shore Way - the route follows the coast as much as possible, with a little diversion over the railway line and back again on the way out of Whitstable.  Usually this is walked in the opposite direction, but Faversham is a lovely place to finish. 

Whitstable has plenty of places for an early lunch (it's just 5 miles from the start), a slightly later option is the Forget Me Not Cafe and Tea Rooms at Seasalter.

Trains:  09:40 London Victoria (09:57 Bromley South), arrives 11:09 at Herne Bay.  Return trains from Faversham at xx:00 to St Pancras, xx:37 to London Victoria (plus a very slow London Victoria train at xx:45).  Buy a day return to Herne Bay.

Covid Contact Tracing: please provide email address or mobile phone number at the start of the walk.

Full details and walk directions here.

T=swc.12

Saturday walk - Amberley Circular via Arundel Park - a new route through familiar territory

Length: 18.3km (11.3 miles), with a shorter ending of 14.8km (9.2 miles) possible T=SWC.361

9.35 train from Victoria (9.42 Clapham Junction, 9.53 East Croydon) to Amberley, arriving 10.57.

Buy a day return to Amberley if intending to do the full walk: if not a day return to Arundel gives you the option of returning from there instead

For walk directions and the home page for this walk click here, for GPX click here, and for a map of the route click here.

I hope the walk author will not be offended if I say that this walk, only posted to the website a few months ago and now having its first airing, is a rehash of elements from some familiar Arundel walks, with a few new twists added. In its early stages, for example, it reverses the crossing of Arundel Park familiar from the Amberley to Arundel walk in book one, but instead of going directly into Arundel, takes a new route past a wetland reserve, and then round a loop in the river. In the afternoon you do a bit of Arundel Park the "right" way round, so to speak, and then there is a river finish into Amberley. There is the option of a shorter ending in Arundel instead.

Lunch is in Arundel after 5.9 miles, with plenty of pub, cafe and takeaway options. For tea there are a couple of possible mid afternoon refreshment stops, as well as the Houghton Riverside Tea Gardens (if it is open or has space) or the lovely Bridge Inn (ditto) at Amberley.

Trains back from Amberley are at 17 past the hour until 21.17 (the last train), with an additional train at 16.50. From Arundel trains are at 13 and 46 past

**** It would be very useful if you could pre-register for this walk for Covid contact tracing purposes at www.lwug.co.uk: if not, please bring a piece of paper with your email written on it, which will be kept in an envelope and only used if a case of Covid arises on the walk. To let us know if a contract tracing requirement arises as a result of this walk, use covid@lwug.co.uk ****

Saturday Walk - Historic Salisbury, The Chalke Valley, some Wiltshire Downs and a field of poppies: Salisbury Circular

COVID 19

Track-and-Trace: please provide email address (preferred) or mobile phone number at the start

Rule of Thirty: for the foreseeable

 

Length: 32.3 km (20.1 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent: 427m; Net Walking Time: 7 ¼ hours

Toughness: 7/10 

 

Shorter routes, reducing the length by 5.4 km or 7.2 km respectively, are described. 

Bus 29 Shaftesbury to Salisbury City Centre (10 mins walk from the train station) runs through the Chalke Valley and stops outside the lunch pubs as well as in the village of Stratford Tony (opp. Manor Farm), half-way through the afternoon (times at Broad Chalke: 14.05/15.49/17.05/18.20). 

Cutting out the outer loop of this figure-of-8 walk and turning back in Stratford Tony, reduces the length to 17.0 km/10.6 mi.

 

Take the 09.20 Exeter St David's & Bristol Temple Meads train from Waterloo (09.27 Clapham J, 09.46 Woking), arrives Salisbury 10.42. 

Return trains are on xx.47 and xx.21 to 19.21, then 19.33 (via S’ton), 20.26, 20.53, 21.26, 22.26.

 

This long walk explores the Chalke Valley in the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the South West of the quintessentially English Cathedral City of Salisbury. It leads out of town through the Cathedral precinct, past some of England’s finest historic houses and through the Harnham Hill suburb into open fields with far views over the Chalke Valley to distant Downs. The morning route then largely follows the Ebble River upstream in the Chalke Valley through several pretty villages in this picturesque part of Wiltshire, with three good lunch pubs and two community stores conveniently spaced out along the route.

Most of the climbing is left for the afternoon, starting with a steady ascent with splendid views into pretty coombes, from Broad Chalke up to an ancient Ox Drove on top of the Downs. A long stretch with more views from the Down into coombes and valleys follows, largely along the course of a Roman Road, before the descent back into the Chalke Valley, followed by an immediate re-ascent up another Down. A Drove Track with views into the Nadder and Wylye Valleys leads past Salisbury’s Race Course and through the steep Harnham Slope Nature Reserve to tea at Harnham’s charming Old Mill.

From there the route back to the station goes through the town’s Water Meadows and provides ‘Britain’s Best View’ (Country Life magazine): Salisbury Cathedral across the meadows. 

 

Lunch: The White Hart in Bishopstone (11.9 km/7.4 mi, pre-booking essential for food service, which is to 14.00, pizza available from 15.00-17.00) or The Queens Head in Broad Chalke (15.4 km/9.6 mi, food all day), but only on the full walk, as well as the Chalke Valley Stores Coffee Shop (closes at 14.00).

 

For summary, map, height profile, some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.254