Welwyn Garden City Centenary (WGC100) Walk – Direc on Notes
This walk is 12½ miles (or 20.2 km) long and will take around 5½ hours to complete, excluding breaks. The terrain does have some ascents and descents but nothing too challenging. When it is dry, a pair of trainers will suffice but, when it is or has been wet, walking shoes or boots would be more appropriate. There are orange circular WGC markers to keep you on track, whether you are walking in a clockwise or an - clockwise direc on. There are various possible star ng points but these instruc ons start from the free car park on Digswell Park Road between the Digswell Viaduct and Digswell Tennis Club. Parking is free here but is limited to two hours from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm from Monday to Friday but is otherwise unrestricted.
Cross Her ord Road and head away from the viaduct and proceed up Harmer Green Lane. A er 40 yards, turn right onto a track that heads slightly uphill, with trees on your right and fields on your le . You head in roughly the same direc on for just over a mile, ignoring two paths to the le and one to the right, as the WGC100 route reaches a crest and then descends downhill and then becomes a wider track that climbs steeply into a wood called Dawley Planta on. A er the wood, the path fla ens out and you ignore another path on the le before you reach Churchfield Road. Cross over to enter Westley Wood.
A er 150 yards you reach an access road, where you turn right and head downhill. This is the rear access point for Tewinbury Bury Farm, which now includes a restaurant, a hotel and other hospitality facili es. The road weaves its way through the Tewinbury Farm buildings and you follow signs for ‘Exit’ and ‘Way out’. A er you pass the car park, turn le before the road goes over the River Mimram.
You follow an asphalt road for a short while and, where it turns le to go uphill, you leave it, con nuing in the same direc on as before with an impressive laurel bush on your right. When you reach Archers Green Lane, you turn right for about 190 yards. You will see a five-bar gate on the right that looks as if it might lead onto a private driveway. This is actually a public right of way and you should go through the pedestrian gate and walk along a road with tall hedges on either side for most of the way. You con nue over the bridge that straddles the River Mimram and then reach Her ord Road again (now the B1000). Turn right and walk along the wide grass verge for about 100 yards.
Cross over to the south side of the road when you see the road sign indica ng a clearway for 850 yards and take a footpath that climbs quite steeply away from the road between fences before levelling out. There is a right-angle bend to the right and fairly soon a right-angle bend to the le . A er this you walk in roughly a straight line for over half a mile, first between the fenced-off area of the former Panshanger Aerodrome on the le and privately owned open parkland on the right. A er crossing the end of a cul-de-sac, you walk along a tarmac footpath between the backs of houses.
That stretch of footpath ends at Moors Walk near a roundabout. Cross over the road and skirt round the roundabout to the le to cross over Panshanger Drive. Ignore the footpath that goes to the right and follow the other footpath which heads straight on before curving gently round to the le between houses. The WGC100 route keeps heading in a south-easterly direc on, crossing Sylvan Way and then a quieter road, Dalewood, before reaching Green Lane, where you turn right.
At the end of Green Lane, you cross over Black Fan Road and follow a short unmade up footpath directly opposite through woods. You emerge from a gap between bushes near the end of Holwell Hyde and walk diagonally le across the verge to cross Cole Green Lane and walk up Holwell Hyde Lane, past a no through road sign, with woods on your right and, a er a short distance, fields on your le .
As the road bends slightly to the right just past a pale-coloured house on the le , turn right onto the public footpath that takes you between blocks of garages and houses, crossing the oval-shaped Thistle Grove twice. On the other side, you will find yourself in open parkland, where you should keep to the le and where you will find a gate a er about 100 yards on the le which you go through to enter The Commons Nature Reserve.
Page 1 of 3 Welwyn Garden City Centenary (WGC100) Walk – Direc on Notes
As you walk through the nature reserve, you keep to the main path all the me. The only point where you may go astray is at a footbridge, where you turn right, keeping to the rough direc on you have been following for a li le while prior to that. As you near the end of the nature reserve, you reach Mill Green Golf Course for the first me. You turn right on a path that golfers use to go from a green to the next tee but you take another path to the right as you reach a tee area and head through the woods. At the other end there is a broad path for 120 yards between the golf course on your le and a cricket ground on the right. At Gypsy Lane, you turn right. Just before you reach the T-junc on with Asco s Lane, you turn le and follow a path through woods for 25 yards, emerging once again onto the golf course, behind the 5th tee. You are now about to embark on the part of the walk that might be the most difficult to follow!
Pass to the right of the tee and proceed along the rough on the right-hand side of the fairway. This is a short hole and therefore players will either be on the tee or on or near the green. You walk round the back of the green and con nue between the next tee and another green before going diagonally le across a fairway reaching the rough on the far side and walking in more or less the same direc on through a gap between the hedges. You then cross the next fairway diagonally, again in an approximately similar direc on. You will now have reached the perimeter fence of the sewage treatment works that abuts into the golf course. You walk for about 350 yards with the treatment works fence on your le but s ll in the grounds of the golf course. When the path bends round to the le to follow the fence on the far side of the treatment works, you go straight on, passing a green on your le before wheeling round to the le so that the green is s ll on your le but there are bushes on your right. Keep walking with the bushes on your right and cross a gap between them and another row of bushes, which you also pass on your right. Bear right here as the terrain slopes down slightly and you go through a gate to leave the golf course.
