Cambridgeshire walks

Great walks in Cambridgeshire

2010-12-08T08:40:00.002Z

This is a record of my favourite walks in Cambridgeshire, most centred around St Ives. Each walk includes a map and lots of links to supporting information such as history or wildlife. Oh, and most important of all if there's a pub half way and details such as opening times.

Please select from the labels to the right. I'm chipping away gradually adding more.

If you know of a good walk worth recording just leave a comment below by clicking 'Comments'. Encouragement is likely to spur me on to get things done more quickly!

Kings Ripton circular walk (6.5 miles)

2010-12-07T18:00:00.000Z

Good points of this walk (click map to enlarge) are…

An easy circular walk taking about three hours
Serene… you’re unlikely to meet anyone else on this walk
Lots of wildlife
Summer crops
The beautiful village of Broughton
The even more beautiful The Crown in Broughton
Wildlife friendly management of the Abbots Ripton Estate
Hares in summer

And bad points… none really. This is one of my favourite walks. You may find you have to make your way through some vegetation in summer, but generally the paths are kept mown.

Turn off the B1090 into Kings Ripton and then turn left by the church to park. About half way down the road on the left you’ll see the footpath signpost. Looking at the more detailed map below, after about a couple of hundred yards you’ll come to a T junction. It’s probably easier to follow the route if you turn right (although the map arrows indicate following the route in a clockwise direction). You’ll find yourself walking along field edges for a mile or so, then over some styles and through fields until you come out on a road at Broughton village.

Turn left into the village. It’s well worth timing your walk so you arrive at The Crown during opening time. Although the bar menu is slightly more pricey than most it’s high quality stuff in delightful surroundings. It’s really heartening to see the survival of such a lovely village pub in delightful surroundings. Click the links for The Crown to check opening times.

Next take the road that leads away from the pub and past the church. A short way up the road take the path to the right marked by the footpath sign. Over a fence and along the left hand side of a field, then turn left at the top and you should be able to follow the mark signs for a short while, making sure you follow the route by turning left over a small bridge through the hedge rather than continuing round the field to the right.

By continuing to follow the signs you’ll come to Rectory Farm. At the very end of the farm track turn right and walk along the road for a couple of hundred yards until you see a wooden footpath sign to the left. Follow the field edges for a mile or so until you come to another road. Cross this and take the path to the right (not the one heading towards some houses, but the one leading towards Wennington Wood). Follow this track along the side of the wood until just past an area for farm silage and general rubbish you should take the road to the left leading away from the wood.

A couple of hundred yards down this road take the route to the left, and then turn right at the first opportunity after a part of the track lined with trees. From here you follow the field edge to the bottom, then along the bottom and follow the route signs. This will lead you after a mile or so to a road over a bridge, cross the road and you’ll find yourself back at the start of your walk.

Lots of photos of the walk below, click any to enlarge.

A short amble through Somersham farmland and allotments

2010-06-05T08:42:00.000+01:00

Good points of this walk (click map to enlarge, shown as ‘Walk 1’) are…

2.5 miles of easy walking
a mostly circular walk
spring and autumn orchard blossom or fruit
summer crops
the development of allotment plots
Mary’s tea room in Somersham

Not so good are that the two pubs in Somersham don't look great.

Start this walk at the free car park in centre of Somersham (where the yellow cross is on the map). Walk back up Church Street and turn left down Mortimer Row. Turn right into King Street, and almost immediately left into Rectory Lane. At the end turn into Chapel Field Lane and follow footpath signposts thereafter.

At first you’ll skirt the edge of the allotments before walking onto open farmland. Follow the signs that take you around the large field you first come upon. at the far right hand corner you’ll meet up with the Pathfinder March. Make sure you turn right here, heading back towards Somersham. You’ll finally walk across the field you’ve been skirting around, which at times may be ploughed up. At this point you’re heading for the entrance to the allotments hidden amongst trees.

