Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 2

Walk 5 : Tring Circular

New Walk Options

There are 3 options.

1. A more pleasent ending after tea in Albery.
2. Reversing the walk from Ivinghoe Beacon
3. A detour via some Bluebell Woods on the Berkhamstead Extension

Alternative ending from Albury

This is a slightly longer ending to the walk, starting from the Town Farm Tea Rooms in Albury just after point [11] in the main walk text

1. Coming out of the tea room, turn left and walk back to the crossroads by the village pond.

2. Turn right beyond the pond, following a sign to Tring and Tring Station. In a short while, you come to the churchyard on your right.

3. Just beyond the end of the churchyard turn right along a footpath, your direction 10 degrees, following a sign marked Pitstone Hill 1.5 miles (this sign may be hidden by bushes in summer). Cross a small field, and then go across a stile.

4. Carry straight on, with a pond on your right and a brick farm on your left. 20 metres past the end of the brick farm buildings turn left through a kissing gate, and follow the path past a large green barn on your left. Pass through two metal gates and then carry on up the hill on a path fenced off from a field.

5. In 400 metres, at the top of the hill, you come to a kissing gate marked by three and four armed footpath signs. There is a golf course straight ahead.

6. Turn left onto a gravel path, which skirts the golf course. In 300 metres you come to a t-junction with a three armed footpath sign.

7. Ignore the path to the right and carry straight on, past wooden gateposts marked with two white arrows, and down a path between fences for about 100 metres.

8. The footpath goes down into a small dip, through a metal gate to a crossroads marked by a four armed footpath sign. To the right is the Ridgeway, the way you went this morning at the start of the walk, but now go straight ahead, through the metal gate, down across the grass for about 50 metres and then down the concrete track to the road.

9. Turn right onto the road and you come to the station in about 170 metres, ignoring a road turning to your right in about 100 metres.

Reversing the walk from Ivinghoe Beacon

The walk to Ivinghoe Beacon and back makes quite a nice day out in itself. The route is for the most part obvious on the way back, but here are some brief directions for getting back from the Beacon to Tring station or Aldbury for tea. This makes a walk of 11.3km (7 miles). Adding tea in Aldbury to this walk adds another 2.7km (1.7 miles)

1. From the Beacon, return to the road, cross straight across and go up the hill ahead on a broad track.

2. [!] In 30 metres, take the footpath forking right from the main track, marked Footpath, No Cycles.

3. Follow this up and over the hill, through a kissing gate, and left uphill for 70 metres with a fence to your left. Do not go over the stile to the left, but take the path half right through the wood.

4. This brings you out on the far side onto the edge of the escarpment: follow the broad path curving down across the escarpment and out across the field to the road and car park at point.

5. Cross the road, climb the small hill in front, and once on top, curve left to follow the escarpment over Pitstone Hill. At the summit of the hill, remember to fork right, slanting across the slope above the ugly industrial lake, to reach the kissing gate and the woods.

6. From here on follow the Ridgeway signs through the woods, eventually bringing you out on the long level track between trees, but with open fields to your right. By now you are almost level with the valley bottom, and nearly at Tring Station.

7. [!] You then come to a four way junction with a metal gate to your right [2].

8. To get to Tring station from here, go right through the gate, and down first a path and then a concrete track to the road in about 100 metres. At the road, turn right for 190 metres to get to the station, ignoring a road to Pitstone and Ivinghoe on your right in 80 metres.

9. To get to Aldbury for tea, go left at the four way junction. Go up the small slope ahead and past a broken wooden gate. In 20 metres pass through a metal gate.

10. In another 120 metres, pass a broken wooden gate, go straight on, ignoring a path to the left signalled by a three armed footpath sign.

11. The path climbs a hill between hedges. In 135 metres you can see a golf course on your left, but in another 30 metres the hedge blocks this view. The village of Aldbury is now visible in the valley to the right.

12. In another 130 metres, turn right by a three and four armed footpath sign, passing through a wooden kissing gate. Go downhill on a path fenced off from a field, heading directly for the church tower, which soon comes into view.

13. At the bottom of the field, you pass through two metal kissing gates to pass to the left of a green corrugated barn.

14. At the end of the barn, a kissing gate takes you into the field to your left, where you continue in the same direction as before, with farm buildings to your right.

15. You soon pass a pond on your left, and cross a stile to the right of a rusted metal gate. In 50 metres, you pass through a wooden kissing gate and turn left onto the road.

16. In 180 metres this brings you to the centre of the village [12], with the Aldbury Village Store on your right and a pond on your left.

17. Just past the pond, turn left. The Town Farm Tea Rooms is the brick and timber building 90 metres along on the right, opposite the Greyhound pub.

18. After tea, follow the directions in the book to get back to Tring station

Bluebell variation & short cut to Berkhamsted extension

The woods of the Ashridge Estate, near the Bridgewater Monument on this walk, contains a spectacular bluebell wood (late April/early May). To get to it (a very short detour), use the following directions. They can also be used as a short cut between the Bridgewater Monument and the Albury to Berkhamsted extension, which avoids the need to descend into Albury village.

1. From point [10] in the main walk text, come away from the tea kiosk as directed, and follow the broad stony driveway to the end of the parking area. 30 metres beyond the end of the parking area, instead of going downhill on the bridleway, turn left on a car wide track, with the fence of an open paddock on your left.

2. In 250 metres, at the end of the paddock ignore a path that turns immediately left, but instead in 30 metres, fork left (but see ** below if using this route as a short cut). The bluebells should now be all around you.

3. Follow this meandering path for 400 metres through the bluebell wood, until it comes to a car wide muddy track. Turn left here, and follow the track for approximately 250 metres until you come to a five way track junction. Here you have a choice
   1. To get back to the Bridgewater Monument, take the first track to the left (hard left), which brings you in 200 metres or so back to the enclosed paddock: follow the fence to the left or right (it does not matter which) to bring you back to the monument.

   2. To carry on to the Berkhamsted Extension, take the first track to the right, which leads into another area of bluebells. In 100 metres you see another enclosed paddock to your right, and 250 metres beyond this you come to a track junction marked by three footpath posts, one with arrows on it, the other with “No Horses” signs. Turn left here, following a broad (and in winter rather indistinct) muddy track, which veers left in 50 metres. In 400 metres, you get to a road, and can take up the Berkhamsted extension directions from point [B1]

4. ** Out of bluebell season, if using these directions as a short cut to the Berkhamsted extension, you can take the right fork here and simply follow it as it runs slightly below the escarpment for 500 metres until it converges with a wide muddy car wide track which has been slowly ascending from the right, and comes level with a small house to the left (Old Copse Lodge). Turn left, directly uphill, along the broad bridleway just beyond the house, and you are now at the point two paragraphs before point [B1] in the walk directions for the Berkhamsted extension (In 80 metres you cross an earth driveway next to a house to the left...”)