5 Excellent Walks around Cambridge

Five excellent short walks around Cambridge and the river!

The waters of the Cam approach Cambridge from the south under a confusing number of names. The arm known as the Cam or Rhee rises in Hertfordshire, enters the county near Guilden Morden and passes through Shepreth and Barrington. The Cam or Granta rises in Essex and comes into Cambridgeshire near Ickleton flowing on through Whittlesford and The She!fords; this arm is joined near Stapleford by the Granta or Linton Cam from the east. These two main arms join between the villages of Hauxton and Trumpington just before another tributary Bourn Brook adds its water. The Linton Cam is also sometimes confusingly known as the Bourn River!

Wandlebury Ring (Walk no 1) is an Iron Age fort built on the natural hill in the 4th century BC and occupied until around the time of the Romans invasion. The area is rich in wildlife and plants natural to chalk downland. The Woodland trust has replanted the area with a wide range of trees. A large house was built in the 4th century within the ring, this was later demolished and only the stable block remains, used as a museum and café by the Cambridge Preservation Society who now own the site.  All modern racehorses are classed as thoroughbreds and all are descended from one of three stallions brought to this country in the 18th century. One of these stallions the 'Godolphin Barb' was owned by the second Earl Godolphin who lived in the manor House within Wandlebury Ring. Godolphin Barb died in 1753 at 29 years of age and lies buried beneath the archway in the old stable block.

1 Via Devana
6 1/4 Miles 2/4 Hours

Park in the Magog Down car park Between the A1307 and Stapleford, no charge but no facilities. An easy walk.

1 Go through one of the gates on the field side of the car park, turn right to the marker post and follow the diagonal track to the right through Colin's Wood. Turn left along the road and walk down the roadside track into Stapleford village.

2 As the road swings right, take the signposted path left through the farmyard; continue along this hardcore farm road past the black barn and the wire fence on the right to the stile on the right. Follow the field edge to the left and bear right over the bridge crossing the Granta. Keep going down the fenced track.

3 Turn left at the kissing gate opposite the stand of conifers and take the path diagonally right. Turn left at the marker post and cross back over the river on the footbridge. Continue ahead up the left hand field edge; turn right then left with the path and walk up to the road (the A1307).

4 Turn right; after 250yds turn left between houses signposted public byway and walk up the gentle slope past wooded Copley Hill, to a T-junction of tracks.

5 Turn left along the Via Devana, an old Roman Road. Walk for half a mile to a sign for Wandlebury Ring and turn left through the kissing gate.

6 Follow the path through the trees and turn right past the house. Bear left with the path and then right in front of a gate; continue left between the trees and the newly planted saplings. The path leads eventually past the ring to a car park; leave by the vehicle entrance and cross the dual carriageway of the A1307.

7 Take the path ahead to Stapleford, turn right then go through the gate on the left and over Magog Down to the car park and your vehicle. The roman road linking Colchester with Leicester through settlements in Cambridge and Godmanchester is thought to have gone on to link up with Chester as well. It was given the Via Devana name by an 181h century Historian. In contrast to the grassy track on this walk the modern A14 follows the course of the road to the north west of Cambridge.

2 Cole's Bridge
6 1/2 Miles  3 Hours

Park at Fulboum Nature Reserve, a small area on the left of Stonebridge Lane off Manor Walk south of Fulbourn. No toilets, Shops, pubs, café and the village centre (half a mile).

1 Continue away from Fulbourn along the rutted byway Stonebridge Lane has become. Turn left at the footpath sign along the field edge. Carry on over the footbridge and past the wood. Bear right in the corner, cross a sleeper footbridge and turn left; bear left after 100yds signposted Great Wilbraham.

2 After another 100yds turn right and follow the grass farm track up the Slope; the T-junction of tracks turn right and then left 100yds further on. Continue Over at the railway, past the farm and up to the road. Turn left and walk into the villager.

3 At the T-junction in Great Wilbraham turn right along High Street, follow the road left at the village sign, past the church and out of the village. Keep on the roadside path to Little Wilbraham and go straight on at the first junction.

4 Turn left at the junction by 'The Hole in the Wall' pub, and left at the signpost for Fulbourn down Mill Lane. Carry on past the old mill.

5 Bear right then left with the farm road and continue between the farmhouse and the barns; after 300yds turn left and follow the right hand edge of the field with the hedge to the right. Go through a gateway and keep direction over a field which will possibly be under cultivation, a track should however be visible through any crop. Cross a concrete bridge and an earth bridge over dykes and turn left parallel with the dyke and continue on this grassy track to the road.

6 Turn right, cross over Cole's Bridge and walk up to the footpath sign turn left and take a slight right hand diagonal to the fence (a track should become road. turn right and follow the path beside the fence around several corners d Turn left and walk over the crossing and along Station Road o ht hand turn where it becomes Church Street. 7 Go left along the path to the Nature reserve, turn right at the information board and bear right; the dirt road with the trees to the left leads to the gate and your vehicle in the parking area.

3 Fleam Dyke
41/2 Miles 2 Hours

Find a parking space in Fen Ditton village, shop and two local pubs the 1111 Lion' and the 'Ancient Shepherds'. No toilets

1 Walk away from the B1047 towards the church, at the war memorial fork right into Church Lane and follow to the right. As the road swings left g the playing field and continue down the left hand side of the next field. Turn left in the corner, walk down the bridleway and turn right.

