Pete's Walks - Ashridge and Berkhamsted Common (page 1 of 5)
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 circular walk of about 9.5 miles on Saturday, August 3rd, 2024. It was a repeat of a walk I did the previous November.
I parked in the car park near the visitor centre and cafe by the Bridgewater Monument (Grid Reference SP972131). I started walking at about 9.35am, and walked past the visitor centre and cafe on my left, with the monument to my right. The monument was totally surrounded by scaffolding, as work had just begun on cleaning it for the first time in it's history and doing some repairs to it. I went straight on along a bridleway that descended gently through the woods of Ashridge, soon curving slightly left. I went straight on where another bridleway forked right (and dropped downhill to Aldbury), the bridleway I followed now staying level and fairly straight for several hundred yards. There was a slight drizzle now, so the usual nice view to my right at one point (looking out from the woods over the village of Aldbury and beyond) was far from at its best.
The Bridgewater Monument
The bridleway from the Bridgewater Monument (I went straight on here)
The bridleway where I went straight on where another bridleway forked right to descend to Aldbury
View left from the bridleway, to Aldbury and beyond - it looks a bit murky as it was drizzling at this point
Further along the same bridleway
Eventually I came to a junction where I turned right (there was a gap in the trees with a bit of a view here), but then turned immediately left on to another bridleway. This soon crossed a drive and shortly afterwards came to a road (the Tom's Hill car park was a little way to the left). The bridleway continued across the road through more of the woods of Ashridge. After about half a mile I came to a fork, where I went right for a few yards and then turned left (not the immediate left that formed a path triangle here). I soon came to a path crossroads where I went right.
The bridleway after I turned right and then immediately left
Further along the same bridleway, after it crosses a drive
The bridleway where it crosses the road (near the Tom's Hill car park)
Further along the same bridleway
Further along the same bridleway
Further along the same bridleway
Further along the same bridleway (after I took a right fork and then turned left)
The path soon reached the huge grassy expanse of Northchurch Common (I was once approached by the Location Manager of a film, who was thinking of using the common for scenes that were set in the African savannah!), where I turned right along a broad path close to the edge of the grass. Just after this turned left in a corner and headed towards a line of trees, I took a path going right, and then turned left along the edge of the common again. After several hundred yards I took a bridleway forking right, back into the woods. I went straight on at a path crossroads, and again when I came to a crossing drive.
Where I started walking round the edge of the grassy part of Northchurch Common
Northchurch Common after I turned left and then right (I t turned left just before reaching the trees)
Northchurch Common, after I turned left along the edge of the common
Northchurch Common, shortly before I took a bridleway going half-right
The bridleway after I turned half-right
The same bridleway after it has crossed a drive, just before it reaches the Ringshall-Northchurch road