Walks you can reach from Watford Junction by train

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.

Ashridge Estate

Ashridge House

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.

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).

Flat canal towpath, reservoir banks, open arable fields, wooded Chilterns hills and steep descents.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Time: 6h–12h

1 lunch spot: the Partridge (3h–6h in)

1 end-of-walk reward: Wendover Woods Café

Warnings: Steep chalky descent.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

Reverse direction: Walk by Rail.

Canal towpath, wide bridleways, fields, woodland paths, school playing fields and town centre.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

Canal towpath, riverside path and village lanes.

Time: 1h30

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

City streets, canal basin and historic centre.

Time: 1h30

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

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

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

St Albans

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.

Picturesque village. Urban, suburban and then rural. Walk traverses Coventry's historic common land including Hearsall Common and Tilehill Wood, medieval survivals preserved in the 1920s, before reaching Berkswell in the Meridian Gap.

Time: 2h30–5h30

Warnings: A third urban. Muddy sections possible.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Woodland paths, pine and beech woods, greensand ridge with valley views, riverside meadows and canal towpath.

Time: 4h

Warnings: Can be muddy. Best avoided in winter.

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

Rolling fields, wooded areas, hilltop villages, panoramic views of the Chilterns and Aylesbury Vale and level descent into Linslade.

Time: 5h30

Warnings: Arable field crossings.

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

Nature reserve, parkland and suburban green corridor.

Time: 1h30

Walk details: Heart Rail Trails (PDF).

Recommended: A scenic, mostly off-road route through Milton Keynes connecting green spaces by footpaths, ramps and wide underpasses, well segregated from traffic. Surfaces vary from grass, compacted mud and stone and wood bark to mostly tarmac. There are kissing gates and an avoidable flight of steps.

Time: 3h–5h30

Warnings: Kissing gates at the Woburn Sands end may restrict accessibility. One avoidable flight of steps near Peartree Bridge. Steps down to the Grand Union Canal can be bypassed by ramp.

Walk details: Slow Ways.