Hemsta one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Hemsta here.

I haven't walked this route but we've been told that there is a dangerous dual carriageway crossing. Which seems to concur with the other reviews. Hemsta two is the better route from what we've heard so please head over and check out that version of the route.

I walked this from St Albans to Berkhamstead on a grey and minutely drizzly morning.

Leaving the station at St. Albans I walked along its shopping streets for a while, before going past its magnificent cathedral and into Verulamium Park. There are still some Roman things to see, such as mosaics and remnants of the old city walls, by which I left the park on the Western side.

On the other side of King Harry Lane sits a newish development which I had to cross through narrowish public footpaths to be able to go up a hill through
farmland to the A414, which I crossed with a bridge. On the other side sits Park Wood, with many (incorrect) signs saying "private land, no access". The
council recently has established a few new public foot paths in the wood, which would have allowed me to take a little short cut. I did not find out about it after I had already crossed it and ended up on a narrow lane.

I did follow the new footpaths for a bit to avoid the lane, but after not much distance my only option was to actually follow the lane. There wasn't much
room in the verge, but there was not a lot of traffic, which could have made walking along here dangerous. A blind summit was a little on the scarier side.

From Potters Crouch to Bedmond my route went along more lanes, and to be honest, this was the least nice part of the walk. Unfortunately the extensive
network of public footpaths in England does not always help with the directions you're trying to walk in.

On the other side of Church Hill in Bedmond, the route continued along the edge of a field, followed by a public footpath sign pointing straight across a
newly ploughed field. I always feel a little bad about crossing these, but it was my only way through, and I saw other people walking on a different footpath across the same field. By looking through my camera's zoom lens, I found the exit point on the other side of the field, and went for it in a (mostly) straight line. I hope that the next walked can follow in my footsteps.

After crossing a lane, a stile, a field and another stile, my route was suddenly blocked by a field of horses. OpenStreetMap
did not actually contain that specific public footpath, and although I have now added it, I did decide to take a small
detour around it.

After going around Abbot's Hill school's vast estate, I ended up along the Grand Union Canal followed until the big Sainsbury's on the other side. For some odd reason, this SlowWays route made me leave the tranquil canal for a few busy roads, and up a steep path through a tiny bit of lovely woodland, to end
up on a dangerous crossing across the A414 where it joins the A41. There were some great views from here, but I do not think it was worth it, and I would
have preferred to follow the Grand Union Canal all the way to Hemel Hempstead's station.

I will be proposing an alternative route, which also adds the shortcut through the aforementioned Park Wood, and avoids the field of horses.

I walked from Hemel to St. Albans.
From the station the route quickly leaves to town going up into fields with good views across the valley. Back down into a rural section with industry before reaching the canal. The OS map is wrong, there has been a re-route of the path. See map below and follow the red line past Apsley Marina. All route heading West out of Hemel have this same detour. . Off the canal and through a new estate there are lovely fields and woodland paths to Bedmond and the corrugated Church. From here there is a long stretch of walking in a narrow country lanes, Bedmond and Ragg Hall lanes. Not nice and not to be done in poor visibility, rain and dark. You can take a short cut through Park wood despite the 'private' notices as a council sign shows the paths can now be walked (since 2/12/21). More lovely wooded paths the a long alley towards the Cathedral past the Roman walls. Past The Fighting Cocks (oldest pub in the country) then to the High Street and down to the station.
This would easily be 4 stars if not for the road waking from Bedmond, but a good walk none-the-less.
Steps, rough ground and narrow gates makes it unsuitable for wheels.

I really wanted to like this route (I walked from St Albans to Hemel Hempstead), and there was a lot about it I really enjoyed, but there were several issues that came up, too.

Pros:
- some really great stretches of countryside and canal side walking and exploring
- really cool bits around St Albans as the route follows old Roman walls

Cons:
- a bit of mud when I walked the route in January
- the route isn’t 100% accurate on the river segment, you just have to follow the towpath but it doesn’t stay on one side of the river as plotted here, I made my way but it was a bit tricky at times
- there’s quite a long stretch of road walking from Chiswell Green to Bedmond. I walked it on a Sunday morning and it was very quiet and therefore perfectly safe, but it’s always harder to relax when you’re constantly looking for cars! (And hearing them, because you’re close to the motorway which is quite loud)
- especially around Hemel Hempstead, it felt silly to divert from the canal when it looked like you could just stay on it all the way to the station.
- the crossing of the A414 near Hemel Hempstead was on a blind corner and you had to cross two lanes at a time, which just felt pretty unpleasant.

The route was pretty standard for countryside walking, frankly, but it didn’t blow me away as a *great* route!.

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