Surrounding Villages

Juneathon day 9: cycle 18.8 miles, 1hr 26min

A cycle ride around some of the lanes to the north, including the village of Flamstead. It is a picturesque place with many old buildings. Although it is near St Albans it is actually in my borough, Dacorum. I live in Hemel Hempstead, a New Town, whose character comes from the rather austere and dull design of public housing from the 50s/60s and a working class population which originally migrated from East London. Yet around is a mixture of agricultural land, estates, stables and studs, and wealthy dormitory villages. My borough has great social divisions.

Personally they do not affect me very much. The only thing is that very occasionally the drabness of the town centre, its absence of beauty, gets me down. But that is not too significant because the town is surrounded by lovely countryside and there are a number of old settlements to explore - like Flamstead.

I spend some time in the churchyard and look at the names on the gravestones and war memorials. I look for the older common surnames to get a sense of the times when there would have been a few families in the village. I also like discovering flamboyant names from Victorian times. Today I particularly liked ‘Elijah Peacock’

The kemptness of the village is illustrated by todays picture. The hedge is amazing - beautifully, tightly textured and cut with precision. It was not actually the reason I took the photo: I was more interested in a whimsical idea of wheelie bins playing hide and seek, but never mind.

P.S. In a field near to the village the Time Team did some excavations and discovered the traces of four Roman temples (series 16 programme 6) and can be seen here

Juneathon statistics
run 6/9
distance 42.03km

time 4hr 07min

Cycle 2/9
distance 39.8 miles

time 2hr 58min

Gym 1/9
time 45min