Somersham allotments are interesting. They’re some of the biggest I’ve ever seen. Like many plots they were in disarray for some years, but there are now signs of renewed interest.

You’ll find yourself linking back up with the path you initially followed towards the farmland. If you’ve got time pop into Marys Tearooms in the High Street, almost opposite the The Cross, for a typical English tearoom with local art displayed on the walls.

To read the Wikipedia entry for Somersham click here.
For a map on how to get to Somersham click here.

Technorati Tags: Somersham,Pathfinder Way

Gentle walk around the Saxon ring village of Holywell

2009-10-23T11:47:00.000+01:00

Good points of this walk (click map to enlarge) are

Easy walking of about 2.5 miles
A mostly circular walk
Good mix of woodland, farmland and village landscapes
Peaceful churchyard
Ancient monument
Saxon ring village
Beautiful cottages along Holywell Front
The Old Ferry Boat inn is reputedly the oldest pub in the country, with resident ghost

Not so good are the coffee in the Old Ferry Boat Inn, tastes like instant… oh, and before ordering food you might want to check out reviews.

Start this walk at the car park indicated on the map. Walk to the back of the car park where a gate indicates the start. Follow the path through woods and around the playing fields. When you arrive at the track heading up to Holywell Spinney and the road, turn the other way to the left, walking on the far side of the hedge towards a wooded area at the bottom of the field. Follow the path to the right. Note the ancient trees in the hedge to the left.

The path will continue for a couple of hundred yards and then turn right, now taking you along the opposite side of the field mentioned above. When you come out onto the road turn left towards Holywell.

After a short distance you’ll come to the village. The road to the right will take you in a rough circle around the village. Take the opportunity to pop into the church grounds and sit for a few peaceful moments on the bench to the right, a great spot to rest for a few minutes in the shade of trees. If you’re lucky you’ll see a robin, various tits and a green woodpecker.

Continue to walk through the church grounds and you’ll come upon the ancient well that gives Holywell its name. The ground to the left of the well is cultivated for the benefit of visitors, particularly children.

The walk through the church brings you back to the road. If you’re feeling frisky, to the right is a short diversion across farmland to a peaceful spot on the Great Ouse.

Continuing along the road you’ll head downwards to Holywell Front, where beautiful cottages look across water meadows. At the end of the Front is the Old Ferry Boat inn. Best to avoid at weekends… the garden is crammed with picnic tables and it’s very busy at weekends. But on a quiet and sunny weekday there are few places better to be, sitting on the front overlooking the river. Just a pity their coffee isn’t very good, and the food gets some poor reviews.

If you’re feeling very energetic follow the Ouse Valley Way footpath past the Old Ferry Boat. This will take extend the walk to one of about six miles, first taking you to the Pike and Eel Hotel, and then to Needingworth before returning back to the car park.

To continue on the original route, return to the village road and follow it up past the Old Ferry Boat car park and round to where you first met the village. You can then return back to the car park.

Read the Wikipedia entry for Holywell here.

Read a summary of the history of the village here.

Read much more historical detail of the village here.

A varied circular walk by river and woods

2009-04-23T07:29:00.013+01:00

Good points of this route (click map to enlarge) are quiet easy walking of great variety along river and through woods, and a timely coffee at The Axe and Compass in Hemingford Abbots

There are no bad points to this walk.

Start this walk by parking for free in the St Ivo Leisure Centre where the yellow cross is on the map). Walk back out of the car park the way you came in veer to the right at the tight double bend entering the car park. Opposite the scouts hut turn left and walk into St Ives past All Saints Parish Church (on weekends from April you could visit Holt Island nature reserve just before the church).

In St Ives, walk into Bridge Street and over the unique St Ives Bridge. There's another opportunity for a stop (hardly got started yet!) at the Dolphin Hotel, where the best coffee in St Ives can be drunk on the patio overlooking the bridge.

