Hertford - Waterend - Stapleford - Chapmore End - Hertford
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The walk is very easily accessed from the railway station, which is on the northern edge of Hertford and therefore there is very little street-walking before countryside is reached.
The first part of the walk roughly follows the course of the railway line and the River Beane, which is one of four rivers that converge at Hertford. As you leave Hertford you pass the site of an old mill which is now a water pumping station. Just beyond on the left is a barn which has been converted into a modern dwelling and is all that is left of the old mill, except the mill-stream which you follow for some time. As you enter the meadow, on the left is the old sluicegate which used to control the flow to the mill-stream from the River Beane which flows through Waterford meadow. This meadow and the one on the left as you leave Hertford were traditionally flood-plains which dispersed water at the time of heavy rain and thus prevented Hertford from flooding; building on these is now causing some problems around the country. After heavy rain the water meadow sometimes floods, but you can pick your way around the edge instead of following the river. On the river-walk into Stapleford the coppiced wood on the right is full of bluebells in the spring. Just after Stapleford the lane climbs gently up what passes for a hill in Hertfordshire; the view from the top is across the village and on to Bramfield Woods in the distance.
Towards the end of the walk you pass through three disused quarries which are being managed back to heathland. The first is the newest and still contains some of the machinery which was abandoned when the quarry closed. Across the lane, which forms a ridge between two disused quarries, if you look to the right from the path it is possible to see over the whole pit. This has been unused for about eight years and is beginning to recover. The third quarry is across the car park. Again the path skirts the quarry with views across to the left. This is the oldest and well on the way to recovery, with a wide variety of wild flora now established.
England - Central England - Hertfordshire - Countryside
Features
Birds, Butterflies, Church, Flowers, Good for Kids, Industrial Archaeology, Mostly Flat, Pub, Public Transport, River, Wildlife, Woodland
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