Pete's Walks - Circular walk round Harpenden (page 1 of 2)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
I did this walk on Monday, 4th January 2010. It was a repeat of my circular walk that 'circumnavigates' Harpenden (well, almost). The route is approximately 13 miles long. I did it in the anticlockwise direction, starting and finishing at Redbourn.
It had been a very cold night, and it took me about a quarter of an hour to scrape the ice from my car before I set off on the short journey to Redbourn. It was about 10am as I started walking from the car park by the cricket pitch on the large common in the village, setting off towards the hamlet of Redbournbury.
A frozen cricket pitch at Redbourn
Frozen fields near the start of the path from Redbourn to Redbournbury
Frozen paddock as the path approaches the A5
Shortly after crossing the A5 (or whatever silly number this section of it is now called) I spotted a Little Egret flying along the river Ver and landing in a tree. I saw one a little nearer to Redbournbury when I first walked this route. A few yards further on a Grey Heron appeared.
Water meadows in the Ver valley on the way to Redbournbury
The path to Redbournbury, from just across the A5
Frozen water meadows - the white dot in the tree is a Little Egret (honest!)
The watermill at Redbournbury - it looked like they'd finished restoring the waterwheel since I was last here
The river Ver at Redbournbury
At Redbournbury, I varied from the route I took last time, choosing to use field paths to reach Hatching Green rather than the hard-surfaced Beesonend Lane.
Between Redbournbury and Hatching Green
The path to Hatching Green crossing some frosty fields
Looking back to the Ver valley from the path to Hatching Green
I walked through a residential street in Hatching Green, crossed the A6, and continued past the golf course on Harpenden Common. I then took the track known as Mud Lane (which didn't live up to its name in these frosty conditions). There was then a bit of a road walk, along Ayres End Lane and then Pipers lane.
There were actually a few golfers out on the course at Harpenden Common. I saw someone hit a tee shot that rather flukily bounced over the corner of a bunker.
Mud Lane, approaching the railway bridge
Near the end of Mud Lane