Introduction
Some time ago, R found a short circular walking route from Tring station, and we decided a sunny day in January was a good opportunity to give it a try.
Ridgeway
The walk began along the route of the Ridgeway.
The bridge is relatively exciting because it slopes, which is unusual - not just in an arch, but one side is significantly higher than the other.
Wigginton
Near the village of Wigginton, our route left the Ridgeway and circled the village.
The path continued toward Cowroast, which is a sort of place, although there’s not much there except a pub (shut down), several car dealerships, and a marina. It has a silly name; allegedly this is a corruption of ‘cow rest’, meaning there was actually a short reprieve for the cows in the form of pens and grazing land, as they were being driven through the country to market (and, presumably, eventual roasting).
Cowroast is at one end of a long, high section of canal that runs through Tring. In order to avoid losing all the water from this section as boats went through locks into the lower-down levels either side, they had to pump water back up; there is a small pumping station by the lock.
The day was cold but above freezing - we hadn’t seen ice elsewhere, but the canal was iced over in most of the sheltered parts.
And that’s all! It was a very nice short walk for a winter’s day.