Pete's Walks - Ver-Colne Valley Walk
About the Ver-Colne Valley Walk
I'm afraid there's very little I can say about the Ver-Colne Valley Walk - I'm not even 100% sure it still exists! I was thinking of trying to do a circular route from St Albans when I spotted it on my OS Explorer map. A quick search on the internet showed it to be a 15-mile route from Redbourn through St Albans to Watford, following the valleys of the Ver and Colne. Unfortunately that was about all I could find out about it. There were also references to a Ver Valley Walk, and I assumed that that had been extended to include part of the Colne as well. In fact, having looked again, it may possibly be the other way around, and the Ver Valley Walk has replaced the Ver-Colne Valley Walk. Certainly, when I did the walk I found there were plenty of waymarks for the Ver Valley Walk, but no signposts or waymarks at all once I reached the river Colne. Yet the OS Explorer Maps 182 and 173 clearly show the Ver-Colne Valley Walk, and at least one of those maps was re-issued just a couple of years ago. So this walk is a bit of an enigma!
As only the first part of the walk is waymarked (in both directions), the rest of the way was a matter of following the route marked by green diamonds on the OS maps. Fortunately this was straightforward, and I had no real difficulty finding my way. But as there is no guide book or leaflet for the walk (according to the Long Distance Walkers Association web site, there was a leaflet for the Ver Valley Walk but it is out of print), I'm not sure of where the exact start and end points of the route lie, I just had to guess from the map.
Click here to see a very rough map of the walk (but only if you have already read my disclaimer and notes regarding maps).
River Ver at Redbournbury (Day 1)