Walks you can reach from Harlington by train

Recommended

St Albans Cathedral (30m in)

Verulamium Roman City Walls (45m in)

Ruins of Gorhambury House (2h in)

St Albans (2h in)

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

1 lunch spot: Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (30m in)

6 end-of-walk rewards: the Six Bells, the Lower Red Lion, the Snug, the Boot, the Mad Squirrel Tap, or the Peahen

Warnings: A third urban.

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Recommended: Mostly fields and country lanes. Some beautiful new bluebell woods, stunning historic city streeets, commons, golf courses and parkland.

Heartwood Forest (1h30 in)

St Albans Cathedral (4h in)

St Albans (3h30 in)

Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

4 lunch spots: Sandridge (2h in) — the Green Man (excellent; reservations recommended), Heartwood Tea Rooms (busy!), the Rose & Crown, or the Queens Head (not great)

5 end-of-walk rewards: the Lower Red Lion, the Mad Squirrel Tap, the Peahen, the Snug, or the Boot

Best months: in April (bluebell season).

Warnings: A quarter urban.

Source: Trains2Green.

Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

River valley, wooded wetland fringes, quiet villages, rolling fields, escarpment ridge, nature reserve lakes and ancient woodland.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Largely flat riverside paths, fields, woods, parks and pedestrianised town centre.

Time: 8h (6h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

St Albans (2h in)

The Devil's Dyke (National Trust)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

3 lunch spots: the Swan (1h in), the Bull (1h15 in), or the Wicked Lady (2h in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Marquis of Granby, or the Amble Inn

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Undulating Greensand Ridge, mixed woods, open parkland, heathland, historic market town, ancient woodland and flat moors and wetland nature reserve.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Way-marked trail through the Ver and Colne Valleys and linking all seven Abbey Line stations — can be done end-to-end or as individual sections with a train hop back.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Sections can become waterlogged after heavy rain, sometimes without obvious alternative routes.

Walk details: the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership (PDF).

Common woodland, farmland tracks, river meadows, water meadows, quiet residential roads and historic city streets.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

St Albans (3h15 in)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

3 lunch spots: Moor Mill Watermill & Inn (1h45 in), the Overdraught (2h15 in), or Rumbles Fish Bar (2h15 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Horn, or the Robin Hood

Warnings: Can be very muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

Recommended: Wide open views; good views. A fairly hilly route, mostly on field-edge paths and good tracks across arable land and with some overgrown stretches and short sections on quiet roads and verges. The Luton end has rather a lot of residential roads. Good views from the higher ground. Follows the Chiltern Way Extension for a significant distance. Whitwell has an interesting tower.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: There is a pub at St Paul's Walden, roughly mid-route.

Warnings: Crossing London Road (B656) needs a little care. Some paths are a little overgrown, occasionally between barbed-wire fences.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A beautiful, mainly off-road countryside walk that is far from flat despite its reputation, with steady climbs and descents and some big fields to cross. After ploughing and footpaths across the fields between Higham Gobion and Pulloxhill may not be reinstated and can be very muddy; good navigation or GPS is essential there. Around 1.5 miles of town walking at the Hitchin end. The Ickleford Nature Reserve riverside path is recommended as an alternative start. The route ends near, but avoids, Flitwick Moor SSSI. Walking from Flitwick eastwards gives a downhill start.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: A very good food pub at Pulloxhill, mid-route.

Warnings: Field paths west of Higham Gobion can be lost after ploughing and replanting; competent navigation or GPS is essential. There is a steady uphill stretch along a fairly busy fast road at Higham Gobion. Fields can be very muddy in wet weather.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Pavements out of Flitwick, then field paths, bridleways and old unsurfaced lanes through downland and woods, with several muddy sections and stretches that are becoming overgrown. Climbs fairly steeply past an old quarry; ends on pavements through housing. A few steps and gates and kissing gates but no stiles. Follows a Chiltern Way extension for part of its length. Barton-le-Clay, roughly mid-route, has plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants.

Time: 7h30 (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Lunch: Barton-le-Clay, roughly mid-route, has plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants.

Warnings: Several field-edge paths are overgrown; long trousers advised against nettles in summer. The A6 crossing has no lights but good sight lines and a central refuge. A short stretch of road walking on Harlington Lane has a disconcerting blind bend. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Lovely views. Begins with a long uphill road out of Luton, then transitions through farm tracks, common land, narrow paths and footpaths across open fields and small woods. Steep in places with steps and kissing gates; paths are generally good. Some short road walking in quiet places and plus an unavoidable roadside stretch into Hitchin. Expect fields of barley and skylarks; field paths shift as crops change and fields are ploughed.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

1 lunch spot: the Red Lion

Warnings: Field paths can be narrow through crops and steep in places; expect kissing gates and some steps. An unavoidable roadside walk leads into the town centre at the Hitchin end.

Walk details: Slow Ways.