Walk 14: St Albans and Gorhambury Park

Date: Monday 29th August
Route: St Albans Circular via Gorhambury Park, Potters Crouch and Verulamium Park
Distance: 9.3 miles

Trying out different walks from different walk books means that you're never quite sure how a walk is going to be until you get out there and do it. No matter how descriptive the text, or how well-drawn the maps, it's not until you start down the path that you really get a sense of whether a walk is good, bad or indifferent.

Unfortunately, today's walk fell into the indifferent category - not because of St Albans itself, more because of a combination of pretty dull tarmac paths the whole way round, large stretches of walk with motorway views and/or noise, a flooded road and the ultimate disappointment - a lunchtime pub without chips!

This one is from the Rough Guide to Walks in London & Southeast England, which is generally not quite as detailed in its descriptions as the Time Out Guides, but has come up with some great walks in the past (see the Wendover walk below as an example).

The town of St Albans has plenty of history, from medieval buildings to the mainly Norman cathedral and the remains of Roman Verulamium. The walk starts out promisingly, skirting the Cathedral before heading into Verulamium Park, an incongruous mixture of ornamental ponds, municipal greenery and random bits of Roman masonry alongside the (not hugely impressive) River Ver.

On the other side of the park is the Verulamium Museum and a Roman Theatre, but after this point the walk gets out into the countryside. The path through Gorhambury Park is clearly signposted (virtually every single gateway by the side of the road has its own "private" sign) but ultimately it's just a tarmac road that passes through a nicely manicured park, with occasional glimpses of the manor house. The best bit about this stretch of walk is the ruin of Francis Bacon's house, which English Heritage maintain in a state of picturesque decrepitude.

From the ruin onwards, the path leads under the M10, over the A4147 and along a lane flanking the M1 (see photo above) - it's noisy, there's nothing to see apart from the lorries coming to tip large quantities of wood at the recycling centre and the most exciting part is wading through the flooded section of lane en route to the pub, the Holly Bush at Potters Crouch.

The final third of the walk adds to the excitement with a path alongside a wood (the only unpaved section of the walk), a footbridge over the M10, a track across a field and a path between fences in what the guide book accurately describes as a "1970's housing estate" before returning to Verulamium Park.  

Obviously, if motorway noise, housing estates and tarmac do it for you, you will love this walk! Sadly, I don't think I'll be returning to St Albans for a while.

Walk 13: Henley and Hillsides

Date: Sunday 28th August 2011
Route: Henley to Middle Assendon, Bix Bottom and back
Distance: 8.8 miles

19 years ago, I was outside for most of the day, dodging showers and puddles and looking forward to seeing Nirvana at the Reading Festival. No Nirvana today, sadly, but Bank Holiday Sunday still included plenty of dodging showers and puddles, sturdy footwear and even a pint of cider! There was also a rock 'n' roll connection to today's walk, albeit somewhat tenuous (more of which later).

Walk 6 from the Time Out Book of Country Walks Volume 2, which kept us busy for a few hours earlier, is an old favourite, starting off from the town of Henley, but quickly leaving the town to head over the hillsides of the Oxfordshire Way.

In the last few weeks the fields of the Chilterns have not only been harvested but the persistent rain seems to have led to an explosion of fruit and fungi by the wayside. Today we came home with a container full of blackberries and hazelnuts foraged from hedgerows (I predict a crumble). If we had been braver, we could have supplemented that with mushrooms (or maybe toadstools?!), elderberries, rosehips and sloes.

The walk itself boasts those type of rolling hillside views that never translate too well into photographs - and because of this does include occasional slightly taxing uphill stretches - but is generally easy to follow and well worth the infrequent effort.

Because we did the shortcut (8.8 miles) version (rather than the full 13.7 miles), we left the main walk about an hour in, after passing the Rainbow Inn at Middle Assendon, then walked along quiet country roads to the farm at Bix Bottom, before heading back over the hillsides and through woods full of acorn-laden oak trees to Henley. The rock 'n' roll bit of the walk is the final pathway alongside George Harrison's fence (complete with razor wire on top) - I did say that it was tenuous! Good opportunity to plug the forthcoming George Harrison documentary by Martin Scorsese though - click here to see more.

The disadvantage of the doing the short walk is that you miss out the lunchtime pub stop (and probably arrive too early for lunch at the Rainbow), but if you start off at around 10am you will be comfortably back in Henley in time for a pub lunch at the Argyll, with its hop-laden beams and suit of armour.

Great walk, great views, not quite as crowded or noisy or muddy as the Reading Festival (and no Nirvana) but a great way to spend a Bank Holiday Sunday, nonetheless.