Between Aldbury and Tring
This website is dedicated to the memory of my dear brother-in-law Michael “Cass” Castiello. Without his patience, diligence and sublime computer skills this huge project would have been nothing more than airy wishful thinking. I will always be indebted to him. As perhaps will fellow walkers who visit these pages.
Because the website was initially designed for display on a computer screen you may find – accessing it via a phone – that the photos look constricted and the picture captions (ie below left) are out of sync with the pictures displayed.
Clearly the turmoil created by the Covid-19 ‘crisis’ has exacted a heavy toll on pubs, cafes, services, attractions and other aspects of life we once took for granted. Opening hours, restrictions – perhaps even whether pubs and businesses continue to trade – are, at the time of writing, in flux. Perhaps normality will return sooner rather than later. Whatever ‘normality’ is nowadays? Clearly the information on this website could be hugely compromised. So before venturing out confirm whether any planned stop-off points, transport options or other services you intend to rely on, are operating. Hopefully, I’ll be able to remove this paragraph sooner rather than later.
There is something blissfully uplifting walking in the placid English countryside on a warm summer’s day. Our enchanting landscape has shaped our history and bequeathed us a centuries-old network of footpaths, bridleways, ancient routes and rambling tracks; part of a rich patchwork of rights of way that criss-cross the country promising exploration, joyful encounters and memorable journeys.One journey of discovery is the benign, user-friendly but always beguiling 195 mile-long Hertfordshire Way, a long distance footpath officially opened in 1998. Although I’ve lived in Hertfordshire for more than 35 years I’ve always thought of it as a pleasant, largely undulating county of modest agricultural character with a few striking landscapes like the wooded chalk escarpments of the Chilterns. A motorway fed wealthy commuter bolt-hole of New Towns, Garden Cities and ancient market parishes. But with a rich history and inviolable heritage. In short, a place to enjoy but perhaps never to truly cherish.
How wrong I was. The Hertfordshire Way has been a blinding revelation. The scales have fallen from my eyes. It is a fascinating adventure. Never dull. Always full of surprises. Never gruelling. Always merciful. Nearly 200 miles of charming countryside with the odd – occasionally welcome – diversion into a town or, in St Albans case, a city.
This website is a chronicle of my trip and what I saw en route. I have taken a lot of pictures to try to illustrate what landscapes and places of interest you will encounter when walking the different legs. Excuse the cod philosophical musings and wistful reflections about rivers, streams, woodland, skyscapes and isolated inns.
But why settle for my experiences of the Hertfordshire Way?
Embark on the same journey. Discover it for yourself. You’ll never be disappointed. After all one of the delights of walking is knowing that footpaths nearly always follow the most picturesque routes, whereas roads rarely do.
As William Wordsworth wrote: “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
I’ll leave the last word to the French writer Stendhal: “There is nothing so beautiful, lovable and moving as the English countryside.”
Graham Newson. 2021
