River Stort Walk

By special request, Joyce agreed to do a Spring rerun of last September's River Stort walk.

If the weather looks fine then please join us on Monday 6th May for a peaceful and enjoyable walk beside the winding River Stort with 13 locks. Park at Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre, Bishops Stortford CM23 2HH (toilets here) or a road nearby for a 10am start. 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. Expect the walk to finish around 5pm and then we catch the train back to Bishops Stortford.

The route was the same...

No Sarah or William this time, but Dawn was up for it with her new walking shoes. So what of our route?

"The River Stort is a river in Essex and Hertfordshire, England. It is 24 miles (38 km) long and flows from just south of the village of Langley to the River Lea at Hoddesdon.

Unusually, the town of Bishop's Stortford does not derive its name from the River Stort, but the other way around. The 16th-century cartographers Christopher Saxton and William Camden named it the Stort, assuming the town of Stortford was named for its ford. The river was originally called the Stour.

The Stort Navigation is the canalised section of the River Stort running 22 kilometres (14 mi) from Bishop's Stortford to its confluence with the Lee Navigation. It has 18 locks."

We only did the first 13 locks, which led us neatly to Roydon railway station for the return to Bishop's Stortford.

Here are a few of my photographs from our walk.

We joined the towpath in the centre of the town.

We soon came to our first lock.

There were plenty of boats moored all along the bank.

These highland cattle were cute. The beer cans on the fence are a bit  bemusing. They drink beer? And how do they get the cans like that?

We stopped and watched this boat go through one of the locks.

Here was our first stop at "Sawbo", as one of the characters we encountered later called Sawbridgeworth. The lady in the cafe did a great job in providing us with teas and coffees and bacon/bacon sausage and egg bagels/sandwiches.

I was sat inside with Dawn with our coffees. Joyce came in. "Did you get a photograph?", she asked. I was discombobulated. "of Gino", she added. I was none the wiser. Yes I'd seen this chap come in looking for a bagel in the middle of our ordering but didn't realise who he was. He had the place next door, Bonta Italia.

It was only Gino D’Acampo! William will be miffed not to have seen him - he has his cookery books and sometimes cooks for us with recipes from them.

And here he is ordering his bagel...

Thanks, Dan, for sending me your photo!

Then it was back to the riverside....

...and countryside. Joyce asked if it felt or looked any different from when we last did it. Well apart from the temperature and lack of sunshine, I think the colours are a bit different. Compare for yourself with my photos from last time here. I liked the moody reflection here.

We met someone trying to unmoor and move on after 2 weeks.He said the river level had dropped quite a bit in that time. He said he was heading for Sawbo for his next stay... I remember now seeing sign saying maximum mooring time is 2 weeks. He said he lived on the Stort and the Lee moving every 2 weeks. Interesting lifestyle.

This lock, number 8 at Harlow Mill...

... as shown in this table from here.

This is number 9.
 

One difference from September was the spring blossom and flowers.

Not far to go now and we stopped again at The Moorhen for a small libation.

Some final views...

Lots of buttercups.

A swan's nest.

 And our last lock, no 13, at Royden

 Then it was back by train...

Here is a slideshow of all of my photos (Flash required)

You can also see my photos here on Flickr and more details of our route here on MapMyWalk. Thanks Joyce and backmarker Nick for a lovely walk, and our fellow walkers for their convivial companionship.