Group Walk

Southern England

London

19.5ml.

09.05

Meet Harpenden station (0705 Brighton, 0756 East Croydon, 0822 Blackfriars, 08.33 St Pancras); finish St Albans City station before 1800; buy return to Harpenden

Linear walk – leave from Harpenden Station, Platform 4 toilets & exit, with morning coffee and toilets at The Brocket Arms, passing George Bernard Shaw's home at Ayot St Lawrence (why does this tiny parish have two CofE churches?)

Lunch in Wheathampstead at The Swan or choice of cafes or eat own sandwiches in the churchyard. Interesting church and local history in Wheathampstead. Hourly bus service from Wheathampstead to St Albans. Afternoon via Devils Dyke, Coleman Green, Sandridge, & Smallford Station. Low, rolling open countryside with some fine views; no steep hills, and little mud or water when recce’d in frosty weather in 5’20” on Tuesday 29 November. Route uses old railway line which ran from Luton to Hertford, and Herts Way in the morning, and returns along the former railway line between Hatfield and St Albans. Note this last section has a good surface but is shared with cyclists and unlit – please bring torches. Registered assistance dogs only