Routes 4, 5 and 6
Click the map for a larger version
Sawbo Circuit (in green) - 11K - Head down
High Street and turn left on St. John's Avenue. Turn right onto
the footpath just beyond Victoria Hall and follow it all the way
to Old Road. Turn left and follow Old Road to the end. Turn
right onto the A1184 and cross over the River Stort. Now you're
in Hertfordshire. This part of the run is unpleasant as the
A1184 is usually very busy, but you're only on it for about a K
(half way along you'll pass a gated entrance with KEEP OUT signs
on both sides - this is Beckingham Palace, the home of Posh
Spice and her footballer husband, David Beckham). Turn right
into Pishiobury Drive, an impressive tree-lined avenue flanked
by grand houses set back from the road. Towards the lower end of
the drive, immediately after the last house (Chestnut House) on
your left and before the grounds of Pishiobury House, a footpath
crosses the road. Turn left onto this shady footpath and follow
it through two gates into a clearing, and up onto a tree-lined
ridge which runs through Pishiobury Park. Follow the path
straight along this ridge through the park (don't be alarmed by
the presence of cows - this is common grazing ground), straight
through the gate at the end in the direction of the sign towards
Fair Green, and follow it as it narrows and slopes down to a
road. You are now in Sawbridgeworth. Cross this road with care -
drivers will not be expecting or watching for you. Stay on this
footpath as it slopes down a hill to and over a small
footbridge, and then uphill as it turns into a quiet residential
cul-de-sac. Climb this short (but steep) hill and bear right at
the park at the top of the hill, keeping the hedge on your left
flank. You'll come out onto a green area, Fair Green, where
three roads intersect. Cross the road in front of you, cross the
green area on the other side of the road, and you'll end up on a
short side street (Vantorts Road) with a pub called the King
William IV on the right hand side. Turn right at the end of this
street and go through the churchyard on the footpath to the left
of the church. Continue as you pass a school yard on your left
and until the footpath comes out onto a road. Bear right here -
do not cross this street onto Public Footpath 29. Take the path
in front of you called Church Walk (Public Footpath 30) and
follow the sidewalk down past a park on your right, down to
Station Road. Turn right onto Station Road and a few metres on,
you'll turn right onto the towpath, immediately before the
bridge over the River Stort. Follow the towpath back towards Old
Harlow. You'll cross Sheering Mill Lane and eventually a
footbridge which will bring you to the left hand side of the
river (and back into Essex). You'll be on the towpath for
between 2.5 and 3 K, when you'll go over a small bridge which
crosses a sluice. This bridge is at the corner of a large field
which opens up in front of you on the left. Turn left
immediately after this bridge onto a sometimes overgrown path
that heads towards and then under the train tracks [note that
this path can be very wet after a heavy dew or rain and as an
alternative, you can stay on the towpath all the way back to the
bottom of Old Road and retrace your steps back to campus from
there]. Stay on the path (be careful of the stinging nettles
that lean in from both sides, especially in the summer) and bear
left (other footpaths go off towards the right) as the path
widens into a road up a shady, fairly steep slope. The Gibberd
Garden, which is full of sculptures and follies, is on your
left. Follow the path beside the Gibberd Garden as it turns into
a paved lane and eventually turns right towards Gilden Way (you
are now on Marsh Lane). Look for a row of big oak trees on your
right at the top of a large wheat field and turn onto the farm
road that goes down through this field on your right, just
before the first oak tree. Follow this farm road (which is also
a public footpath) straight through two or three separate fields
and veer left as it heads up towards Old Road and comes out just
across the street from the footpath you took down to Old Road
from St. John's Avenue. Retrace your steps to the campus from
here. Notes: 1) Do not be put off by the complicated description
of this run. It's less straightforward to describe a route that
involves so many public footpaths. It's really a lovely +/-11K
run - my favourite at the time of writing this. 2) If you bike
this route, or any route that includes public footpaths,
remember always to yield the right of way to pedestrians, and
keep an eye out for signs of a bicycle inside a circle with a
red outline which means no cycling. If the footpath is empty,
it's probably okay to cycle slowly in these zones, but it would
be courteous to dismount around pedestrians. 3) Public footpaths
are great opportunities to see the more pastoral sides of Essex.
Unfortunately, you have to look down a lot on those described in
this run as they're popular with local dog owners, too many of
whom do not clean up after their dogs!
Threshers Bush (in orange) - 11.4K - Like the 4 routes shown
in the first map, head straight down High Street, onto New Road and
Watlington Road (although the road has three different names
depending on where you are, you'll travel pretty well in a straight
line) until the road divides around a small green. This is around the
1K mark. Turn right and go under Gilden Way via the pedestrian
underpass. This will bring you out in front of a short row of tiny
cottages. Go past these cottages along the walkway and turn left up
the road on the map called Moor Hall Road (although this lower part
of the road is really Sheering Road). Stay on this road straight out
until you go over the M11 around 3K on. Just on the other side of the
M11, a small roads goes off to the right towards Harlow Tye. Turn
right onto this road and stay on it, bearing left as it intersects
with Hobbs Cross Road around 2K on. Stay on this road until the 4-way
intersection at Threshers. Turn right at this intersection onto Green
Lane. At the end of Green Lane, turn right onto Foster Street. Stay
on Foster Street, bearing left all the way, as it goes under the M11
and turns into Hobbs Cross Road and finally Churchgate Street. Climb
Churchgate Street to the lychgate, a few doors beyond the Queen's
Head Pub on your left, into the Church, St. Mary and St. Hugh's, go
through the gate and the churchyard and come out at the bottom of
Moor Hall (Sheering) Road. Retrace your steps to the campus from
here.
Town and Country (in blue) - 11K - Retrace the route for the
last part of Threshers Bush above, as if you were going to run it in
reverse, to the intersection at Green Lane and Foster Street. Do not
turn left into Green Lane but stay on Foster Street here all the way
to and over the M11, as it turns into Harlow Common Road. Stay on
Harlow Common Road to the end and turn right onto London Road for a
short distance, and take your first left onto Church Road. At the end
of Church Road, a cycle path goes off to your right. A sign
identifies it as a dead end but this is directed at any vehicular
traffic other than those belonging to the two or three houses on this
lane. Stay on the cycle path as it cross a residential street at a
roundabout and goes past the first left under the A414. Stay on it
until it makes a second left under the A414 and turn left here.
Follow the cycle path as it curves around a park and continues in the
direction of Temple Fields (it is signposted) under Second Avenue.
Follow it up past the Clock Tower, straight on past Mark Hall Wood on
your right, over Momples and then Mardyke Roads, under First Avenue,
and over Mowbray Road, until it joins the cycle path on Netteswell
Road. Turn right here and stay on the Netteswell Road cycle path as
it turns into Park Hill and finally Market Street and back to campus.
On this more
detailed map of this route, the path is shown in orange.
