Description
From the published route when you reach Thrales End Lane cross the road and continue on the Lea Valley Walk/cycle path along the old railway line to Westfield Road. Turn right and follow Westfield Road onto Sun Lane. Continue along Sun Lane to it's junction with High Street Harpenden where you rejoin the original route
From the published route when you reach Thrales End Lane cross the road and continue on the Lea Valley Walk/cycle path along the old railway line to Westfield Road. Turn right and follow Westfield Road onto Sun Lane. Continue along Sun Lane to it's junction with High Street Harpenden where you rejoin the original route
Status
This route has been reviewed by 3 people.
There are no issues flagged.
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Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 3
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (3)
There are currently no problems reported with this route.
Downloads - 8
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Luton
Grid Ref
TL0917321598
Lat / Lon
51.88227° / -0.41527°
Easting / Northing
509,173E / 221,598N
What3Words
salsa.tricks.truth
Harpenden
Grid Ref
TL1369614210
Lat / Lon
51.81497° / -0.35201°
Easting / Northing
513,696E / 214,210N
What3Words
fast.mutual.lifts
Luton | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TL0917321598 |
Lat / Lon | 51.88227° / -0.41527° |
Easting / Northing | 509,173E / 221,598N |
What3Words | salsa.tricks.truth |
Harpenden | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TL1369614210 |
Lat / Lon | 51.81497° / -0.35201° |
Easting / Northing | 513,696E / 214,210N |
What3Words | fast.mutual.lifts |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Hugh Hudson
15 Jun 2024 (edited 17 Jun 2024)Walked from Luton to Harpenden on a wet June Saturday morning. Mostly pretty good, safe and entirely paved. My only slight concern is crossing the A1081 at the bottom of Cooters End Lane, which is necessary because the pavement is on the far side. The route through the junction of the A1082 and B653 is confusing and could be drawn more clearly.
The route is mostly easy to navigate. From Luton station we cross from the station south entrance steps and follow Bute Street, then turn left onto Guildford Street and continue on the right hand side of Church Street to find the pedestrian/cycle underpass under the roundabout. Going straight across then right leaves you on the east side of the A505, which you can cross further down at a pelican crossing. We turn right at Osborne Road (probably better to stay on the north side, as the south pavement has a gap. We then turn left onto Park Street to pick up the cycle track that turns left just before the bypass bridge.
The GPX file oversimplifies what happens at the next junction. The partially signposted route goes under Gipsy Lane, beyond which it is probably best to stay on the west/right side of Parkway Road. The cycle track resumes on the far side of the road just before the roundabout. The next few miles are simple, just following the tarmacked cycletrack, mostly along an old railway track bed. West Hyde Road is crossed on the level, and just beyond the point where we pass under the Midland Main Line railway, we leave the cycle track to turn right onto Thrales End Lane.
This takes us back under the railway, and immediately beyond we turn left onto Cooters End Lane. This takes us over the hill, and most of it is very quiet and quite pretty - the only cars I saw were those from the houses near the Harpenden end.
Eventually we reach Luton Road, which is not that difficult to cross as there are good sight lines. We turn left and follow the right hand (west) pavement. There is a choice of crossings over to the left hand side with either lights, central refuges or both. The east/left hand branch of High Street offers a slightly quieter route into the centre, where the station meeting point is a short distance up Station Road and Station Approach.
BigDog
24 Feb 2022This is an odd one. The central section along the Upper Lea Valley Way is everything Slow Ways is about; traffic free, well surfaced and accessible to all. However the start, and especially the end of this route are poorly chosen. Starting from Luton Station, turning left in front of St Mary's Church is a much better option, getting onto the quieter Park St earlier rather than persisting with the busy road to Harpenden unnecessarily. But that's a minor quibble - the bigger issue I have is the perverse decision to abandon the Lea Valley Walk at East Hyde to head up Cooters End Lane (narrow, with no footpath) only to get dumped out on the very busy main Luton Road for the final leg into Harpenden. Far better to have stayed with the Lea Valley walk all the way to Station Rd in Harpenden and then cross the road (at the pelican crossing), turn right and follow the conventional footpath up that road to the Station. I would have given this 5 stars but I'm deducting one each for the poor start and finish.
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Jemdaly93
23 Jun 2021If you follow the description where it deviates from the map, this allows you to avoid having to walk on a windy country road, which can have fast traveling cars on it. Its a nice walk, run or cycle, paved the entire way. The luton end of the walk is built up and not as nice as much of the rest of the walk and if you want to use a train for the return leg with a small detour you can stop at Luton Parkway Station avoiding the centre of Luton Town itself.
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