Walks coming up
Our full programme of walks in 2020 is shown in the Members'
System ('Beacon'). The link is
here. Log in then look up 'Schedule'.
Add the dates to your diary now! The near term walks are
also highlighted below. A week or so before the specific
walk date, we'll make available the full walk details
(including the meeting point) on this web page.
Please sign up individually below for each walk you plan to
join. You can sign by clicking on the walk date (when
sign-up is open the date is in blue), then a Sign-up Form
will open. To drop out of a walk, please return to the form,
and enter your details again but with a 'No' instead of a
'Yes'.
Unfortunately these walks are suspended, again, due to
Covid-19 restrictions. We will start them as soon as
Government guidance allows this sort of activity.
Friday 15 January — suspended
Thursday 21 January — suspended
Wednesday 27 January — details to follow
Our fortnightly Zoom calls will also carry on throughout
January.
Lookahead provisional schedule 2021:
February Tuesday 2, Friday 12, Thursday
18, Wednesday 24
March Tuesday 2, Friday 12, Thursday 18,
Wednesday 24, Tuesday 30
April Friday 9, Thursday 15, Wednesday 21,
Tuesday 27,
May Tuesday 4, Friday 14, Thursday 20,
Wednesday 26
June Tuesday 01, Friday 11, Thursday 17,
Wednesday 23, Tuesday 29
18 to 21 June, Extended Walk 2021 — for 2021 we are
going to the popular destination of Alnmouth in
Northumberland. If you want to book your place now please
register
here. Preliminary details for this
visit are available
here.
Photo Gallery and Walk
Map
Launching new features: you can
now see many of our photos from our photo library. Click on
the year you want below. They will scroll through
automatically and you can see the walk number and title at
the bottom.
If you want to find photos from a particular walk you can
click on the year below then select from the thumbnails the
one you want then click on it:
Also if you want to see on a map where we have walked (and
have selected a particular walk's details) then click
here.
Useful
Information
Travel link — if you are going on a walk outside the Freedom
Pass areas, here is a link to help decide which station to
buy your ticket from online:
Freedom Pass Map If you need to
figure out what train line we are going on then this overall
map can help:
Rail Map.
Discounts — if you are buying from Cotswold at the Angel,
say you are with iU3A (Longer Walks group) and you'll get
10% discount.
Ticks — there have been reports of increased population of
ticks in the UK. If you are worried about catching a tick
bite while out walking, for more information see
here.
Jo-Anne has provided two useful walk guides. You can view
them here:
Recent Walks
Limehouse &
Regents Canal: as a largish group we had
to move on from H&I to Hackney Wick and get started with
the walk so we could spread out. We were lucky (again) with
the weather. The rain from the previous day had moved on
giving us a nice clear day for our Christmas social. We were
a bit more restrained this year with our Christmas bubbles
or even Santa hats being kept hidden or just peaking out.
Patrick as Leader kept us feed with
'Interesting Facts' along the way with a bit of addition (or
intrusion) from Derek. We observed the level of development
around the Olympic Park with old and new development
blending together. We picked up the Limehouse Cut that took
us to the river then turned into the Regents Canal and
followed this to the Victoria Park. Unfortunately our
planned lunch stop at the Royal in the Park was unexpectedly
closed. Which meant we had to split between the park cafe
and another local pub. Afte lunch we made our way back along
the Regents Canal to Islington. A more restrained Christmas
Social due to circumstances this year but still time to
enjoy a good walk with good company. Details
here.
Toward
Trewin: this was our 300th walk,
wey hey! It was Link 5 of the Hertfordshire Chain Walk. We
walked out of Hertford picking up the Cole Green disused
railway line until reaching the junction of Link 4 and 5.
Last week we had turned south to do Link 4, this week we
turned right to start Link 5. We had more luck this week —
with the weather and finding a good place for our outdoor
picnic. Seating provided. A cracking pace meant that we
completed this 10 miles walk way ahead of schedule ensuring
Celia could not only make her concert in the evening but
with with time to recover as well. Details
here.
Bayford & Hertford North: hurrah,
back walking again! Unfortunately while many were keen to
get out and on a proper walk again the weather forecast was
poor. And on the day only eight of us braved the continuous
rain. It was a good test of who had the best gear to cope
with the weather. There wasn't even a warm pub to dry out a
bit over lunch (due to Covid restrictions). Instead it was a
quick damp picnic snack. The walk was 10 miles covering Link
4 of the Hertfordshire Chain Walk with a bit more to and
from Bayford. We were all glad of the exercise but also glad
to get back on a dry train. Details
here.
Colne Valley: This
walk was squeezed in before our second lockdown. We've
walked this way quite a few times but it's still a popular
nine mile walk. Heavy overnight rain had created many
puddles on the towpath but the skies had cleared and there
were glimpses of sun. We had reverted to our original base
route taking us past the Coy Carp (which still holds our
record of the slowest lunch service). These days we leave
the valley and climb up the hill to the Old Orchard. Great
view again from here over the whole valley — and a buzzard
and a kestrel visited as we sat outside for our lunch (mixed
households not being allowed indoors). That made for rather
chilly alfresco dining so we were all keen to get going
again. Back down and along the canal-side was more sheltered
but a brisk pace was maintained. Unfortunately it was the
wrong day of the week for a stop at Fran's tea shop (only
open Wednesday to Sundays). But this did mean that we
reached Uxbridge quite early and jumped straight on the
waiting Met. line back to King's Cross. Details
here.
