Walks in Hertfordshire by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations in Hertfordshire and plan your next day of green.
Tring Circular via Ashridge Estate
15 minutes direct from Watford Junction.
Beginner-friendly: It’s nearly all in a big National Trust estate that’s extremely well sign-posted. It’s completely fine to deviate from the route — explore and shorten as you like! The lunch options are simple cafés, so no messing around with booking a table in advance. The Ashridge Estate is very beautiful if you appreciate woodland, and covers more then enough ground to cover a day of hiking in itself. There are paths everywhere and you can wander freely. Ancient trees, rolling chalk downlands and lush meadows. Extensive woodland.
Woodland: half under tree cover.
Time: 3h30–7h30
2 lunch spots: the Ashridge Estate Café (1h–1h30 in), or Ashridge House café (2h–4h30 in)
1 end-of-walk reward: the Valiant Trooper
Warnings: Relatively busy. Take the minor paths to avoid the crowds. Can be muddy.
Source: Trains2Green.
St Albans City Circular via Ruins of Gorhambury House
2 hours from Watford Junction, with one change.
Recommended
Time: 4h–8h
1 lunch spot: Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (30m–1h 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).
Harpenden to St Albans City
2 hours 15 minutes from Watford Junction, with one change.
Recommended: Mostly fields and country lanes. Some beautiful new bluebell woods, stunning historic city streeets, commons, golf courses and parkland.
Time: 4h30–9h
4 lunch spots: Sandridge (2h–4h 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).
Tring to Berkhamsted
15 minutes direct from Watford Junction.
Canal towpath, ancient woodland, chalk commons, open grassy hillsides, beech and oak estate woodland and ridge paths with town views.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Reverse direction: Walking Post (inc. GPX).
Hitchin Circular via Pegsdon Hills
2 hours 15 minutes from Watford Junction, with one change.
Chilterns chalk ridge, farm tracks, field boundaries, grassy lanes, woods, steep chalk downland, flat-bottomed valleys, alder and willow fen woodland, chalk river and historic market town.
Time: 6h
Warnings: Can be hilly.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Baldock Circular via Wallington Church
2 hours 30 minutes from Watford Junction, with one change.
Vast flat Hertfordshire arable farmland, open field edges, big skies, gentle hills, small historic villages and patches of woodland.
Time: 5h
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey
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.
Warnings: Sections can become waterlogged after heavy rain, sometimes without obvious alternative routes.
Walk details: the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Garston to St Albans City
5 minutes direct from Watford Junction.
Common woodland, farmland tracks, river meadows, water meadows, quiet residential roads and historic city streets.
Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.
Time: 3h30–7h
3 lunch spots: Moor Mill Watermill & Inn (1h30–3h30 in), the Overdraught (2h30–4h30 in), or Rumbles Fish Bar (2h30–4h30 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.
Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden
7 minutes direct from Watford Junction.
Some great views. The heart of the route follows the Nickey Line, a former railway now a wide, well-paved walking and cycling path, running through varied environments from deep cuttings to high embankments. Generally easy and reasonably dry over chalk and with a few steep hills out of Hemel and some muddy stretches; ends through Rothamsted Park. Follows the Nickey Line, an old railway branch line, now a Sustrans cycle path; well signposted with benches along the way. Stock up at either end as there is no refreshment on route without a detour to Redbourn in the middle.
Woodland: a third under tree cover.
Time: 4h–8h
Lunch: No refreshment on route without a small detour to Redbourn in the middle; plenty at both ends.
Warnings: Some busy roads to cross, and a large flight of steps up to elevated path sections with no easy step-free alternative at the B487 Queensway crossing in Hemel.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Watford High Street to Radlett
1 hour from Watford Junction, with one change.
Beautiful woodland. Quite stunning in the mist. Leaves Watford alongside the River Colne through parks and winding riverside tarmac paths, a short narrow verge on Berry Grove Lane, then quiet Otterspool Lane under the A41 and M1 into beautiful woodland. A track past a golf course leads through Aldenham and across fields and with cut-through paths and quiet suburban roads into Radlett. No steps but bicycle barriers and kissing gates; some parts muddy. Passes Aldenham church and its graveyard.
Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.
Time: 2h–4h30
1 lunch spot: Battlers Green Farm café
Warnings: A 200m stretch of narrow verge along Berry Grove Lane (may be temporarily affected by roadworks, easy to walk around). Bicycle barriers and kissing gates, and some parts can be muddy.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Park Street to How Wood
15 minutes direct from Watford Junction.
Source: A segment of Abbey Trail – the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership (PDF).