A walk from Bayford

On a dull Sunday 13th March, seven of us set off from Bayford, near Hertford, for an 8.3 mile walk recommended by the O.S.

The route was well marked and the local landowners strident notices were carefully observed. Spring is definitely in the air and all round the route we could hear the chiffchaffs making their distinctive call. It seemed to me that the route was constantly ascending but the group ignored the panted complaints from the back. Eileen was setting the pace and that was the way it was going to be!

I noticed the usual English habit of having unusual place names as we passed near Great Stockings. Three or four miles into the walk we passed a church at midday and a couple of us confessed that we did count the number of chimes, just to check.

The Georgian folly, Stratton’s Tower, was passed by and I took the opportunity to stop, get my breath back and take a photo. Essendon was reached and we turned for home. We stopped at The Five Horseshoes in Little Berkhamsted for a drink – Greene King IPA for me if you want to know – and the pub were very good as we apologised for our boots. Eileen had promised mud and there certainly had been some boggy stretches but we had jumped in puddles and scraped carefully so we didn’t make much mess.

It was after our stop that the directions seemed to be a bit confusing, around the Bucks Alley area, and we had to operate on the basis that if in doubt, keep going straight ahead. It worked. At last I found some downhill stretches and bounded on, energy restored – or was it the IPA? We eventually arrived back in Bayford, tired and hungry, the walk having taken about five hours.

 Brian U.    14th March 2022