Honourary post box hunt 10: Berkhamsted and Ashley Green, 4th May 2024

The weather forecast all week for Saturday 4th May was disappointing, with intermittent sunshine expected in the morning and late afternoon but cloudy during the early afternoon. I had hoped to go on another pylon hunt, but I ruled it out on grounds of poor weather.

Saturday morning was completely overcast, but by maybe half nine the clouds were starting to clear, and by perhaps 10 am blue sky had arrived, with the suggestion that there would be more sunshine than the forecast had allowed for. Thus, walk plans were drawn up in haste in order to make it to the station on time.

The only objective was to revisit Ashley Green and the woods at Berkhamsted from pylon hunt 25 in November last year. However, the walk has been upgraded to an “honourary” post box hunt on account of all the surprises.

Walking to the station; I have been waiting some time to do this walk in the spring:

Arrival at Berkhamsted station:

The first surprise was a fine George V wall box in the station building. In perhaps my haste I had completely overlooked this last time.

I forgot which way I had intended to go after exiting the station, turning right instead of left. No matter: it gave me a different route from last time.

A quick peek at the Grand Junction Canal, part of the Grand Union Canal:

A quick glimpse of the town centre; it was difficult to get well-framed shots with all the people, cars and market stalls:

The next surprise …

For a moment I thought that the topper had been removed right after I left, before realising that the high street has not just but two double post boxes!

Berkhamsted war memorial:

Heading up Chesham Road. Heading south from Berkhamsted involves a lot of walking uphill!

A distant glimpse of red … could it be …

On with the walk …

Although I discovered afterwards that it was possible to cross over the A41 on foot, there is a public byway that passes underneath it that provides a much more scenic detour.

The next part of the journey takes us down the lane of White Hill, before turning off down a public footpath.

A quick diversion to visit a pylon. This wasn’t part of my walk plan, but I spotted that the line wasn’t as far away as I thought and figured I would squeeze it in. This one in particular—on Street View—was part of the process of discovering Eve’s 0.175 sq. in. SCA type.

Heading back up White Hill and then on to Ashley Green:

I passed hurriedly through Ashley Green on pylon hunt 25 (and walked past and completely overlooked a wall box on the way). The place looked interesting enough that I wanted to return for a longer visit. It turned out that it wasn’t as good as I imagined; the walk to Ashley Green however made it worthwhile. There was a whole section of the village that I overlooked and didn’t visit, in part because of the haste with which the walk was planned, and the perceived shortage of time.

Time to head back to Berkhamsted.

Time for a somewhat hasty walk through the Hockeridge and Pancake Woods:

While rushing back to the station last time I spotted a curious structure resembling a tower from a Disney castle. I made a point to visit it on my return, and I did. It’s not a castle tower, it’s a water tower.

Walking back down the hill to the station:

Having just spotted an unexpected wall box, I was not prepared for an even bigger surprise shortly afterwards:

My understanding was that W T Allen of London had the exclusive contract to manufacture wall boxes during Elizabeth II’s reign and indeed, with the exception of the very unusual wall box in Lower Gustard Wood, every wall box I have come across in person has been a W T Allen. This is the first counterexample.

During the walk I was never quite clear on how much time I had remaining; it turns out that I had more time available to me than I realised (again, due to planning the walk hurriedly before heading to the station), which turned out to be fortuitous. Although it would have been nice to have been able to walk more leisurely through the woods, or spend more time in Ashley Green, the extra time gave me the leeway to collect lots of nice post box photos.

It also gave me time to get something to eat and drink without being in a rush.

Walking home …