7 (after the capital walkers found the right group) on the walk, which had a fast pace throughout. Mostly dry with brief shower and not too muddy for the terrain. A split after lunch between pub stop and keep walking but met up for the 1551 back to London, 3 having a drink in the Doctors Tonic, the others having had a drawn out tea stop.

Looks like a walk of one today, unless I missed the group. I’ll keep an eye out at the lunch pub in case of the latter.

- Matthew, not Unknown

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There's also a train from Moorgate at 10.03 that gets to Welwyn at 10.52. I'm planning to hop on at New Southgate.

8 at the station. Numbers may have been affected by Thameslink changing the departure time and destination at short notice. The day was cloudy chilly with occasional sun A brisk pace in the morning - a bit too brisk for Mr Tiger who was already grumbling about it. A large part of the morning was across a huge array of golf courses. "Alright if you like golf courses" growled Mr Tiger.. Off we sped through a large tract of woodland till, eventually, Ayot St Lawrence was reached.

There, a pleasant stop in the Brocketts Arms was marred only by Mr Tiger's attempt to pay with his travel card. Grrr!

4 ate. Others drank.

In the afternoon. Mr Tiger let the others scamper off while he followed at a more leisurely pace. And a pleasant afternoon it was too. Big skies, big fields. Ayot St Peter's churchyard was particularly pretty, completely covered in daffodils. Someone should write a poem about daffodils.

In fact, daffodils were a feature all the way round. Also seen were wood anenomes, violets, and the blackthorn was coming out. Also...Mr Tiger was wondering ....is there a prize for spotting the first bluebell? If so he'd like to claim it please.

Directions mostly clear but a couple of vague points in the afternoon where GPS had to be deployed.

And so back to WGC.where a small number were spotted in Simmons. Home on the 16:52

Fine weather . 9 of the 10 of us picnicked by the ruins of the old church, having assumed that The Brocket Arms would not be able to accommodate us - not so - the one of faith dined there.

I think we were 15 and the weather was warm and sunny . Two decided to do the walk in reverse and the rest of us arrived at the pub just as they were finishing their lunch. Some of us sat outside in the garden, where the pub's flock of free range hens and roosters wandered around the tables pecking at the ground for snacks. In the afternoon, we had the pleasant surprise of passing through a small wood of bluebells, which seemed to be in full bloom. There was some discussion about the difference between Spanish and English bluebells (and agreement that the Spanish bluebells were welcome, despite Brexit). Then the focus turned to tea and cake at Simmons Bakers on Howardsgate, where someone had spotted a tempting selection of cakes on display at the start of the walk. It's large enough to cater for a group of walkers and has a nice outlook over the park.

11 on this walk and despite some early sun most of it was done in cool and cloudy weather. For one walker this was a long trip down memory lane as she was one of around 8000 babies born at Brocket Hall in the 10 years after WW2. Photographs were taken and memories shared.

Three of the group decided to do their own thing early on so 8 of us ambled along the easy trails and we all decided to go to Wheathamstead where 5 enjoyed a superb value variety of meat and vegetarian roasts in the "old-school" Swan pub. There are other meal options in the village which has 2 interesting looking cafes. (The Brocket Arms was fully booked.)

After lunch I and 5 others decided not to retrace our steps to the walk route but take a road-based shorter route and meet with the two others where the paths met up. Unfortunately the intrepid two went a bit off piste and enjoyed a little adventure of their own. The rest of us carried on to George Bernard Shaw's House where for the price of a couple of raffle tickets those of us not NT members were allowed in to view the gardens.

We got back to Welwyn just after 5pm for refreshments at cafe Nero and on the way to the station met the intrepid 2 who had reached GBS's house

at around 4.30 and then (ahem) cadged a lift back to Welwyn.

All 11 of us met up at the station to catch a standing-room only fast train back to London.

This is an ideal walk for autumn; it has no outstanding scenery but is just a pleasant and rewarding amble with places of interest and a quick service from and to London. A lovely day out in lively company.

