A delightful 11-mile circular walk, mainly through woodlands, from Harpenden Batford via Redbourn ambling parts of the Lea Valley and the Nicky Line.

Harpenden is a small residential town midway between St Albans and Luton, 25 miles to the northwest of London. This delightful circular walk makes use of a series of waymarked trails to explore the countryside, woodland and rivers surrounding this popular part of Hertfordshire. The walk starts in Harpenden picking up the Nickey Line. The shared cycling and walking trail will take us along the disused railway track with signage towards Hemel Hempstead. This section of the path runs southwest to Redbourn where you can pick up the Ver -Colne Valley.

Bring packed lunch, snacks, plenty of water and something to sit on.

If dry, wear sturdy trainers.  If wet, or having been raining in the preceding three days, wear sturdy boots.

The start point is within easy walking distance from public transport.

Optional pub stop at the end of the walk.

Further reading: Harpenden Common (conservation area, local wildlife site), the Nickey Line (disused railway), Redbourn village, Harpenden town.

Before the walk - and not part of this walk - there are plenty of places to buy coffees and even lunch, including Simmons (local bakers, excellent bread, typical cafe range), Costa, Waitrose (posh stuff), M&S Simply Food (more-than-posh stuff).

On the same day, Harpenden Town Council is running its annual food festival.  This is not part of our walk!  For your informationonly, we start our walk before the event starts, and we should return in time to explore the residue of calorific catastrophe that has befallen the town, perhaps to nibble some crumbs of whatever might be left.  The festival "closes" at 6pm.

Beyond the festival, Harpenden offers plenty of other evening eateries, e.g. Nonna's Cafe (Turkish), The 1971 (Bangledeshi), The George of Harpenden (grill), Inn on the Green (trad pub, Greene King) or The Silver Cup (gasto-pub), and plenty more.