This was a circular walk of 9 miles, from Bricket Wood, W to M25 J21, NE to St Stephens in St Albans, then S back Bricket Wood.

The route absorbed a slice of metropolitan countryside, delicately smashed by brutal urban development, most notably the M25.

The usual stats:

• Event led by Martin T.

• Attendance: 8 men.

• Distance: 9.04 miles (14.5 km).

• Altitude per GPS: low 321ft (97.8m), high 508ft (154.8m), climb 1085ft (330.7m), descent 1131ft (344.7m).

• Time: start 11:09, end 15:38 (sunset 18:04), lunch 40 minutes, other breaks 8 minutes.

• Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.46mph (4kph).

• Weather: sunny intervals, temperature up to 11°C, north-westerly wind ~11mph (17.7kph).

• Number of sewage works: 0.

• Number of churches: 3.

• Number of golf courses: 0.

Description of route:

• Phase one of the walk started in Bricket Wood (wiki). Today, Bricket Wood is technically a village within the district of St Albans & City. A more likely description is that Bricket Wood is string development, sprawling from Watford. The village is largely urban in feel with typical local accent being much more that of Watford than that of St Albans. Urban development started with the construction of the railway station in 1861 (map of 1872), followed by a woodside retreat in 1889 (map of 1899) and low-density residences from 1929. By 1938, the oldest parts of the housing estate had appeared (South Riding, North Riding, etc, map of 1938). Development continued west and south, attracted towards Watford (maps of 1947 west, east), remaining still a small village by 1951 (map of 1951). By 1958, tendrils of Watford’s sprawling development had successfully tickled and connected to Bricket Wood (map of 1958), resulting in the urban topology that we know today. This includes the alignment of A405 (wiki), essentially acting as Bricket Wood’s western boundary.

• Phase two of the walk left Bricket Wood by first buying a coffee at the Bricket Wood Cafe – this place does huge, Watford-sized portions, must be tried properly one day – crossing the A405 using a footbridge. This took us to scrubby, metropolitan countryside subsumed in the permanent white-noise roar of three main roads: the A405, the M25 and the M1. Phase two also took in the lo-light feature of the walk, a footbridge over the M25 looking at some of the slips roads of J21. The history of the M25 is documented succinctly by AutoShenigans and UK Motorway Archive; in short, its blueprint predates the 1930s, neither the Greater London Plan of 1944 (“the Abercrombie Report”) nor the London Ringways Project (contrary to Wikipedia). J21 Chiswell Interchange links the M25 to the M1 in all directions, using slips roads to maintain the greatest capacity of traffic flow. J21 is next to J21A Bricket Wood Interchange, which connects the M25 to the A405. Both J21 and J21A were completed in Aug1986. The footbridge offered a discombobulating experience: high above the road, attention being caught by lorries moving at speed in every direction, constant distraction by road noise. We didn’t hang around for long!

• Phase two continued into metropolitan countryside, becoming progressively quieter as we moved away from the motorways, eventually walking into the edge of a very nice housing estate at Chiswell Green.

• Phase three of the walk started at Chiswell Green, being the suburban area of St Albans. This phase started with a bridge over the A414 (formerly the M10) (history, video, description within A414, wiki). Traffic using the A414 is very sparse nowadays, with M1/M25 largely having by-passed it. Once part of a by-pass of St Albans before the M25, the A414 (ex-M10) is essentially a dual-carriage country lane (!) from Hemel Hempstead to a roundabout south of St Albans.

• Chiswell Green was a village in 1878, centred around the Three Hammer Pub (map of 1878 to map of 1924). By 1940, residential development had filled in the gap between Chiswell Green and St Albans (map of 1940) with further infilling up to 1959 (map of 1960). This is the urban topology of today.

• Lunch took place in the grounds of St Stephen’s Church.

• Phase three continued on Watling Street (wiki ), the old A5 (wiki), now the A5183 (history), south towards Park Street. This part of the route was an unpiloted stretch. The walk’s original route was to have taken the Ver Valley Walk, just south of the North Orbital Road A414 and was to have included Cottonmill Lane. The final test of the walk found that the River Ver had flooded its flood plain – appropriately – resulting in the route being unusable. The diversion was entirely on pavement, using an underpass next to the A414/A5183 roundabout. The route continued alongside the Abbey Flyer Line (wiki), built in 1858 to become the first railway to St Albans.

• Phase four of the walk emerged from suburbia into metropolitan scrubland, starting with the Frogmore Lakes, pools within the River Ver, today used as fishing lakes. Much of the phase four continued alongside the River Ver, crossing underneath the M25, and leaving the river at its confluence with the River Colne. The final stretch of phase four turned its back onto the river and nearly returned to the start point, ending instead at the Gate Pub.

Churches:

• St Luke’s Church, Bricket Wood. A modern church, designed in the distinctive Arts & Crafts style with a very low pitched roof acting as walls.

• St Stephen’s Church, St Albans. The church once represented the southern gate of St Albans old city, urban sprawl to the south and west long having overtaken the old southern boundary.

• St Bartholomew’s RC Church, St Albans. A striking modern design, with plenty of exterior nooks and crannies to keep the eye interested.

7 members attended the optional pub stop at The Gate, Bricket Wood. This very pleasant pub is a key local venue, aimed at families, complete with a marquee in the garden, allowing the children to go wild in the marquee, while the parents prop up the bar as a form of respite. However, the pub also shows us the signs of the times: the pub no longer sells real ale, having discarded half-used barrels in the past.