April 29, 2021 -

A Fantastic Day Trip to Graftham Water. via amazing countryside B roads and lanes for anyone living in North London.

The route kicks off at Giant carpark of Costco Watford. An easy access from M1/M25 or A41.
From here the route takes you out and over the A41 heading to Radlett, then trough a first taster of a twisty back road to Shenley and London Colney. Take care around this large and quite often very busy round about.
Top Tip: If you need to top up your and bikes energy, McDonalds is just of the RoundAbout on the right and Fuel is To the right at Sainsbury's, on the other side of the hotel seen from the Roundabout.
From here the route takes you past the kids favourite, Willows Farm and towards the back of St. Albans. Then onto Wewyn and Eventually Coldicote. This is where the scenery and the calm and empty roads of this ride start.

Plenty of country pubs to stop for some late breakfast or lunch. Then carry on from here towards Bedford without going in. Route takes you over the top (beware of the prohibited entry both ways from A421 into Green End, Leading to Renhold, Mon-Fri 07:00-09:30am & 03:30-06:30PM) of Bedford and eventually well known B660 road. From here Head North towards a T-Junction with B645 just outside of Kimbolton. Turn right here, and make sure to pay attention not to miss a high turning into back lane. Failing that carry on till you get to a village and turn left there. Graftham Water car park is only a few miles up the road. It once was a free to enter, but recently a new set of Barrier have been erected. However bikes can squish by upon entry and will have to come out same way. you can obtain a ticket for a 15 minute free visit. but if you fancy a longer stay it'll cost £1.20 for 1 hour and £20.00 for a day.

Return trip, just follow it on your GPS. You will return back to the village and turn Left onto B645, a twisty bit of road with some tight bends. A quick hop onto A1 Dual carriageway to award riding through town and countless roundabouts and get off it at the next junction. You will soon find yourself riding through Hitchin and onto yet another bit of fantastic road that is B656, which will return you to Coldicote. Here in the village centre you swing right onto St Albans Road, heading for Wheathampsted, then at the T-Junction, turn Left onto B653 Heading for Welwyn. Take a Right turn onto Green Lanes which will eventually take you onto the Coopers Green Lane to retrace your steps from earlier on. Eventually you would return to Watford Costco car park

Allow 4.5-5 Hours Riding and a couple of hours for taking breaks, fuel stops, etc.

The Ideal bikes for this route are Adventure type but even such as BMW R9T types will be just fine. In fact any bike will do it, just some will be better than others.

Enjoy.