The Hertfordshire Way

Stage 7a Tring to Hemel Hempstead - Part 1

Image produced from Ordnance Survey's Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

The Hertfordshire Way is a 166 mile long distance trail around the county divided into 14 legs, and beginning and ending at Royston. Bluetiger walked the first half of the seventh leg from Tring to Hemel Hempstead, 9 miles, in February 2004.

The guidebook describes this as an easy going walk, through pretty Chiltern villages, and extensive wooded commons.

From Tring Station the Way climbs Tom's Hill to reach the woods of the Ashridge estate. Here, near Rail Copse, there are some magnificent beeches.

The Way then crosses onto Berkhamsted Common, where the beeches are replaced by birches. This still part of the Ashridge estate. The guidebook recounts that "in 1866 an attempt was made by the then owner, Earl Brownlow, to enclose part of Berkhamsted Common. The railings he put up were removed in a single night by 120 navvies and after a long court battle the commoners' rights were upheld. The estate was later sold to pay death duties and parts of it were acquired by the National Trust in the 1920s."

Looks like you can go more or less whichever way you want! This stage meets several other way-marked paths, including the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail, the Chiltern Way, and the Grand Union Circular Walk.

The Way continues along the high ground through the Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Even on a February day it looks good when the sun comes out.

The grassland here has been reseeded as part of a conservation project to re-establish the Chiltern flora.

It's mid February, but there's a patch of gorse coming into bloom.

Nearing Potten End the footpath runs along the bottom of Grim's Ditch, a Bronze Age territorial boundary. No, that's not Grim. The ditch extends for 16 miles from Potten End to Bradenham near High Wycombe.

Now click this link for the second half of the walk.