When you're ready to continue, walk a short way from the St Ives Bridge down London Road, turn into the car park of The Dolphin and walk at right angle to the car park across to a gate entering into the Hemingford meadow. From here you can walk over to and along the River Ouse, or walk across the meadow. Either way you'll end up on the far side to exit via the footpath.

From here you follow the footpath to Hemingford Abbots. The route has great variety, going around houses and along the Ouse again. Need to take care to stay on track, but you'll be rewarded on arrival in Hemingford Abbots with a visit to The Axe and Compass. At least have a coffee, accompanied by the most chocolatey accompaniment you could imagine.

Start again by continuing to walk up through the village. Turn right towards the black bridge (no longer black since replaed with a modern version) walk across another water meadow, past Houghton Mill and into Houghton. At the village centre turn right at the little antique shop, back towards St Ives. About half way you can visit Houghton Meadows, and a bit further walk through The Thicket, before arriving back at the car park.

Through Upwood Meadows and the magical Lady's Wood

2009-03-01T21:00:00.038Z

Below are text and images about a visit to Lady's Wood on a grey January day... still well worth the visit because of the amazing fungi. But a visit any time of the year is worthwhile... particularly in spring when millions of bluebells carpet the forest floor. How about red kites over Upwood, or the mounds of yellow meadow ants? This is one of my favourite walks.

The best features of the 3 mile route are the open farmland in summer, Lady's Wood and Upwood Meadows, the peacefulness of sitting outside The Cross Keys pub in Upwood enjoying a drink and taking in the peacefulness of the villlage, and if you take children the village playground and the garden of The Cross Keys.

Not so good is the walk across the field at the beginning of the route when it's muddy... see the alternative suggstion below.

There's an shorter walk described below if you take young children. For the full walk park in the High Street opposite The Cross Keys and walk north back up the High Street. Watch for the footpath sign on the left... since the path goes between gardens it's not very visible. Shortly afterwards you'll go diagonally across a field and you can see Lady's Wood to the west.

If the ground is muddy don't take the footpath sign but continue to the top of the High Street, turn left into Longholme Road, then left again into Turf Fen Road. This avoids walking across a muddy field.

The route can be confusing when you come out of Upwood Meadows... you find yourself on what appears to be the garden of a bungalow. Generally bear left on the various streets to get back to the centre of Upwood.

For a shorter walk if you have children drive to the southern end of the High Street, turn right into Meadow Lane and drive to the end of that lane to park past Meadow Farm. It's just a short walk from there across Upwood Meadows to Lady's Wood. Return along the route of the full walk to take the kids to the great playground, marked with a flag on the map. And don't forget The Cross Keys pub garden, where they've got a big plastic tree trunk the children climb up inside to get to the slide.

Surprises on a grey January day

Walked to Lady's Wood on Sunday with Barry & Chris. I'd read with some disbelief on the Internet that an amazing 25 types of fungi had been found in the wood in January, so we set off kitted out with Barry's mushroom library & paraphernalia.

Parked the car just down from the Cross Keys in the High Street, Upwood. Last summer Barry & I managed to time the end of this walk to coincide with the Sunday opening time & spent a very pleasant hour sitting outside with a pint watching the village life idle by.

Walked up the High Street to the public footpath sign off to the left, easily missed if you're not paying attention. When taking this route make sure you don't wander off into the back gaden of the house to the right as I usually do; the footpath is the very narrow alley. We took this route today but wished we hadn't... if conditions are muddy it's better to walk up to the top of the High Street, turn left & walk for about half a mile to pick up the Turf Fen road on the left, avoiding the strategically placed fridges & other rubbish sadly dumped at the top of the fen road.

At the top of the footpath followed the arrow to the left & along the side of a field for about 200yds until the footpath veers off diagonally to the right across another field. It's this bit you want to avoid if muddy. By the time we'd reached the fen road we were 6 inches taller & quite a bit heavier because of the sticky mud on our boots. Half way across this field it's worth stopping to view the scenary before you. You can see the whole walk up to Lady's Wood.

