Sun 21st March 2010 - Leg 10 : Cuffley to Hertford - 12.6 miles

At last it seemed that Spring was springing when the intrepid quartet of Sandra Scott, Howard Peacock, Fudge Peacock and David Izod set off on Leg 10 from Cuffley to Hertford. The blackthorn buds were finally breaking and the blossom developing almost in front of our eyes. For pretty much the first time we had warm, sunny and dry weather for our walk. Howard certainly knows how to pick the date as it was his first walk with us!

We left Cuffley Station and walked up Tolmers Road that Howard’s aunt had lived in some years ago. Originally, the houses had been built in the style of those in Letchworth Garden City. However, the developers had been at it since, with lots of lovely new houses with smart bricked drives, so Howard no longer recognised the place. We walked through woods that were part of Tolmers Park Estate. The Scout Association bought some of the estate in 1939 and many thousands of scouts use the area each year.

We encountered another example of the sadistic nature of the planners of the Hertfordshire Way at a place near to West End, about 5.5 miles into the walk. We went round in a loop of about ¾ mile to finish up at a turn that we had seen previously, about 50 yards up the path! To add insult to injury, The Candlestick pub had closed down at West End so we could not quench our thirst.

Pressing on, we passed through the village of Essenden, through another golf club, to emerge at Little Berkhamstead. The locals were holding a sponsored Sports Relief circular walk around their common and we were invited to join them. By this time our tongues were hanging out so we politely declined and made our way to the ancient Five Horseshoes pub (7.9 miles). Fudge enjoyed a quick afternoon siesta whilst we refuelled.

Resuming our perambulations we passed the lovely Little Berkhamstead Church, quickly followed by a folly built in 1789 by retired Admiral John Stratton as an observatory. Now, plodding on, we travelled through Bayford Wood, the village of Bayford and eventually along a track by the side of the railway. We ran into a couple of railway workers and a policeman who were at the scene of a crime. We were not told anything but it seemed to us that someone had nicked cable from the railway track. We did not have to empty our rucksacks to prove our innocence!

From here it was but a hop, skip and a jump to Parliament Square, Hertford (12.6 miles). No, I tell a fib – but how else are we to get more people on this grand adventure! At Parliament Square, we were able to relax and enjoy the afternoon sun for 15 minutes until Lesley turned up to carry us home. So Sandra has completed 120.7 miles whilst the rest of us have a little catching up to do.

Sat 20th March 2010 - Leg 9 : Shenley to Cuffley - 11.5 miles

Nine of us on this leg, David Izod, Lynda and Jonathan Berks, Liz Beardwell, Jim Webb, Guy Garfitt plus Ginny, Sandra Scott and yours truly (wearing the red hat!). David Beardwell had been due to join us but he wasn’t feeling well.



It was drizzling when we left Shenley Park and it was drizzling when we eventually reached Cuffley Station. For some reason, the gods looked down on us favourably when we reached The Sun at Northaw, the drizzle held back and we were able to eat our lunches in the pub garden and down a well earned pint.


As we left Shenley, someone shouted, “W. G. Grace used to play cricket over there” but we’d passed the gap in the hedge and missed it! The rain and mist hid the views across the Vale of St Albans so we missed seeing the Pastoral Centre, the tower of Napsbury Hospital and St Albans Abbey. We crossed a ploughed field which, mercifully, turned out to be less muddy and sticky than it looked.

Just over an hour into the walk we came to a monument at the bottom of someone’s garden. As you will see from the photo it is thought to have been erected by the Dudding family to celebrate their cousin, Admiral Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. It also indicates that the Earl of Warwick’s death on the spot during the battle of Barnet in 1471 is probably a myth. Perhaps the monument was a figment of our imaginations! Immediately after the monument we entered a “kissing” gate which of course the Berks had to demonstrate.


We continued on to pass under the M25. Judging by the rubbish, the underpass looked as though it had been used by people sleeping rough. Shortly, we came to the village of South Mimms. Time for a break. Unfortunately the Black Horse pub was closed so refuge was sought at a picnic table in the children’s playground - it was just a pity about the rain. Refuelled, we set about finding the next part of our path. We found it hidden between two houses.

Our path took us along the side of the Catherine Bourne towards the A1(M). Another damp and dingy underpass and lots more rubbish. We walked on past Warrengate Farm and thence to the Cranbourne Industrial Estate and the railway line; through yet another underpass. More comments on the amount of rubbish to be seen in the bushes. After the railway, we crossed Potters Bar Golf Course following the course of a ditch. We pondered the existence of a pill-box in the middle of the course. The Golf Club’s website doesn’t say much about it other than during WW2 “Parts of the course were requisitioned by the army, a concrete "pill-box" still exists between the 11th green and 12th tee.”

As we entered into the outskirts of Potters Bar we remarked on the late flowering of the daffodils and wondered how many would be blooming in Thriplow during the forthcoming Daffodil Weekend. We walked down Quaker Lane, passing the Scout Hut and decided from its condition that it predated the surrounding housing estate. Liz’s phone rang. It was David looking for sympathy…he didn’t get much! At the end of the Lane we crossed the road and passed through a rickety iron kissing gate into sticky black mud. This path took us past a large house, Northaw Place (photo) and onto the village of Northaw.

We decided to have lunch at The Sun Inn. The rain had stopped and we were allowed to eat our sandwiches in the garden. An extremely welcoming waiter came out to take our order for beer and bowls of chips. It was probably just as well because our boots were, to say the least, muddy. We were all surprised to discover that we only had about 3 miles to go. Whilst lunching, we learnt that the village church that we could see was Victorian, the original having been burnt down in 1881.

We set off after lunch with renewed vigour, eventually we turned on to the Northaw Road into Cuffley. From here we thought it was just an easy walk to the railway station but, no, as usual, the Friends of Hertfordshire Way took us the long way round. We soon turned right off the road and under the railway line. Walking through the fields we came to a small commercial estate and turned left onto Station Road and in 50 yards into the station, where we waited for our lifts under a bus shelter, out of the rain.