Exploring Panshanger Park

Panshanger Park is being transformed into a retreat for wildlife and people now that Tarmac have finished extracting tons of gravel from this 1000 acre site to the west of Hertford. It's somewhere I've bypassed many times but never been in. So, thanks to a tip from Adam of WelHat Cycling, I decided to explore some of the bridleways and a new cycleway in the park. 

Thanks are due to the Friends of Panshanger Park for working on these new routes.

West-East Route

The main cycleable route runs right across the park, between Panshanger Lane and Thieves Lane. Download PDF map.

Entrance to West-East bridleway off Panshanger Lane

A short length of new bridleway leads from Panshanger Lane down an easy slope through woodland. This is still quite new and not fully consolidated, but quite rideable.

Shelter next to the old lorry route

We soon join the original lorry route on a broad, well surfaced road and follow this heading east for 1/4 mile.

Bridleway now next to the roadway

A gate across the road diverts you onto the parallel bridleway. 

This is where another bridleway route from Birch Green joins from the right (more on this later).

Bridleway follows field edge

The roadway veers off north, but we stick to the valley and follow the field edge.  This could be tricky in wet weather, but today it was a bit lumpy, but sandy and dry. The post in the distance lets us know we're following Butterfield Way.

Bridleway south of Riverside Lake

We join the track next to the River Mimram and a series of lakes left after the gravel was extracted. It's a little rough, but fine in dry weather.

Kings Lake

A newly laid bridleway now turns north at Kings Lake.  There's another bridleway through the woods to the south linking to Birch Green, but I stayed on the main route.

River Mimram

We now cross the crystal clear River Mimram, taking care not to fall in as there's no parapet on the bridge. Passing the old farmhouse, we turn NE up hill on a rutted, gravel track used by park vehicles. There's a narrow strip to ride on in the centre of the track.

Track above Osprey Lake

The bridleway turn east again on a good surface beside the woods, with sweeping views over the Mimram valley and Osprey lake.  Just above the lake there's a park bench on the right. To the left another bridleway heads north up to the B1000 before looping southeast to Thieves Lane.

Lady Hughes Wood

  The west-east route enters the woods, offering some pleasant shade on a hot day. 

Thieves Lane car park

We emerge from the woods at the main car park. The entrance was closed, explaining why I had only seen half a dozen people along my 2.2 mile route from Panshanger Lane.

Here is my plot of all the routes where cycling is permitted.  All of them can be cycled in dry weather on 35mm wide tyres, but maybe best avoided in wet weather unless you have a 'mountain' bike. 

It's worth a visit on a bike during 'lockdown' and you can download KML track files by opening the map and using the 3 dot menu.

Birch Green Cycleway

There's also a new Cycleway heading north off the Old Coach Road at Birch Green that leads into Panshanger Park, potentially allowing a connection to The Cole Green Way to make a largely off-road circuit. 

Cycleway entrance on The Old Coach Road in Birch Green

It's early days, but there's no dropped kerb here and the gaps between the posts are far too narrow.  The cycleway itself is a little 'loose' but rideable and takes you over the A414 on a good bridge. 

Cycleway ends at the quarry road

It becomes a narrow track after the bridge and ends after crossing the quarry road, where a bridleway goes right through woods to the Mimram valley (not explored) and left parallel to the quarry road.

Bridleway next to roadway

This part heading west is possibly the worst section of bridleway. Even in dry weather it was muddy and rutted in many places, but improved when it turned north to meet the main west-east route.

View a full set of photos showing the west-east route and the route from Birch Green.

Jon 05/05/2020