10 Aug 2024: Summertime Sizzler: Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire “Go West !”

This was a circular walk from Berkhamsted Castle, SW towards Ashley Green, SW then NW to Hawridge, NE to Heath End, then NEE to Berkhamsted via Hockridge Wood (long route). The route took in the elegant suburban environment of Berkhamsted followed by deep rural countryside, followed by a return journey into suburbia.

The usual stats:

Event led by Khris R.
Attendance: 43 people.
Distance: 12.1 miles (19.5 km).
Altitude per GPS: low 541ft (164.9m), high 793ft (241.7m), climb 698ft (212.8m), descent 679ft (207m).
Time: start 11:13, end 17:58 (sunset 20:34), lunch 45 minutes, other breaks 35 minutes.
Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.23mph (3.6kph).
Terrain: pavement, park path, field edge, track, woodland track on highway, footpath, bridleway and restricted byway.
Weather: ideal for walking, overcast followed by sunny spells, temperature range between 20°C and 25°C, south-westerly wind 12mph (19.3kph).
Number of sewage works: ½.
Number of churches: 2.
Number of golf courses: 0.
Number of Waitroses: n/a, because we only count Waitroses in London. But there is a Waitrose in Berko. Of course there is. Never knowingly under-poshed.

Points of interest included:

the lovely suburban nature of Berkhamsted, with its Saturday market and its plush, well-maintained aspect alongside the River Bulbourne and the Grand Union Canal.
a passing view of the ruins of Berkhamsted Castle.
a bust supposedly of William the Conqueror.
glorious rural countryside, much of which sits inside the Chiltern National Landscape (aka an extension of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), featuring endless rolling countryside.
an ice cream stop at the Chiltern Velo Cafe.
an incursion in Buckinghamshire.
occasional pieces of history for some elements on the route, including:
- the development of Ashlyns School and its elegant buildings;
- the protection and preservation of Hockeridge Wood, resulting in an elegant double row of now-mature Giant Sequoia redwood trees, whose colour radiated in the mid-summer, late-afternoon, slightly orange sunlight.
on the return journey into Berkhamsted, in the town’s residential areas, the sight of some “modern” replacement dwellings, some of which are already showing a lack of resilience to the weather, with little indication that they shall remain as “classic” designs.
ruins of Chapel of St Mary Magdalene at Marlin Chapel Farm (a grade II listed building – we took our group shot here).