TO POTTEN END VIA THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT

We must now leave Hemel Hempstead town centre and it's almost impossible to avoid this:

 We temporarily take a south westerly direction to the suburb of Apsley, on the Grand Union Canal. This is the lock looking north by the old paper mill.

There's a small basin in Apsley.

Next to the Grand Union is a Fuller's pub, the Paper Mill.

We now follow the railway (West Coast Main Line) away from London and come to Two Waters, where London Country North West had its Hemel Hempstead depot.

Nearby was the yard used by Ronsway Coaches for its vehicles.

The area around Boxmoor is where the West Coast Main Line railway station lies, but close by was Heath Park Halt, the passenger terminus of the Midland Railway's branch from Harpenden.

Even in LNWR days, a bus connected the railway station with Hemel Hempstead town centre.

Rover's service to Chesham called at Hemel Hempstead station.

This is London Road in Boxmoor, with the Swan Inn, which is now deceased.

Fortunately, a Greene King house, the Steamcoach, still survives.

So we now leave the built up area of Hemel Hempstead for the village of Potten End, where we find the depot of B&B Coaches. A regular route into Berkhamsted was operated in the 1970s.

B&B Coaches was taken over by Tate's of Markyate, who retained the depot for its own use.

In the next post, we'll spend a day in Berkhamsted.