The text and routes in these mapping apps are based on content in my blog where you can find the updated versions of the routes and notes on the landscape, history and things to watch out for. Link www.pootler.co.uk.
This is a tour of the varied and undulating countryside of the eastern Chilterns and the valleys of the Mimram and Lea Rivers. The route starts from Harpenden Railway Station and heads down to and across the valley of the River Lea. It then crosses the higher ground between the rivers, ducks under the Luton Airport flightpath, and descends into ‘Lilley Bottom’ for 3 miles. This is the valley of the River Mimram, but this usually only emerges on the surface to flow south, where you join the valley road and head north where the valley is dry.
At this point the two routes diverge. The longer route, which probably doesn’t suit lightweight road bikes, takes you over the scarp and into the vale beyond before doubling back to Offley. It adds about 10 miles overall. The shorter route takes you straight to Offley. From there you have a meandering route back to Wheathampstead and then Harpenden.
Zooming In
Highlights are:
-
The classic chalk valley landscape of Lilley Bottom.
-
Emily’s Cafe in Whitwell. Famous in the Veloverse, but you might struggle to find it!
-
George Bernard Shaw's house with his revolving writing shed.
-
The stronghold of the Brythonic King Cassivellaunus at Wheathampstead
-
The unlikely last abode of the real villain of the notorious French Dreyfus Affair.
-
And more than the usual party bag of oddities.
On the blog there are detailed notes on waypoints and things to see which I hope will be more entertaining than the links to dry Wikipedia articles dredged up as POI’s by the mapping apps’ software robots. If your mapping app has not imported these, use this link to go directly to the blog post of the route. This cannot give you the exact location for each waypoint but it many cases you won’t need it and at least the information will be up to date!
Link: Pootler Route
Zooming Out
The bedrock of the Chilterns is chalk which comes to the surface on higher ground. The Chilterns were spared the worst of the ravages of glaciation and there is extensive areas of clay and gravel on the higher ground. It is those clay ‘lenses’ on the hills that lead to the roads sometimes flooding where you might not expect it.
In 1538 the travelling diarist John Leland 1538 described the Chiltern Hills on his twitter feed as 'baron, woody and ferne ground'. But the higher ground in particular had never been particularly welcoming.
This was frontier territory for a long time. Before the Romans showed up it was populated by the Belgic Catuvallauni tribe whose King, Cassivellaunus, purportedly surrendered to Julius Caeser here. Roman settlement followed as you would expect given the proximity of St Albans, but they left nothing to see on this route except some straight roads! Later, during Saxon times, King Offa of the Mercians held court here and after Mercia succumbed to the Vikings, King Alfred drew the boundary between the Saxons and the Viking ‘Danelaw’ along the River Lea. ‘Lea’ is old English and means ‘meadow’.
Generally, the population here was never as dense on the higher ground as it was in the lower countryside to the north and south. The soils were poorer and water was harder to find. In this area in particular you will find many hamlets named with the suffix ‘End’ or ‘Green’. Many of these occupy land carved out from woodland as ‘assarts’ in Medieval times. The larger settlements and better farms were concentrated in the fertile valleys and lower slopes where there was a water supply and where the larger villages are now situated.
The villages are for the most part pretty but not stunningly so, with a scattering of houses great & small and pubs dating back up to 400 years and several churches that are very much older, nearly all of which have been altered in varying degrees.
On the blog you will also find posts on the rich and complicated human and topographical history of the area as a whole, ranging from the early occupation, the changing agricultural landscape, the geomorphology of the chalk country, the buildings and anything else that moves me. At Link: Pootler / Other Stuff
Route Tips
The longer route heads on through Lilley Village, crosses the ancient Icknield Way and heads over the scarp slope and down to Hexton in the Valley. From there the route runs clockwise through flat(ish) arable country through to Pirton. The route then climbs the Pegsdon Hills to Offley.
For the short version of the route you turn right at the end of Lilley Bottom and head up the hill to Offley. From there, both routes follow the east side of the Mimram Valley, descending into Whitwell where the river is clearly visible. Emily’s Cafe is hidden from view off a short street on your left. Leaving Whitwell the route gets more complicated. You head south for 2 miles before turning right to rejoin the Mimram valley. A turn off on the right takes you past G.B. Shaw’s house and onwards to join the Ayot Greenway. This converted railway track is part of NCR57, that takes you to Wheathampstead. After a mile on the road heading west from there, you can rejoin it to complete the trip back to Harpenden.
If your app provides notes on the road surfaces etc. keep in mind that they are automatically generated and only as good as the underlying mapping.
-
From Pirton the route follows the Chilterns Cycleway (an NCR) initially using footpaths. On a hybrid, I manage most of it but dismount where the ruts are deepest. In winter, I divert by going straight through Pirton and turning right on the busy Hitchin Road to rejoin the route about 2 miles on. Consult the map.
-
Turning left off the Hitchin Road towards Offley, the route is only partly surfaced. There is no easy diversion here and, again, you might want to dismount when you encounter deep ruts. It will only be for a few hundred metres.
-
The Ayot Greenway is mostly hard earth and OK. Ditto the continuation of the NCR into Harpenden although that can be muddier after rain. In this case, if you consult your map you will see that you can easily avoid both if you want to stick to roads.
