Details
Location:
Hitchin to Ickleford and back along the River Purwell.
Weather:
Sun and cloud.
Distance:
4.9 miles – Average speed 2 mph
Elevation Gain/loss:
465 feet
Our Group
Comprised 22 walkers led by Phil & Joan Threlfall.
The Walk
This was our fourth walk from The Millstream in Hitchin.
From the pub we turned right along the A505, then along Nightingale Road until we got to Ransoms Recreation Park. At the other end of the park we joined a footpath along the River Hiz. This footpath took us to Grove Road which we joined to walk under the bridge for the East Coast Main Line. We continued along Grove Road until we got to a footpath at the junction of the River Hiz and River Purwell.
We turned onto that footpath and walked north along the River Hiz until we got to a set of steps up to Cadwell Lane. We walked a short distance along Cadwell before passing back under the East Coast Main Line which took us to the scrapyard and an ancient track called the Hicca Way.
We walked along Hicca Way under the Hitchin to Letchworth Flyover line past and on past the confluence of the River Oughton and the River Hiz until we got to its junction with Icknield Way, where we turned left, crossing the River Hiz on a plank bridge.
The Icknield Way took us to the Arlesey Road in Ickleford, where we walked along Chambers Lane and Upper Green then along some field edge footpaths. After a brief refreshment break where the footpath crossed the route of the old Hitchin to Bedford Line, we walked to the East Coast Main Line railway bridge near Hitchin Lavender.
Just before the bridge, we turned right onto another footpath across fields until we got to the Icknield Way at Gerry’s Hole. From there we walked along a footpath parallel to the Hicca Way to the scrapyard, then back along the footpath by the River Hiz until we got to Grove Road. We turned left onto Grove Road, then right onto Woolgrove Road until we
got to Walsworth Common and the River Purwell.
We walked along the footpath by the River Purwell which took us back to the pub for a welcome drink and our lunch.
The map of the walk is shown below
Hitchin to Bedford Railway Line
The Hitchin to Bedford line was a branch of the Midland Line that opened in 1857. The last passenger train ran in 1961, with freight services surviving to 1964.
The line was originally built as a trunk line, but the Midland Railway was evicted from Kings Cross in 1862 and had to build a line from Bedford to St Pancras, reducing this line to branch status. Traffic briefly increased in the First and Second World Wars with the formation of RAF camps at Cardington and Henlow (both were stations on the line).
In 1964, scenes of the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines were shot near Warden Tunnel using an ex-Highland Railway locomotive and a set of coaches disguised as a train of France’s Chemin de Fer du Nord.
Waterways
The River Hiz leaves Hitchin and flows north through Arlesey where it joins the River Ivel, which in turn joins the Ouse before flowing to the North Sea.
By the time the River Hiz reaches Ickleford, the River Purwell and River Oughton have joined it:
- The source of River Purwell is springs that rise out of the chalk bedrock at St Ippolyts
- The source of the River Oughton is chalk springs that rise at Oughtonhead
- The source of the River Hiz is a chalk fed spring in Charlton.