Length: 23.7 km (14.7 mi) [shorter walk possible]
Ascent/Descent: 209/196m
Net Walking Time: 5 hours
Toughness: 5 out of 10
Take the 09.48 Cambridge train from Liverpool Street (Tottenham Hale 10.10), arrives Sawbridgeworth 10.36.
Return trains: xx.09, xx.26, xx.32, xx.39, xx.54 and xx.58. Buy a Bishop’s Stortfort Return.
After passing through the centre of Sawbridgeworth, much of which is a conservation area, this East Hertfordshire walk leads mainly through open countryside, either along tracks, green lanes or quiet country roads, providing extensive views across the gently rolling countryside of fields, woods and waterways. The most attractive parts are then a scenic stretch of the Ash Valley around lunch in Much Hadham, one of Britain’s longest villages, and the long peaceful ending along the Stort Navigation past a couple of Nature Reserves. The pretty town centre of Bishop’s Stortford with its many tea options can be explored on an optional extension.
The Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green is passed in the morning. The walk features a substantially shorter version to enable an extended visit of the Henry Moore Sculpture Park, Studios and House. This version cuts out some of the most attractive parts of the walk, though.
Walk options:
You can cut the walk short by taking a bus (runs Mon-Sat about every two hours) from the recommended lunch pub to either Bishop’s Stortford or St. Margaret’s (Hertford East line to Liverpool Street, run by the same train operating company).
Shortcuts: It is possible to shorten the walk in four ways:
· Shortcut I cuts out 0.7 km (0.4 mi) at the start,
· Shortcut II cuts out 5.5 km (3.5 mi) and 84m ascent around lunch (and gives a rating of 3/10),
· Shortcut III cuts out 1.0 km (0.6 mi) after lunch,
· Shortcut IV cuts out 0.5 km (0.3 mi) near the end.
Taking all shortcuts reduces the length of the walk to 16.1 km (10.0 mi), with a rating of 2/10.
Tea: Plenty of options, check the pdf.
For
walk directions,
map,
height profile and
gpx/kml files click
here. t=swc.210
Stargazer is away...
Walker number 9 then turned up as I was about to leave, having missed the train. But as she was intending to see the sculptures as well, I moved on after a brief chat.
The weather was overcast almost all the time, and muggy as well.
Plenty of green lanes and the Hertfordshire standard amount of large cereal fields swaying in the breeze, some waterways (a lot of them bone dry though) and some pretty thatched and non thatched houses. And more than ever before: planes on the approach to Stansted (all you Ryanair customers, that's your fault).
I hadn't walked this walk since I wrote it 5 years ago, and had forgotten how nice especially the post lunch bit is (in my view anyway, others may find it boring): some woods, lots of green lanes, river side meadows, and the Stort Navigation bit especially enchanting, with loads of magnificent mature trees (Ash, Alder, Willow, Poplar) framing the navigation, some reedbeds, creeks and channels, a couple of wetlands nature reserves, butterflies aplenty, birdlife (I even saw a grey wagtail before one of the excellent info panels told me that that was what it is called). And hardly a soul in sight.
The back marker would like to point out that there are two footpaths leading out of the Square in Sawbridgeworth. There’s the one you’re meant to take (FP 32) at the right hand side and there’s the more obvious FP 21 at the left hand side. Guess which one the back marker took. (And he knows of another who made the same mistake). Perhaps the FP number could be given at the start of that stretch.
Shortcuts 2 and 3 work fine. The back marker was tempted to ‘check’ shortcut 4 as well, but others were watching.