The Grand Union is Dacorum’s other high street

If you only drive the A41 you will miss the point of this borough. The Grand Union Canal is the older spine: locks, mills, pubs and the reason Tring has reservoirs on a hill.

Apsley still shows the paper-mill past in its buildings and in the name of The Paper Mill pub. Berkhamsted’s ‘Port of Berkhamsted’ bridge and The Boat are the postcard. Between them, Boxmoor Trust land and the river Bulbourne make a green corridor that New Town planners were wise enough not to bury.

The towpath is a genuine cycle route into London’s orbit, and a lunch-hour loop if you work in Maylands and have 40 minutes. It is also a planning battlefield: moorings, waterside blocks and the slow restoration of the Wendover Arm all have their advocates.

Walk it once in decent boots. You will start using it as infrastructure, which is what it always was.