You follow a path downhill and emerge on Mill Green Lane beside the Green Man pub, where you turn right. When you reach the A1000, you bear right, keeping on the same side of a now somewhat broader and busier Mill Green Lane. A er 150 yards you cross the road at a traffic island for pedestrians and cyclists and head for a gap in the hedge almost directly in front of you. You emerge into a small collec on of houses and follow the private road opposite that heads towards Woodhall Farm. Just before the farm, you turn right and head down a farm track, with a view of the ar ficial ski slope at Gosling visible on your right. Eventually you pass underneath the main East Coast railway line to find yourself in the southern part of Stanborough Park. Head straight on un l you reach the path going round the shore of the southern lake (also known as the yach ng lake). At this point you turn le and soon you will find yourself walking between the lake on your right and the River Lee on your le . At the end of the lake, keep fairly close to the river on your le , walking round the ramp from the main car park to the smaller one nearer the retail establishments. Con nue under the bridge which carries traffic along Stanborough Road. Watch your head if you are about 5 feet 10 inches, as the underside of the bridge at the far end is quite low.
A er of this underpass the path bends round to the right and then turns le to cross a narrow pedestrian bridge that brings you to the shore of the northern lake (also known as the boa ng lake). [See the note at the end for an alterna ve route from this point, should the pedestrian walkway beyond the other end of this lake taking you under the A1(M) be waterlogged.] This me you keep the lake on your le and the river on your right. At the far end of the lake there is a path into a copse and you descend a wooden staircase to walk through an underpass for pedestrians and the River Lee under the A1 motorway.
Climb the steps on the other side and you quickly reach Great North Road, which you cross, and take a public footpath directly opposite. A er you go through a gate, you take a right fork to keep woods on the right-hand side. Soon a er you pass a small paddock on the right, you take a path going diagonally across the field up to the le of an open-sided shelter for horses, where you will find a wooden walkway and then steps up to the edge of the field, where you turn right. You will soon find yourself passing an equestrian
Page 2 of 3 Welwyn Garden City Centenary (WGC100) Walk – Direc on Notes centre. A er this you bear right to pass a farm building on your le and emerge onto a road called Lemsford Village in, surprisingly, Lemsford village. Turn right and head downhill.
A er 140 yards and just before a bus stop, cross the road to go past the offices of Ramblers Holidays, before turning le to enter the grounds of Brocket Hall. Soon a erwards, take a le fork and then follow the path straight on un l you almost reach an impressive Palladian bridge over the river. Turn right and follow the access road uphill which bends round to the le and then the right, as it passes the Hall itself.
When the road bends round to the le again, you veer slightly to the right. You will soon find yourself crossing parkland but, at least ini ally, not any of the fairways of the Brocket Hall Golf Club. The broad path dips down slightly and then rises through woods. When you emerge, you are about to cross a fairway. You then go into a small wood and then have to cross another fairway. You then go into another wooded area leading up to Brickwell Close and a pub called the Waggoners. Turn le and, at the end of Brickwell Close, turn right to cross over the A1(M).
At the end of the bridge turn le onto Great North Road and cross over. Take the second path into Sherrardspark Wood on the right, just before the Red Lion pub. You are now walking gently downhill along a broad path. Keep going on un l, just a er crossing a small stream, you reach a six-way junc on, where you take the path going forward at 45 degrees to the le signposted to Pentley Park.
You ignore the path to the le soon a er that and, a er going down and up a dip, you come to a junc on, where you turn le and fairly soon take another le (s ll signposted to Pentley Park). You reach a third junc on very soon a erwards. The path at right angles to the right goes to Pentley Park but you don’t take that route. You want the path just right of straight ahead signposted to Monks Walk. That path goes into another dip and then climbs again, turning right then le as it climbs the hill. When the path levels out, you take a right-hand turn that will fairly quickly take you down the tree-lined Monks Walk. At the bo om, cross over the road, Knightsfield, and take the path opposite past the cricket ground on the le .
When you come to Monks Rise turn the right and go past Digswell House and then St John’s Church into the woods where a path sweeps round to the le . You ignore a path off to the right and fairly soon reach Bessemer Drive. You cross this busy road and take the path opposite which quickly brings you down to Digswell Park Road, where you turn right and you will soon see the railway viaduct and the end of your walk.
Note: The pedestrian underpass under the A1(M) at the northern end of the north lake at Stanborough Park is some mes waterlogged and therefore there is an alterna ve route you should follow to keep your feet dry, unless you are wearing wellington boots! A map of this route will be pinned to a post when the underpass needs to be avoided. A er you have crossed over the wooden bridge to take you to the southern shore of the northern lake at Stanborough, the normal route is to turn right and keep between the lake and the river. However, if taking the alterna ve route, you turn le when you reach the lake shores, crossing another narrow bridge and then walking another 50 yards next to the lake and leave the lake next to a silver birch tree to reach the pavement at a busy roundabout on Stanborough Road. You turn right and follow that stretch of Stanborough Road that goes under the A1(M). At the next roundabout you turn right into Great North Road, crossing over, as the pavement stops fairly quickly. A er half a mile on this broad, straight road, you will see a house with a white wall as the road bends slightly to the right. The footpath sign straight a er this house brings you back onto the WGC100 walk.
Graham Macdonald 23/06/2020
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