A Way of life

Marking the diamond jubilee of The Ramblers’ Association 25 years ago, the Hertfordshire Way has grown into a near-200 mile celebration of the county’s countryside and heritage

-  Liz Hamilton

In the early 1990s a call went out from the Ramblers to its local groups, asking them to devise ways of celebrating the association’s diamond jubilee in 1995. The Hertfordshire and North Middlesex Group decided to organise a walk around Hertfordshire, which it hoped would become a permanent long-distance route. The group chairman at the time, Bert Richardson, recently recalled how he sketched out a possible circuit, then enlisted walking friends to plan the detailed route for each section. During the year more than 60 walkers completed that inaugural walk of 11 legs, each walk on a separate day. The venture was so successful that a committee was formed to create a waymarked route and produce an accompanying guide book for the circuit, to be named the Hertfordshire Way.

Peter and Sue Garside recall how they finalised the routes for legs seven and eight, covering just under 28 miles between Tring station and Shenley: ‘We made many excursions to test the potential route. Where there were possible alternatives we tried out as many as we could. Bert obtained permission from the county council for the waymarkings, which we then put up during several more trips.’

Not surprisingly it was another three years before the Hertfordshire Way was ready and it was launched on October 31, 1998. During this process the inaugural 11 legs became 14 covering 166 miles. The original committee became the Friends of the Hertfordshire Way, a volunteer-run group which still looks after the route.