Twenty two Poly Ramblers assembled at Kings Langley station on the last Saturday in January on a sunny, dry day. It would have been 23 but one member boarded the wrong train and sped past the destination station. Although close to London this is not a station we use often for walks. We headed down a footpath and after crossing the River Gade and the Grand Union canal we entered Wayside Farm, which according to my walk description, houses one of Hertfordshire’s last dairy herds. We paused to visit the farm shop where a large sign informed us that there was no milk today.

We headed up the Gade Valley, crossing the A41 by footbridge and then down alongside some woodland. Our progress was interrupted a phone call from two walkers, one of whom was the back marker, who we had somehow managed to lose back at the footbridge. I am still not sure how that happened. Stephen kindly went back to retrieve them and we continued, eventually reaching Chipperfield Common. After a wrong turn on my part and negotiating some mud we arrived in the lovely village of Chipperfield (no connection with the circus). Lunch was a choice between pub, café and picnic. The pub group took some time to get their food but eventually we resumed our walk through the Common and back across the valley towards Kings Langley. Although we were close to the M25 and A41 there was surprisingly little traffic noise. On reaching the village a few people stopped to visit the church with the tomb of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III who became the first Duke of York. The main group continued to pick up the Grand Union canal towpath back to the station.

Gillian.  Photos from Chris,  Nita, Joyanna, Stephen