Walking The Chiltern Way Part 5 - Peter’s Green to Shrub Hill Common
Crossing the River Gade
Start: The Bright Star Pub, Kimpton Road, Peter's Green, Luton, LU2 9QP
Finish: Chaulden Adventure Playground, 106 Long Chaulden, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 2HX
Distance: 26.8 km (16.6 Miles)
Elevation change: +288m / -304m. Net -16m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other Routes Touched (walk): Lee Valley Walk, River Ver Trail, Hertfordshire Way
Other Routes Touched (cycle): Chilterns Cycleway, The Nickey Line, River Lea Cycle Route
Pubs / Cafes on route: Several in Redbourn (10.6 km in), including The Hub Cycle Cafe. Three Blackbirds in Flamstead (15.7 km in)
Maps:
- Luton & Stevenage Map | Hitchin & Ampthill | Ordnance Survey | OS Explorer Map 193
- St Albans & Hatfield Map | Hemel Hempstead & Welwyn Garden City | Ordnance Survey | OS Explorer Map 182
OS Trig Pillar: TP6734 - Warden Hill
Links: Chiltern Way (Chiltern Society), Redbourn, Flamstead, Hemel Hempstead, River Ver, River Gade
This is the fifth of a series of point to point walks on the Chiltern Way. The full trail is a 134 mile (215 km) long distance path around the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). My friend Brian and I have been doing a section a year on or around the Winter Solstice since 2019. At the current rate we plan to be finished in December 2027. The Chiltern Way is well sign-posted however you should take a map or GPX route to keep on track and be prepared for all weathers. This post isn’t intended as a fully accurate turn-by-turn guide.
Having been travelling west to east for the previous 4 sections we had now turned the corner and were heading south, south-west. We were also into more familiar territory as the route covered several trails that we had explored on previous adventures. After 3km from the section start at Peter’s Green the Chiltern Way crosses over the River Lea and briefly follows the Lea Valley Walk towards Harpenden. This section is also on the River Lea Cycle Route.
It had been a while since Brian and I had seen each other and we got so caught up in catching up that we missed the turning off the Lea Valley Walk. After realising our mistake we retraced our steps and followed the Chiltern Way again across to the start of the Nickey Line. This was another familiar section as I had covered it on the Nickey Line, Ayot Greenway and Alban Way cycle ride.
The Chiltern Way follows the Nickey Line for 4.3 km before cutting across the River Ver into Redbourn. We stopped here at The Hub Cycle cafe for a mid-morning coffee and cake. We’d been unlucky on previous Chiltern Way sections finding food as we had either passed pubs before they opened or not passed anything at all. This section passed through more towns so we made a point to stop and eat where we could.
After Redbourn our plan was to continue to Flamstead to arrive there just after 12:00 and in time for lunch at The Three Blackbirds pub. We arrived on time only to find out that the chef was off and they weren’t serving food that day. The nice lady at the bar kindly gave us directions for other places but none were on our route and would have only been practical if driving. We settled for a couple of packets of crisps and had our packed lunch on the move walking out of the village.
The second half of this section is more rural without any towns or villages to pass through. One interesting spot was passing by the front of Gaddeston Place, a large 18th century manor house overlooking the Gade Valley. It looked familiar but not surprisingly as it’s been used as a location in many films and TV series. Coincidentally I saw it again the following evening as it was featured in a movie that I was watching on Netflix.
The Chiltern Way descends sharply down from Gaddeston Place to the B440 Leighton Buzzard Road. be very careful crossing this road as the path opens onto the road at a sharp bend with little visibility. Once across the road the path crosses over the Gade and ascends up the other side of the valley towards Hemel Hempstead.
The end of this section for us was Shrub Hill Common on the north-western edge of Hemel. I had originally planned to finish the section at the Grand Union Canal a couple of km on but parking is better around Shrub Hill.
After a several Winter Solstice dawn to dusk walks we finally got the timings exactly right for this section, starting exactly at sunrise and finishing exactly at sunset.
Previous section: Walking The Chiltern Way Part 4: Streatley to Peter’s Green
Next section: Walking The Chiltern Way Part 6: Shrub Hill Common to Chalfont St. Giles. Blog post coming in December 2024