Newhod three

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I walked from Newgate street to Hoddesdon on a grey mid January day.
I actually walked from Cuffley station to Broxbourne station extending the walk by 4km, It's difficult to get to Newgate Street by public transport.
Darnicle Hill was not too bad, visibility was good and the verges had been cleared of vegetation, but I still had to cross multiple times to access the verges.
Whilst on the subject of difficulties, this is a moderate walk, in winter at least. Paths have been churned up by quad bikes and scramble bikes leaving deep ruts, puddles, and mud making it hard going on foot. It's muddy generally. There are many steep hills (50%) and ditches (100%) and streams to jump across. Many steps, and stepped boardwalks. Narrow kissing gates and bike barriers. Many trees have fallen across the path, some have been cut through, some you can walk around, but one you have to climb through. A mapped shortcut is blocked with new electric fences, but just follow the signposted RoW, only an extra 100m(see survey photo) This is not a Sunday stroll.
But.
It is rare for a Slow Way to be 85%+ forest, beautiful mature beech woodland. The path undulates through magnificent Woodland Trust nature reserves and alongside winding streams and rivers. The scenery is stunning. Better in summer perhaps when the leaves provide shade and the ground is firm. There was lots of wildlife. Benches are at regular intervals to rest and take it all in, take snacks, there are no shops on route. well signposted for most of the route. This walk is worth the effort.
I'll definitely be doing this one again in the spring/summer.

I walked this route in the reverse direction to the previous reviewer (from Hoddesdon to Newgate Street). It was a pleasant cloudy summer's Sunday, but the day after some significant summer gales. Overall a really lovely walk; some great woodland areas, and it was extremely quiet given the nice dry weather and proximity to London. Would really highly recommend! Note you may want to leave yourself a few breaks to admire the trees, listen for birds, or watch muntjacs and squirrels running around.

For those not local, get yourself to Broxbourne (on the Cambridge - Liverpool Street rail line) first; there's a lovely walk along the canal to the Hoddesdon Clock Tower to start the walk (25-30 mins). You can then end the walk by going down Carbone Hill, through Home Wood and the Tolmers Road residential area to arrive at Cuffley station (which has regular trains to London and Stevenage). Both great additions to a walk through some stunning old woods!

However it was not the easiest route to follow, with a lot of stopping and looking at the GPS to check where we were. There's also a few parts of the woodland with low/ mobile signal, so we ended up taking a couple of wrong turns. This is no fault to the route creator, it says more about the amount of signposts marking out the various footpaths this route follows (follow the butterflies as much as possible!) + me not having map and compass!

Biggest obstacles are pictured below.
- there's a couple of turnings on the route which are not signposted clearly + there's not a distinct path to follow, and required us to figure out where to go using some GPS
- as with the previous reviewer, some parts of the path were impassable with trees that had recently fallen, requiring a couple of diversions
- a couple of escaped cows (the wrong side of the fence) blocked our path at one point
- the last part into Newgate street (or first part if you're starting there) is definitely sketchy. Lots of crossing the road to be visible around tight bends. It's a pretty well used road, not a quiet country road. And a lot of the cars are going at a fair pace (especially motorbikes).

I walked this from Newgate Street to Hoddesdon. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for a really annoying 1km section between the start and where the woods start. I can unfortunately not see a reasonable alternative route. A shame, as the rest was *really* lovely.

After the first hurdle along a road without pavement, I walked into the calming Wormley Woods. Fresh green grass, and fields of white flowers greeted me. There was a narrow passage through thing trees, after which the path became wider and well maintained. After crossing White Stubbs Lane, the route follows A local nature trail which is well sign posted. There was a section with an obstructed path so I had to dip below Pembridge Lane for a few hundred metres to be able to pick up the nature trail, and the Hertfordshire Way. This section goes past a stream that cut out a channel into the forest floor, and not likely to flood. I did have to go around a few fallen trees though, and ford the stream once (or make a massive detour). When nearing the A10 the views turn from woods into open views, and after crossing underneath the A10 through a tunnel the field is open. After crossing through Barclay Park you then end up in the small town of Hoddesdon and its lovely clock tower.

I walked this on a partly cloud afternoon, and the paths were a little muddy in some places. I think this could be significantly worse after prolonged rain, so I would suggest sturdy walking boots. A really nice walk to do!.

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