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Updates and Corrections for the Hertfordshire Way

(last updated on 26th February 2010)

The guide book describes the various legs of the walk as they were at the time of publication.  The first edition (published in 1998) is now seriously out-of-date and we have stopped publishing updates.  The notes below refer to the the 2005 and the 2009 versions of the second edition.  Entries in green apply only to the 2005 publication; they have been incorporated into the 2009 version.  Entries in red are concerned with changes since the 2009 publication date.  So if you're using the 2005 edition you will need to take note of all the entries below; if you are using the 2009 edition you need only refer to the entries in red.  As further significant changes are brought to our attention we will update these notes.  Minor changes, such as conversion of a stile to a kissing gate, will not necessarily be recorded.

Leg 1 Paragraph 1, line 5.  Ling Dynamic Systems has closed and all identifying names on the building have been removed.  Delete the three sentences starting “Soon on your left ...” and ending “... in front of the golf club house.” and replace them with “Once you reach the Heath, turn left and pass either behind or in front of the golf club house.”
Leg 2 Paragraph 12, line 13.  After “(11.4 miles).” add “There is a new permissive path in the field to the west of the gravel track, which offers a better approach to Manor Woods car park.”

Leg 3

 Paragraph 1, line 2.  After “Roxley Court.” add “There is a new permissive path in the field to the west of the gravel track, which offers a better route out from Manor Woods car park.”
Leg 4 Paragraph 4, lines 5 and 6, delete the section in parentheses “(At this point we deviate from the route in the first edition so ignore the sign on your left, if it is still in place!)”
Leg 5  
Leg 6 Paragraph 1, line 7.  Delete “signed ‘To Great Gaddesden 3m’”
Paragraph 4, line 4.  Delete “children’s farm and a”
Paragraph 6, line 3.  Replace “Go diagonally to the right” with “Go diagonally to the left”
Leg 7 Paragraph 7, replace the second sentence with: “Go through a gap, then left along an enclosed footpath, through a metal gate and diagonally across the field passing through two metal gates on intervening fences and leaving by a metal kissing gate.”
Leg 8

Paragraph 1, line 3.  Replace "onto a minor road opposite Roman Gardens" with "into Egg Farm Lane"
Paragraph 1, line 4.  Replace "immediately turn left onto a grassy path.  Turn right, by some trees, and then walk beside a gravel drive which goes to Numbers Farm" with "take the paved drive which curves to the left towards the residential building (formerly Numbers Farm)"
Paragraph 1, line 6.  Replace "left" with "right".
Paragraph 1, line 8.  After "Turn right" insert "through a metal kissing gate"
paragraph 2, lines 4-5.  Delete "and across a stile"
paragraph 2, line 5.  Replace "across a field" with "across a sports field"
paragraph 2, line 6.  "Replace "a sports field" with "another sports field"
paragraph 4, line 10.  Replace "Cross a stile" with "Go through a gap"
Paragraph 4, line 12.  After "green railings" add "and a line of tall poplar trees"
Paragraph 7, lines 4-5. Replace the words "what was the University .... being redeveloped" with "a residential development, formerly Wall Hall College of the University of Hertfordshire"
Paragraph 8.  Delete the first two sentences and replace them with: "At a signposted junction in front of a black wooden barn continue along Wall Hall Drive, passing Holbrook Garden on the right.  You will see Aldenham Church directly ahead in the distance."
Paragraph 11 At the end of line 2 replace "Cross a stile" with "Pass through a kissing gate". and in line 4 replace "Cross a stile and go along" with "Go through a metal gate and follow"
Paragraph 12, line 10.  Replace "small concrete" with "wooden"
 Paragraph 13, line 9.  Delete "cross towards" and insert "go through a gap in the hedge on the left-hand side of the field close to"
Paragraph 13, lines 9 - 10.  Delete "Cross the stile and enter a trip of scrub close to" and replace it with "Some 50 yards further on cross a small bridge and turn" 
Paragraph 13, line 14.  Delete "through a gate"
Paragraph 14, lines 2-4.  Delete the words “Cross a stile beside a fence marked private.  Soon cross another stile by a derelict shed.  Cross a field aiming for a wide gap in the hedge, cross a footbridge over a ditch, and cross the next field keeping near to the left hand side.” and insert instead “Continue ahead along a footpath signposted 'Public Footpath 49', and having gone through a metal gate, follow a fenced path to a second metal gate some 200 yards further on.  Then cross the next field keeping near to the left hand side.”
paragraph 14, line 6.  Delete "and leave the field by a stile"
Paragraph 15, lines 2-5.  Replace the words "Cross this into .... next field to reach a stile" with "Follow a fenced path to the right of open fields and emerge through a gate onto Radlett Lane"
Leg 9 Paragraph 2, lines 1 - 4.  The waymark post (line 1) and the set of overhead lines with wooden posts (lines 2 - 4) originally used as markers are no longer there.  If the crossfield path (line 2) is blocked by a crop we suggest that instead of bearing right (as in line 2) walkers should continue ahead following the well-used path with the hedge immediately on their left until they reach a metal gate leading into a cemetery.  Here turn about 90 degrees right for about 100 yards to reach the corner post of the cemetery where a Hertfordshire Way roundel points the way half left across a field to the path through the small copse mentioned in line 5.
Leg 10 Paragraph 3, line 10.  As of 20th February 2010 the Candlestick pub is closed but it may reopen under new management later in the year.
Leg 10A Replace the wording of paragraph 3 on page 86 by the following: “Take the second road (Crouch Lane) on the right and follow it as it turns left. On the following section ignore the route marked by Borough of Broxbourne roundels as these are not on the public right-of-way. Where Crouch Lane turns sharply right go straight ahead through a kissing gate into a field and immediately turn right over a stile. Take a line NE diagonally across the field until you reach the field edge, marked by a hedge (more a dense line of trees and undergrowth). Follow along the western side of this hedge through a gap in the hedge running at right-angles, and continue to the bottom of the next field where you will encounter a barbed-wire fence. Turn right alongside this fence until you reach a wooden section (this should be a stile but it has no footboards). Climb over this bit of fence and cross the brook - take care as the banks of the brook are muddy and there is no footbridge. Bear slightly to the right as you ascend the far bank of the gully and work your way through the undergrowth until you reach an open field. Continue in the same direction across the field to reach a stile at the right hand side of a metal gate. Bear left and cross the next field to a kissing gate which leads into a path between overhanging bushes, with a fence on the right and a small wooded area on the left. Follow the path to reach a kissing gate and emerge at the road in Hammondstreet.”
Leg 10B  
Leg 11  
Leg 12  
Leg 13  
Leg 14 Paragraph 5, line 3.  The Chequers has been renamed The Blind Fiddler.
Paragraph 5, line 8.  Delete the word 'before' and replace it with 'after'.
Paragraph 11, the four lines on page 126 refer to 'The Grange', which has since been demolished.