Manningtree to
Wrabness: the prospect of rain all
day didn’t deter the 13 hardy souls who joined the train for
the hour long ride to Manningtree. It was a short step up to
join the Essex Way at St Mary’s in Lawford and a couple of
miles from there into the old town of Manningtree, and along
the waterfront into Mistley for an early lunch. Spirits
remained surprisingly high in spite of the raindrops falling
in our soup although envy of the two of our party allowed
inside reared its ugly head. The leader’s attempt to pair
off two of the group to join them failed as judged to be a
‘senior moment’. A brief highlight of the second section to
Bradfield was passing Old Knobbly — almost as old as the
combined ages of the group, and then through some muddy
fields on to the wide open skies, autumn colours and wading
birds of the Stour Estuary nature reserve — well let’s just
say the colours were muted! Up through Wrabness with the
route culminating at Grayson Perry's fantasy,
A House
for Essex — his gingerbread ‘Taj Mahal of the River
Stour’, and dedicated to the mythical Essex everywoman,
Julie, which encouraged a range of reactions — pro and con.
Smiley faces to all who braved the weather. Details
here.
Ponders End to
Hackney Wick: this was a straightforward nine
mile walk along the Lee Valley, which kept us within the
Tier 2 Covid restrictions and minimised our travel. We had
done sections of the Lee Valley Walk before but hadn't
started previously from Ponders End. It was a good spot to
pick up the trail, being close to the station. We left the
canal for a detour through Walthamstow Wetlands reserve and
a bit of Hackney Marshes (through low bridge for walkers)
before rejoining the canal to take us to the Lea Bridge Road
and the Princess of Wales pub for a very good lunch. Most of
the walk was in the morning: the afternoon was a further
section down the canal then branching off just before the
Olympic park for Hackney Wick station. Details
here.
Watford and
Sarratt: twelve of us met at King's Cross for
an easy hour on the underground to Watford to start our
circular walk in Cassiobury Park. The sun came out and the
park was truly lovely and already showing some great autumn
colours. Particularly nice were the trees laden with red
berries and a rather thinned out but still magnificent
Lebanese Cedar. In the morning we walked through the rather
wonderful Whippendel Wood to the old village of Sarratt
where we enjoyed an excellent lunch in a traditional English
country pub The Boot, dating from 1739, sitting in their
marquee. Most of us had Fish & Chips and a half pint of
draught beer.

The walk itself was
relatively flat and over mostly good paths on fields, rural
tracks between farms and occasionally small roads. The views
were probably best in the afternoon towards the Chess Valley
before walking through some beautiful wood which kept us
reasonably dry even during the unexpected rainfall after a
sunny morning; or should the surprising weather be the other
way around? Half the group was seduced by the thought of
large mugs of tea and a jumbo Jaffa cake in the cafe in
Cassiobury Park instead of going home. This proved an
excellent decision since there was a hiccup on the line home
but this was resolved the moment the late tea party arrived
at Watford Station as luck would have it. A great day out.
Details
here.
Berkhamsted: last
walked over a year ago, this was an 8½ mile autumnal walk
through forest and common land of the Ashridge Estate. A
socially distanced lunch was had at the outdoor café next to
the Bridgewater Monument. Then we followed a canal towpath
back to the station. Details
here.
Harpenden to St
Albans: this was another Hertfordshire walk
slightly further north than previous walks in the area. It
was a rather wet day from start to finish but eight brave
souls ventured out over the 11 miles. The morning highlight
was the Woodland Trust's brand-new forest called Heartwood
(previously all arable land and now with 350,000 new trees).
We were glad of the pub lunch and a chance to dry out a bit,
but not so glad to go back out into it after lunch. However,
Patrick's sweets kept us going. The afternoon took us
through the pretty Childwickbury country estate, with views
also out to another estate, Gorehambury. The final highlight
was then the city of St Albans (and the tea and cake stop!).
See the video
here. Full details
here.
Welwyn Garden City: this
was an easy circular walk through attractive Hertfordshire
countryside. We passed several grand houses and crossed
several grand golf courses. As 50% of the attendance was
Walk Leaders a cracking pace was set throughout. Entering
Ayot St Lawrence we passed Shaw House, once home to George
Bernard Shaw, to reach a delightful pub just as the rain
came on. Service was a bit slow which was just as well,
because by the time we came out the rain had stopped. We did
the official presentation of our annual 'Star Walker' here —
this year the award going to Jo-Ann Kennedy. We all enjoyed
this walk of just over 11 miles, last done in June 2018:
there were no hills to speak of. Our luck held out and it
stayed dry until we were just getting to the station when
the rain started again. Excellent timing. See the video
here. Walk details
here.
Past Walks
We are now in our eighth year.
To see details of our seventh year (October 2019 - Sept
2020) look
here.
To see details of our sixth year (October 2018 - Sept 2019)
look
here.
To see details of our fifth year (October 2017 - Sept 2018)
look
here.
To see the details for walks in the previous year (Oct 2016
- Sept 2017) look
here.
If you want to see details of the walks we completed in our
third year (Oct 2015 - Sept 2016) then look
here.
Going back further, we ended our first year
(Oct 2013 - Sept 2014) with 70 members and having completed
21 walks. For the facts and figures click here
and for the words and pictures for each, click here.