River Stort Walk

"If the weather looks fine then please join us on Saturday 1st September for a peaceful and enjoyable walk beside this winding river with 13 locks. Park at Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre CM23 2HH (toilets here) or a road nearby. Bring a snack/drink. The whole route is 13 miles but you just catch a train back to start when you have had enough.....e.g Sawbridgeworth is 5.5 miles, Harlow is 8 miles, Burnt Mill is 9 miles. We will stop for a cuppa and/or bacon sandwich about 5 miles in.", said the invite. That sounded good. I said I would go.

Discussing with family at tea, Dr. Interred said no, but Sarah and William said they would like to come along. "Are you sure?", I asked Sarah. The last family walk we did, around Hartest, was only about 5 1/2 miles, but she complained about there being more than a mile left when we were 4 miles in. But she was sure. So I checked with our organiser and the 3 of us went.

We started in Bishop's Stortford. The weather was perfect - sunny, but not too hot. This was our route...

A total of 13.7 miles from Car Park to Railway station, with 13 locks, a cafe (the Trackside Diner) and pub (The Moorhen) along the banks of the River Stort.

Here are the happy walkers. An affable bunch who made the three of us very welcome.



"Mum would like this too", said Sarah a few miles in. The scenery was delightful and the path peaceful, but we met some interesting characters along the way too, including a couple with an inflatable kayak, a lady swimming and some kids jumping into a rubber tyre.

We had options to cut the walk short at various points close to a station, but Sarah and William wanted to make it to the end. Well done them. And they really enjoyed it too.

As usual, I took plenty of photos. Here are a few favourites.









Click the picture above to see why it is especially significant.



















And from here it was a just a short train ride back to Bishop's Stortford.

Here is a slide show of all of my photos.

And you see them all individually on Flickr.

Thanks to Joyce and Nick for a great walk, and the rest for the additional good company!