The North Hertfordshire Loop

A 32-mile circular or two different linear routes

Scene along Walk 127: Wallington SW Loop

We have just finished the final link in a chain of seven circular walks that, together, form a 32-mile loop across the north of the county. It starts in Graveley heads NE to Royston via Therfield before circling back then heading SW to the starting point. If you would rather break it into two linear walks, the northerly section is 15 miles and the southerly section is 17 miles.

Suggested route for The North Hertfordshire Loop
Created on Map Hub by Hertfordshire Walker
Elements © Thunderforest © OpenStreetMap contributors
Click here or on the map above to see a larger version

The idea came to me after meeting one of the regular users of Hertfordshire Walker last week as we were both enjoying a drink after a long walk. Laurie from Potters Bar was telling me how he likes walks that are 12 miles long or more, so he strings together routes from our site to create longer hikes. He is also into long-distance paths.

Linking the seven loops

The two sections in orange that complete the loop
Created on Map Hub by Hertfordshire Walker
Elements © Thunderforest © OpenStreetMap contributors

So I had a look at seven of our walks in North Hertfordshire that almost link up and realised that, with the addition of two short footpaths (shown in orange on the map above), the walks make a loop. The top link is Weston footpath 1, is 400m long and heads SE, the lower link is Weston footpath 13, is 430m long and heads SW.

Of course walkers wouldn't have to do all sections of the seven loops, but by studying each route they could check with the map at the top of the page, figure out where they link up, then adapt each loop to make one larger loop - The North Hertfordshire Loop.

The seven walks involved are:

• Walk 121: Therfield South Loop (4 miles)
• Walk 122: Therfield North Loop (6 miles)
• Walk 124: Weston South-West Loop (6.5 miles)
• Walk 125: Weston North-East Loop (7.5 miles)
• Walk 127: Wallington South-West Loop (4.8 miles)
• Walk 128: Wallington East Loop (6.4 miles)
• Walk 171: Sandon East Loop (4.7 miles)

And, between them, the routes take in several long distance paths including:

• The Hertfordshire Way
• The Icknield Way
• The Stevenage Outer Orbital Path (STOOP)
• Weston Golden Jubilee Walk
• Forster Country Walk

Public transport

You could do it in two legs by catching a bus from Stevenage station to The Waggon and Horses in Graveley (13 mins), walk to Royston then catch the train back to Stevenage (22 mins). Another day you could catch a train to Royston, walk to Graveley, then catch the bus to Stevenage station. I've checked with the Arriva and Great Northern sites and have included screen grabs of sample bus and train times below.

Screen grab of the Arriva site

Screen grab of the Great Northern site

The circular route of 32 miles would include about 1,800ft of ascent over the entire walk. The seven walks that make up the route pass six pubs along the way, see our page listing all the pubs on our walks.

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