Walks you can reach from Leagrave 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).

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).

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).

Steep rolling downlands, chalk escarpments, hilltop views, grassy fields, pastures and ancient woodland.

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

Warnings: Can be hilly.

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

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.

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.

An easy, well-surfaced route mostly along the off-road Upper Lea Valley Way (a combined cycle and footpath), passing woodland and agricultural fields with countryside views and after about 2km of urban walking out of Luton. Tarmac all the way — good for wheels but hard underfoot — with some minor inclines and a few cycle-barrier pinch points. Follows the Upper Lea Valley Way; an information board at the highest point notes local connections including a memorial to Eric Morecambe. No refreshment opportunities between the town centres.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: No refreshment opportunities between the town centres, but it's not a long route.

Warnings: A quarter urban.

Walk details: Slow Ways.