Walk 5 : Tring Circular

The dates in square brackets refer to editions of the book to which the changes apply. [Aug04] is the original edition, published by Penguin and with a green cover. [Jul06] is the Ebury Press edition, with a thorn tree on the cover

Main walk

[Aug04][Jul06] p58 column 2, para 5, second sentence: “100 metres later cross a stile”: stile seems to have disappeared

[Aug04][July06] p59, column 1, para 1 "to cross another stile to the right of a metal gate ..." The stile is to the left of the metal gate

A new bluebell wood

If you are doing this walk in late April or early May, there are extensive bluebell woods near the end of the walk to the south of the Bridgewater Monument: see the New Walk Options link for this walk at top of main page for directions to these.

But there is also another, very spectacular bluebell wood only 200 metres off the route, just after Wards Hurst Farm. This is Dockey Wood, one of the finest in the country, and NT owned.

It is situated to the right of the third field after the farm, but to get to it legally, emerge from the farm by the wooden gate, cross one field and pass through another gate, and then turn right down the field edge. At the end of this field, pass through a wooden gate into a long field, with the wood to your left, and cross it diagonally to the road. The wood itself is open access from the road.

You can also access this wood with only a very small diversion from walk 5a, though a bit more navigation is required here and a map would be useful. About a third of the way down the 1.6km stretch of track mentioned in those directions just before point [9], and at a point where the path has curved to the left for some way along the edge of the ridge, look out for a NT footpath post indicating a path up the hill to the left. (Just beyond this point is a sudden gap in the trees to the right, and a vista of the village of Aldbury). This path takes you up to a road, and you turn right for a very short distance to find Dockey Wood on your left. It is probably best to retrace your steps after visiting the wood: there are numerous other paths down from the road to the short cut track, but this is a confusing area, with one of two other tracks before you get to the right one.

Berkhamsted extension

[Aug04][Jul06] p64, column one, para five: one stile before the Alpine Meadow Nature Reserve and two after it have been replaced by metal kissing gates, and there is also a new wooden kissing gate in the second section of wood

[Aug04][July 06] p64, column two, paras two and three. At the junction of the four hedges, the onward route now runs to the left of the hedge, rather than to the right as in the book. As the track turns left, simply keep straight on, through a hedge gap into the next field, keeping the tall hedge boundary to your right as you carry on down a long hill. At the bottom of the hill, follow the field boundary round to the left. In its far corner, under a line of mini pylons, go right through a gap into the next field, and then immediately left through a metal kissing gate, and then right beyond that onto a path that follows the line of the mini pylons, with a sports field on your right. You can now just carry on straight and this will bring you to the station, but for more details see the directions on p64, column two, paras four and following.

Tea places

[Aug04] The Lunch and Tea Place section on p65 mentions the Ashridge Visitor Centre and the Bridgewater Monument tea kiosk as separate places: they are in fact one and the same, and not in Berkhamsted or Albury. The correct location of the tea kiosk is given in the text and on the map.

[Aug04][Jul06] The Town Farm Tea Rooms in Aldbury have now closed

[Aug04][July06] If you want tea after finishing the Tring to Berkhamsted extension, the cafe in Waitrose, on the right just beyond the canal (see directions in the book on the route to the High Street) is a good bet. It has a huge range of cakes, and is open till 7pm on Saturday, though only 4pm on Sunday. Otherwise, Berkhamsted High Street has other tea options

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