One small additional point. The length of this walk looks to have been a bit underestimated, My gpx route for the main walk gives 18.32km (11.45m).

The GPX for the path to Wheathampsted gives 2.82km (1.76m) so if you do this extension there and back you will be doing around 13m or so.

A lot of walkers. I would guess around 25 including those who took the slow train and joined up with us en route. The weather started off cold with some drizzle but sunshine later We were quickly out of WGC and past the motorway into peaceful gentle countryside. The Brocket Arms in Ayot is small but friendly. It's reputedly haunted perhaps by a ghost who likes to lock the front door as some walkers had trouble opening it. All in all a very nice walk.

30 on this walk - a record for a Hertfordshire walk? We were promised sunshine but in fact got a morning of light rain followed by sunshine . Well, it was nice when it finally appeared.

Winter seems to suit this walk. Welwyn GC is pleasant and interesting - one of the better examples of a planned town, I think, and apart from a rather too long section across a golf course the rest of the route is easy to navigate, with long straight stretches, and reasonably nice, if undramatic, scenery. We got to the end as the sun was setting, tinting the trees in the final wood with gold, so the length was just right too.

We had managed to book 12 places for lunch in the Brocket Arms but squeezed in 15. They were friendly, though as usual we could have done without the 30 minute delay before they took our order at the table. It would have be nice too if the pub could invest in a tray so that our waitress did not have to bring the drinks from the bar two at a time. But these niggles apart, a nice meal.

Six other walkers "took one for the team" and diverted to the Sky Sports pub in Wheathamsptead, which they reported friendly and with good food.

Ayot St Lawrence was very pretty, with its ruined church (parttly dismantled for romantic effect in the nineteenth century, apparently). The afternoon sunshine was glorious and Simmons Cafe in WGC had great cakes and was also very friendly (perhaps it is because we were "Up North"). Five of us who lingered for a drink also found the Doctor's Tonic pub very cosy and well-appointed. All this and fast trains to whisk you to London in 30 minutes. Perhaps living in a Garden City would not be so bad after all?

Apologies for two walk reports. I think we must have been doing them simultaneously....

Intend going

After platform alterations at Kings Cross and Finsbury Park 10 managed to get to WGC and start the walk. The weather was Sunny with some light cloud in the afternoon .

Four ate lunch at the Brocket Arms and the six with sandwiches went off to George Bernard Shaw's House.

Foragers found walnuts, apples, plums and some remaining blackberries.

The group split in the afternoon with five heading off to take tea in Welwyn with the remainder following on after visiting GBS's house

Welwyn Circular Sunday 24/5/15

I was apparently the only person to choose this walk, which turned out to be something of a Blytonesque adventure although sadly lacking Timmy the dog for company. The challenges arose from the directions seemingly dating back to 2009 (?). Fortunately I was reasonably well prepared with map, compass, all weather gear and compo rations. If the poster would like to leave contact details I can forward more details of the updates which might be advantageous. In summary, all the wooden stiles/posts/kissing gates have been removed and most, but not all, replaced with metal kissing gates and particular care was needed at the following points (1) if not lunching at Wheathamstead be careful not to take the indistinct right fork at the first kissing gate otherwise you will come out too far to the east on the former railway track (2) the path through Lamer Park has been diverted so that it is no longer possible to take the former path past the summerhouse. The diversion is not marked but you need to take the left path at what is now a T junction (3) after leaving the lane beyond the Brocket Arms you need to be careful not to turn off too soon to go down the right hand side of the (third) field otherwise you will come out too early at Hill farm (4) the estate formerly known as Ayton Place has changed its name to something impressive beginning with ‘M’. The gatehouse to the left has a small plaque with the former name (5) the ‘black gated driveway entrance’ to the house beyond the small green has gone. Take the footpath to the left of the house (there is also one to the right). The walk was a lovely mix of woodland, open fields and parkland – it just took rather longer than anticipated!

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