2 Go through the kissing gate and follow the path parallel to the river, past the house and under the A14 next to the river. Continue past a long wooden shed and a fence and turn right at the marker post.

3 Cross the footbridge and keep direction, first along a hardcore road and then down the left hand field edge to the road. Turn right along the wide grass verge to the road just before the bus shelter and turn left past the cul-de-sac sign.

4 Walk along this narrow road and keep going straight on down the grassy bridleway when the concrete road turns left. The bridleway deteriorates into a rutted muddy track bearing right, before crossing an old railway line, it continues past a house and bears right again.

5 The surface improves and it crosses the A14 over a bridge. Turn right and follow the road into Fen Ditton to find your vehicle.

Fen Ditton dates from around 950AD the Saxon name Dittone meaning the village by the ditch. Stone age tools and artefacts found locally date human habitation back to the time when forests covered the land around Cambridge before the formation of the Fens. The village marks the western end of Fleam Dyke, a defensive earthwork already regarded as old by the Saxons. The Dyke extends further east between Fulbourn and Balsham.

4 Rowley Lane
6 1/2 Miles 3 Hours

Park in the limited area on the green in the centre of Whittlesford village.

1 From the parking entrance turn right along the road and then right into Church Lane, past the war memorial and Church Close. Take the path signposted left to  the tarmac path, turn right to the far corner of the cemetery and turn left. Continue  down the fenced path, bearing right along a tree lined path. Turn right over the firs footbridge and follow the tarmac path across the river at the second. After the third t footbridge turn left down a short piece of road.

2 Turn right over the railway and the road into Sawston ahead. Bear left into New Road and go straight over at the traffic lights.

3 Just past the business park take the path signposted left at the fence corner. Keep going along the left hand field edge to the T-junction of paths and turn right along Rowley Lane (not signposted). Walk the length of the Lane to the T-junction with the road.

4 Turn right through the hedge gap diagonally across the field to the left hand end of the avenue of trees, this field may have a crop in it but the path should be visible. Cross the road and maintain direction firstly with the hedge to the right and then over the field. Continue over the boundary (which was once a railway line) and along a path for 100yds; cross the field to the hedge end where the track bears left. Bear left again at a farm road and pass close to a telegraph pole before reaching the houses.

5 Go down the path between the houses to where Henry Morris Road starts at a T-junction. Turn left, walk to the end of the road bearing right and go down the path between the bungalow and the railings. Turn left, go past the footpath signs and turn right down the cul-de-sac, past the end of Huddleston Way and the church, up to the T-junction.

6 Turn left and walk down to the footpath signposted right, between walls, almost opposite Prince William Way. Keep going along this narrow tarmac footpath across the A1301 road and the railway. Bear left over the footbridge to Whittlesford Mill, turn left then right past the mill and carry on into the village and your vehicle.

Sawston was the site of the country's first Village College in 1930. This was an idea conceived as a regional centre combining school and facilities for adult education, as well as social and cultural needs.

5. Coldham's Brook
7 Miles  3 Hours

Start from the 'Park and Ride' car park (free), off the A1303 Newmarket road east of Cambridge. Hot drinks machine. Toilets on site,

1 Go out of the entrance and turn left along the A1303 signposted Newmarket, walk up to the roundabout and turn right. Follow the Airport perimeter fence to a footpath signposted to Cherry Hinton and turn right.

2 Keep alongside the fence around several corners, turn right over a footbridge then left to continue between fence and hedge. Bear left over another footbridge close to some airport buildings and go down the left hand field edge; turn right in the corner and bear left through a hedge gap into March Lane in Cherry Hinton. Fork right then turn right at the T-junction at the end of the road. Turn left down a wire fenced tarmac path between factories; go to the right at the bottom.

3 Turn left just past Kathleen Elliott Way signposted Burnside along the old road with the wire fence to the left, when the houses end go straight on through the gap, then bear right keeping to a tarmac path with lampposts on the right. The path leads past the railway, over a footbridge then on to Burnside.

4 Cross the brook on the footbridge, turn right and continue with the brook on the right. Keep direction past Sainsburys, through their car park and over a zebra crossing. Turn left and bear right under the second railway bridge into Barnwell Road. Cross and go along the path on the left hand side of the road, turn left through the kissing gate and cross both streams. Continue with the field on the left and Coldham's Brook on the right through the kissing gate in the next corner.

5 Bear left and walk for 600yds past the earth mounds, turn right over the brook and then follow the brook left past the sports equipment. Go through yet another kissing gate and bear right along the path past the stadium to the road. Cross at the lights, turn left and keep on the path alongside the dual carriageway.

6 Turn second right into Garlic Row, go straight on in the corner through the barriers and bear right. Bear right again almost immediately down a hardcore path and cross over the railway by the footbridge. Recross Coldham's Brook by the next footbridge and take a right hand diagonal to the footbridge closest to the river.

7 Follow the riverbank and bear right towards Fen Dillon church, go uphill along the road past the church and carry straight on over the crossroads. Turn right into Shepherds Close and go left through the kissing gate at the signpost.

8. Keep direction past the farm buildings through three more kissing gates; negotiate the steps either side of the old railway cutting through the trees beyond. Keep a straight line now over the field ahead to the blue signpost, continue though the fate to the park and ride car park.

Enjoy!