Description
Leave St Albans City Station and take a short cut past the old 'Porridge' Prison (now a wedding venue) to the Alban Way.
Follow this for a mile or so, under the beautiful railway arch and then overlooking the watercress beds.
Exit the Alban Way onto Monks Gate and then follow Cottonmill Lane to the River Ver. Turn right and follow the picturesque path beside the river.
After the tunnel under the A414, the footpath bears left - follow this to the Falcon pub in Park Street.
Cross the main road and then cut diagonally across the Park Street play area and enter the tranquil lakes area.
Follow this footpath for a mile or so and then zig zag under the M25 and through to Moor Mill.
Cross Smug Oak Lane and then follow the track directly opposite.
This leads into the old Roman Road Watling Way and then walk along here for a mile or so to Radlett station
Leave St Albans City Station and take a short cut past the old 'Porridge' Prison (now a wedding venue) to the Alban Way.
Follow this for a mile or so, under the beautiful railway arch and then overlooking the watercress beds.
Exit the Alban Way onto Monks Gate and then follow Cottonmill Lane to the River Ver. Turn right and follow the picturesque path beside the river.
After the tunnel under the A414, the footpath bears left - follow this to the Falcon pub in Park Street.
Cross the main road and then cut diagonally across the Park Street play area and enter the tranquil lakes area.
Follow this footpath for a mile or so and then zig zag under the M25 and through to Moor Mill.
Cross Smug Oak Lane and then follow the track directly opposite.
This leads into the old Roman Road Watling Way and then walk along here for a mile or so to Radlett station
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 - 12
Surveys
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Grade 4X based on 1 surveys | Sign up or log in to survey this route. | ||
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Description | Note | ||
Grade 4: Route includes very rough surfaces including deep ruts, steep loose gravel, unmade paths and deep muddy sections. Wheelchairs may experience traction/wheel spin issues. Access grade X: At least one stile, flight of steps or other obstacle that is highly likely to block access for wheelchair and scooter users. |
Grading is based on average scores by surveyors. This slow way has 1 surveys. | ||
Full grading description |
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Survey Photos
Facilities
Facilities in the middle third of this route.
Challenges
Potential challenges reported on this route. Some challenges are seasonal.
Obstacles
Obstacles on this route.
Accessibility
Is this route step and stile free?
Measurements
Surveyors were asked to measure the narrowest and steepest parts of paths.
The narrowest part of the path is 45.0cm (1)
The steepest uphill gradient walking East 7.0% (1)
The steepest uphill gradient walking West 9.0% (1)
The steepest camber gradient across the path 6.0% (1)
How clear is the waymarking on the route: Unclear in places (1)
Successfully completed
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Recommended by an expert
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Terrain
We asked route surveyors to estimate how much of the route goes through different kinds of terrain.
There is no data on how much of this route is on roads
20.0% of the route is lit at night (1)
20.0% of the route is paved (1)
30.0% of the route is muddy (1)
15.0% of the route is over rough ground (1)
20.0% of the route is through long grass (1)
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1 surveys
Information from verified surveys.
Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
St Albans
Grid Ref
TL1556907084
Lat / Lon
51.75054° / -0.32722°
Easting / Northing
515,569E / 207,084N
What3Words
drew.tender.soil
Radlett
Grid Ref
TQ1641499838
Lat / Lon
51.68525° / -0.31741°
Easting / Northing
516,414E / 199,838N
What3Words
navy.create.port
St Albans | |
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Grid Ref | TL1556907084 |
Lat / Lon | 51.75054° / -0.32722° |
Easting / Northing | 515,569E / 207,084N |
What3Words | drew.tender.soil |
Radlett | |
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Grid Ref | TQ1641499838 |
Lat / Lon | 51.68525° / -0.31741° |
Easting / Northing | 516,414E / 199,838N |
What3Words | navy.create.port |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Strider
25 Oct 2024 (edited 26 Oct 2024)I walked from Snorbans to Radlett.
Fron St Albans City Station through some cut throughs onto a cycle path (Albans Way) quickly into fields along a constrained path along the Ri ver ver Ver Ver (sorry). Narrow bridge with steps.
