Mud, mud glorious mud!

On a bright, mild and dry day 18 Poly Ramblers set off on what purported to be a seven (later calculated to be eight) mile walk in the woodlands of Hertfordshire. We quickly reached Brickendon, one of the most haunted places in Hertfordshire, where we briefly visited the Holy Cross chapel built in 1932 in Tudor style with a fine wooden beamed interior.

Entering Cowheath Wood we soon encountered the mud which challenged us for much of the day. We walked through meadows of wild grass, bracken and birch forest before deeper forest led us to Emanuel Pollards. Emerging from these woods a fenced path took us down the side of a large horse pasture with good views ahead and we followed a line of Yew trees to our lunch spot at the Woodman and Olive pub in the valley of Wormley West End. A few walkers were lured inside by the smell of the barbecue whilst most of us ate in the garden.

This walk used a number of bridges made from pallets and two-plank structures to cross brooks and streams. It was with some trepidation that I set out after lunch as on our recce one of these had collapsed rendering the path impassable and necessitating climbing over fences into meadows to circumnavigate the area. Fortunately, old tyres and fencing panels had been utilised to ameliorate the problem.

We then followed Ermine Street the Roman Road running from London to Lincoln and York for much of the remaining walk. Our route took us through Danemead Nature Reserve and Hoddesdon Park Wood returning to Brickendon where those of us not dependent on the hourly trains to London enjoyed a drink at the Farmers Boy pub.

Jennifer and Sunita with thanks to Ida for the photos.