This was a circular walk of 11 miles from Harpenden Common, around SE, NE, SW around Harpenden, then SW on the Nickey Line to Redbourn, SE, NE, N to Harpenden Common.
The usual stats:
- Event led by Tom M.
- Attendance: 9 men.
- Distance: 10.8 miles (17.4 km).
- Altitude per GPS: low 478ft (145.7m), high 613ft (186.8m), climb 278ft (84.7m), descent 282ft (86m).
- Time: start 11:03, end 15:49 (sunset 19:20), lunch 25 minutes, other breaks 22 minutes.
- Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.71mph (4.4kph).
- Weather: sunny intervals, thunder, lightning, temperature up to 19°C, westerly wind ~13mph (20.9kph).
- Number of churches: 1.
- Number of golf courses: 2.
- Number of sewage works: 2.
Points of interest:
- a delightful walk of 11 miles in well-managed, well-maintained, metropolitan-suburban-countryside.
- much of the route was hard-standing, comprising an urban circuit from the start point to the entrance of the Nickey Line (wiki, OSM). The rest of the route was footpath. Along the route was a fair amount of transport history – including a preserved distance semophore signal next to a disused platform – and many elegant houses.
- the southern-most part of the route was the most rural, providing splendid views southbound of hills rolling towards the Vale of St Albans.
- the River Ver (wiki, extract OSM, full OSM), a chalk stream, was clear and at a reasonable depth.
- the weather was superbly dramatic, and accentuated the walk wonderfully. Initial sunny intervals slowly slid into light showers, culminating in a significant thunderstorm, lightning and squally showers, necessitating a short break while the heaviest of rain passed, followed by sunshine again. Walking in a thunderstorm is a rare treat!
Golf courses:
Churches:
- All Saints Church, Station Road, Harpenden
Sewage works:
4 members attended the optional pub stop at the Harpenden Arms, a Fullers pub.
For more pictures, see https://bit.ly/GOCHarpenden092025pics .
Points for the future:
- the walk ended at the time where the Harpenden Food Festival was still happening. The festival is a series of food stall along High Street and the northern part of the common. Much of the stalls were selling instant food-on-the-go, with a few stall selling specialist grocery. The busiest place was the beer tent. A future walk to co-incide with the festival might best be a figure-of-eight route with the festival as both lunch-spot and end-spot.
- on the route was a free house, the Marquis of Granby.
Words by Martin Thornhill. Pictures by Peter O'Connor.