To the Ver Valley Meadows. This was dodgy; it had been wet, the marked path is hidden by a lacework of cattle tracks, it's difficult to follow a solid path. My boots sunk too deep for comfort. The ground wobbled like a mattress under my feet, vegetation over water. This will be impassable (impossible) in wet weather.
More narrow kissing gates to the Watling Way down into Radlett, romantic for the Romans who did not have to deal with the internal combustion engine. The path / pavement is on the West side, not the East as shown on the mapped route. There is no path between road and the railway, if you walk this route use common sense and don't try to walk the path that is not there. Keep to the West side. But you do have to cross back and forth at times. Badly mapped.
Apart from the difficulties it's a good route.
Radlett, shops cafes, pubs etc.
Not for wheels, not walkable in Winter.
Hugh Hudson
16 Jun 2024 (edited 17 Jun 2024)Walked from St Albans to Radlett. Mostly fine but the meadow crossing is very difficult to walk dryshod in anything other than wellies except maybe in very dry conditions. The road walking at the south end is tedious but quick, safe and direct.
From St Albans City station, we turn right past the taxi rank taking the signposted cycle track towards St Albans City station. This crosses a minor road and passes through a residential building before descending an easily graded ramped zigzag path to join the Alban Way old railway path. This takes us over the river. Ignore the first path right down a flight of steps as there is a flat crossing a little further on.
We then follow Monks Gate onto Cottonmill Lane. This has a pavement most of the way apart from the short bendy section past the mill and over the river. Just beyond the bridge we take the signposted Ver Way path right, which follows the edge of a cow pasture (but is fenced off so no danger here). Just before the North Orbital Road bridge we cross to the west bank of the river and follow the track under the main road and back over the river into the riverside meadow nature reserve.
Our path leaves this track right, initially on a well marked path which continues beyond the point where we are asked to follow the signposts across the wettest part of the meadow. Although this crossing is not unsafe and has plenty of marker posts, there are plenty of places where it is easy to step into something deeper than a normal walking boot, perhaps because the posts cause the trodden lines to deepen. It may have been unusually wet when I walked it (there have been a lot of heavy showers over the last week), but it could be much wetter in winter flood conditions, so it is a bit of a shame that all four St Albans-Radlett routes are forced to use it.
Beyond the wet field the path is good again, and we soon reach Burydell Lane which takes us into Park Street where there are shops and pubs. We cross the main road and turn right onto Park Street Lane. The GPX line suggests staying on the road to the far side of the park/cricket field, but unless a match is in progress a direct line through the park is possible. We pass a primary school and go straight on into the riverside nature reserve, going mostly straight on to cross the river to Hyde Lane, where we cross the car park and go straight on.
Eventually we pass an industrial site and turn right under the M25, crossing under the motorway by the river. We follow Moor Mill Lane, bearing slightly right past a pub, then crossing Smug Oak Lane to the bridleway, which leads us up to Radlett Road. The remainder of the walk is on pavements - it is best to stay on the right/west side because the left hand pavement has a long gap both sides of Harper Lane. Eventually we reach suburban Radlett, where there are several places with central refuges to ease the crossing. There are plenty of pubs, shops and restaurants before the signposted road left to the station meeting point.
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Derick Rethans
03 Apr 2022I walked this from St Albans to Radlett. The first part of the route quickly leaves St. Albans itself, and then follows the Alban way for a bit, and then the Abbey Line Trail - both former railway lines. It then follows the river Ver trail, which can be muddy in places. There is also a need to cross a rather soggy meadow. At least they have put the posts back up which were missing when I walked the Alban Way some months ago. The Frogmore lakes were lovely too. Up until going underneath the M25, this route would have been a 5 star one, but unfortunately the last 1½ mile is along a road, and although not unsafe as there is a segregated path for for most of the length, not entirely pleasant.
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