A walk from Harpenden to St Albans via Wheathampstead

John Rogers takes us from Harpenden along the River Lea and a disused railway to the Devil's Dyke earthwork at Wheathampstead and then to a twilit St Albans.

Malcolm Saville was living at West End Farm when he began writing his children's books during the war.

The barn at Seven Gates farm under the Stiperstones, which the Lone Piners made their HQ2, is based on the one at West End Farm.

And another of Saville's early books, Jane's Country Year, was set there.