Saturday Walkers' Club

Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 2

Walk 5 : Tring Circular

Updates and Feedback

Summary No major changes.
Updates
Posted by Peter C
 
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

You can also post your own updates by using the COMMENT function on this page

[Aug04] - 1st (Penguin) edition - update refers to this edition only

[Jul06] - 2nd (Ebury Press) edition - update refers to both editions

There is also summary of updates fixed in the 2nd Edition (PDF)

Feedback
8 comments
Posted by Anonymous Miriam : Monday, 02 June, 2008
Shortcut to Berkhamsted extension:
Two of us did this on 31 May and a couple of points arise.
Para 1: Beyond the parking lot, if you turn left you enter the paddock so it would be clearer to say that you go downhill for 30 metres before going left, having ignored the entrance to the paddock.
Para 4: At the point of convergence with the path on the right (which hasn't ascended noticeably so that is a bit confusing), to get to Old Copse Lodge, you have to turn left for about 30 metres. Then you pass Old Copse Lodge and presumably go straight ahead. We however turned left at Old Copse Lodge as it appears to direct and consequently came out on the B4506 about half a mile left of where we should have been.
Hope this can be clarified as the shortcut to the extension is a good idea.
Posted by Blogger Chris L : Sunday, 03 August, 2008
Some more options for tea in Berkhamsted High Street:
Coming from station, turn left for:
Attic Cafe - on top floor of Home & Colonial antiques shop, 134 High Street (01442 877007) Closes 5pm Mon-Sat; 4.30pm Sun. Excellent home-made scones & cakes and wide range of teas in generously-sized pots.
Bel Caffe, 146 High Street (01442 877466) - closes 6pm Mon-Sat; 3pm Sun
Costa Coffee, 162 High Street - closes 6.30pm Mon-Sat; 6pm Sun.

Turn right for:
Simmons (bakers), 234 High Street - closes 5pm Mon-Sat; 12.30pm Sun
Way Inn cafe, 268 High Street - closes 5.30pm Mon-Fri; closed Sat/Sun. Does traditional high teas
Olive Tree Cafe, 270 High Street (01442 876726) - closes 6pm Mon-Sat; 5pm Sun.
Posted by Blogger Peter C : Monday, 04 August, 2008
One report of the Greyhoud pub in Aldbury (lunch pub on the shorter walk) say it is more of a restaurant than a pub these days. There is another pub in Aldury - the Valiant Trooper, which is found by coming out of the Greyhound, turning right and carrying straight on past the duckpond and village shop. We have not tried out this pub, but it may well do food.
Posted by Blogger Ian T : Sunday, 03 May, 2009
This post has been removed by the author.
Posted by Blogger Ian T : Sunday, 03 May, 2009
P 58 column2 para 5
No longer a need to dog'sleg through Wards Hust Farm.
The route has been realigned - go straight on through gates and gaps till you reach the waterworks Column 1 p59 near Rngshall. There is another bluebell wood off to the right of a large field on this stretch.

P59 column1 para 4: The gate by the white house is locked We had to climb over the fence
Posted by Blogger Walker : Monday, 04 May, 2009
In reply to the above post: I went to check this the following day, and you went to the wrong gate in p59, col 1, para 4. This is the fault of the directions, which are not quite clear. The proper footpath exit from the field is a kissing gate about 80 metres to the left of the white turreted house. Admittedly the field was cluttered up with young lambs, which made spotting this difficult.

The bluebell wood mentioned to the right of the fields after Wards Hurst Farm is Dockey Wood, one of the National Trust's finest. I will put a note in the main section above to explain to other walkers how to find this
Posted by Blogger Guylaine : Tuesday, 09 June, 2009
8 June 09
The footpaths have been changed at Wards Hurst Farm [5]. We got a bit lost in the farm buildings trying to follow the instructions of the book. It is now easy to follow the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail straight through the farm, keeping in the same direction. It will lead to the edge of the wood mentioned further down in the text.
Posted by Blogger Walker : Tuesday, 09 June, 2009
The footpath does indeed now go straight through Wards Hurst Farm rather than the roundabout route it used to take.

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