At the end of the field turned left down the fen road. This is a lovely part of the walk in summer, full of dragonflies & mayflies. Also of interest is the field to the right behind a hedge about 200 yards down the path, which was full of mushrooms during Autumn. The raised land in the distance at the end of the road is Woodwalton Fen, a fascinating place where you can see what the Fens were once like before drainage shrunk the surrounding land down to its current level.

After about 300 yards took the path off to the left heading towards Lady's Wood. Followed this for about 300 yards until we were on the opposite side of Lady's Wood from where we started.

You'll see a pole with a marker on it indicating the footpath towards the wood. Note this footpath isn't marked on some maps.

Walked up to the wood & veered right at the top to find the entrance almost concealed. Once in the wood you can take the first path to the right, the shortest route, the second to the right which goes past the observation hut (unfortunately out of use), or continue on for the longest path around the perimeter. None of the routes are that long.

You could easily walk through Lady's Wood without any idea of the richness of the fungi present or the peace within the wood. If you've got time, slow down, listen & observe. On the floor & tree trunks (particularly fallen ones) you'll find mushrooms & fungi (but don't touch unless you know what you're doing, some are highly poisonous!). Throughout the wood you'll hear birds going about their business. On a quiet day you could almost believe you've stepped back in time.

Chris revealed an uncanny knack of spotting fungi, given this was his first outing with Barry & me. We found somewhere just under 20 varieties (see rest of best photos taken in separate post).

We exited the wood after an hour, passing the National Trust board giving some details of the wood. Then followed the footpath though various fields, styles & kissing gates back to the village. Exiting the last field is a bit strange since you find yourself between two houses. We just walked to the road & then kept bearing left until we found ourselves back in the High Street, just having to walk around the corner to be back at the pub.

By this time the light was fading fast but still almost 3 hours before the pub opened, so we headed for home thinking of joys to come in the summer!

More photos of fungi from the visit below.

From Somersham, past fruit orchards to Colne

2009-03-01T21:00:00.023Z

Good points of this route, four miles of easy walking, are that in spring and autumn there’ll be fruit blossom or fruit in the orchards along the route, the footpath will go amongst golden wheat in late summer, and The Green Man pub is half way.

Not so good is that the route is not circular so you have to retrace some of the walk, and Colne village is a big disappointment.

This is no doubt because of a disastrous fire in 1844, which means that most of the village is now 20th century housing. Although there still remains several 17th century houses and a late 16th century house these are not particularly noticeable.

The old church to the north west of the village was mostly destroyed by the fall of the tower in 1896, a few walls and some gravestones remain as well as a bench to sit and meditate. So the church you'll pass in the village is relatively new.

Opening times for The Green Man in Colne are 12:00-14:30 Tue to Fri (note, shut Mon lunchtimes), 18:00-23:00 Mon to Fri, 12:00-23:00 Sat, 12:00-22:30 Sun.

Start this walk at the free car park in the centre of Somersham (where the yellow cross is shown on the map, click to enlarge). Walk back up Church Street, turn right into the High Street, and finally follow the road to the right into Colne road. You'll find the footpath a bit down Colne Road on the right.

Through St Ives farmland to the Saxon ring village of Woodhurst

2009-03-01T21:00:00.020Z

Good points of this route (click map to enlarge) are 4.5 miles of easy walking across farmland, the walk around, as well as approach to and retreat from, Woodhurst is really attractive, and there’s often nesting moorhens in the village pond. Woodhurst is one of the best Saxon ring villages in England.

Not so good is there’s no pub or any other kind of shop in Woodhurst.

Start this walk by parking in the Co-operative supermarket car park. Over the hedge in the fields opposite there’s a footpath, accessed to the left side of the car park. Walk right down this path until it turns left.