1st September
We’ve a series of walks in Hertfordshire planned for the next few weeks. It may only be the first day of meteorologic autumn but already you can feel the turning of the seasons . There’s a thin mist in the Mimram Valley and the milky light evokes memories of walks last year…we spend a few minutes wishing we’d started out earlier…the dawn would have been great to see.
Crossing the river, we climb the gentle hill towards St Paul’s Walden, passing The Bury on the right. The childhood home of the Queen Mother (well, one of them) its a pretty unprepossessing house in reality. It’s still quiet at this time of the morning and several times we startle groups of roe deer quietly picking their way through fields of stubble. By the time we turn for home the sun is fully out, the mist is long burnt off and the skies are sapphire blue. This is a great time to be out walking!
You can’t walk anywhere in this part of Hertfordshire without being aware of a steady parade of EasyJets dropping slowly towards Luton. As we drop back into Whitwell along the footpath, the accompanying jets are a stark contrast to the watercress beds, which recall an altogether more peaceful age…there’s been cress grown here since Roman times…and probably still will be when the jets are long gone. A 7.5 mile walk and we’ll be back to walk around here again next week.
Whitwell picture gallery (more pictures on Flickr):
Distance: 7.5 miles ; Difficulty: Easy
Coordinates for Satnav: SG4 8BE
Whitwell walk profile
Where Angells Tread! 