Genghis Khan and other domesticated creatures

So today we learnt about Genghis Khan’s first foray into China. The story didn’t have a funny punch line as I had been hoping but was very educational if not a touch blood thirsty at times. We also witnessed Dave’s new command of domestic animals with a dog diving into the bushes and hiding at first whiff and a cat joining us to set the pace during the warm down.

I’m not too sure how much advanced planning went into today’s route. My guess is it was something along the lines of head down the Nicky Line, turn right onto the footpath that takes you across the golf course and then wing it. Which is exactly what we did. Once on Kinsbourne Green Lane we turned right and headed uphill (where else). Then opposite Roundwood Lane tuned left onto a footpath that looked promising at first but actually just faded to nothing once across the first field. A quick look around revealed no obvious path so we headed to the right eventually making it back to Annables Lane complete with soaking wet feet.

Next call from chief navigation officer (arse and elbow now firmly relocated) was to head over to Paul’s Hill which, given we had no real plan, was as good a suggestion as any, even if it did mean running the hill in the wrong direction. However, on the way we spotted the gate into Luton Hoo had been left ajar which was just too much temptation to pass by. We didn’t find the path to take us down to the Lower Luton Road and so completed a loop that brought us back to the main road near the top of the hill. From there it was a case of down the hill and home via the Upper Lea Valley Walk. Pleasingly the nettles round the back of the sewage works had been cut back so it was a pain free trot back to Harpenden. Dave decided to exact his revenge for our Kenyan finish last week and promptly selected a higher gear and disappeared into the distance. Niall and I were either unwilling or unable to follow.