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CANTAB03 September 2000

CANTAB03 September 2000 published on

CANTAB RAMBLER

Editorial
This is a privately produced news-sheet for our rambling friends, with an emphasis on the walking scene in Cambridgeshire.  We aim to give away copies, but if you would like to have regular issues, a donation of 10p per copy would cover our costs!

Janet & Roger Moreton
(01223 356889)

WALK THE FEN RIVERS WAY

JAN – MARCH 2001
The Cambs. RA programme for Winter 2001 will include six Saturday walks along the Fen Rivers Way between Cambridge and Kings Lynn, accessed by train.  We shall be leading these, so please join us!

All attendees on the last walk will receive certificates!
New 2nd. ed. of guidebook available, & see FRW website www.fenriversway.org.uk

Saturday 6 Jan. 2001
JANET’S 10th Christmas Bun Walk combined with FRW 1st section – CAMBRIDGE TO WATERBEACH
Meet at Cambridge Station 10 am. for walk to Waterbeach.  ca, 10 miles. Return by train from Waterbeach Station. Leader Janet  Tel. 01223-356889

Saturday 3 Feb. 2001
FRW 2nd section – WATERBEACH to ELY
Meet at Cambridge Station for 9.32 train to Waterbeach, or meet Waterbeach Sta. 9.38 am.  Return from Ely. ca. 12 miles. Leader Roger  Tel 01223 35688 Check train times with leader.

Saturday 10 Feb. 2001
FRW 3rd SECTION – Meet Cambridge Station for 9.32 train to Ely, or meet Ely Sta 9.47 am. Return from Littleport Sta.  6 or 10 miles.  (The walk will include an optional 4 mile afternoon circuit from Littleport)  Leader  Janet Tel 01223 356889.  Check train times with leader.

Saturday 17 Feb. 2001
FRW 4th SECTION –  Meet Cambridge Station for 9.32 train to Littleport, or meet Littleport Sta 9.54 am.  Return from Downham Market Station.  Leader Roger  Tel 01223 356889  13 miles (or you can do less -see below). Note: It may be possible to arrange “car assistance” along this stretch, for anyone finding this just too far…essential to arrange in advance. Check train times with leader.

Saturday 24 Feb. 2001
FRW 5th SECTION – Meet Cambridge Station for 9.32 train to Downham Market, or meet Downham Mkt Sta 10.03 am. Return from Watlington Station Station. Leader  Janet Tel 01223 356889  8.5 miles  Check train times with leader.

Saturday 3 March. 2001
FRW 6th SECTION – Meet Cambridge Station for 9.32 train to Watlington, or meet Watlington Sta 10.09am.  Return from Kings Lynn Station.  Celebration!  Leader Roger  Tel 01223 356889  9 miles (14km) inc. historic centre. Check train times with leader

We hope to have join us members of the Fen Rivers Way Association, and have also invited members of the Kings Lynn Group of the Ramblers Association.

Trip to Kilnhill, Bassenthwaite,
9 -14 May 2001.
We have now led parties of around 12 to 16 people to the Lake District in May for 3 years running.  These trips have proved very popular, and we have been asked to repeat the venture again in 2001.  This year, there will be 5 full walking days, extending over a weekend.

As on previous holidays, we shall aim to do about 9 – 12 miles a day, with a mountain climb if the weather makes this possible.  As previously, we will not have recced the routes, but we do have a good range of maps and guidebooks, and we have visited the Lake District many times in the last 40 years.  We do not deliberately aim for screes, or places with high exposure.  Having said that, some folks have been slightly disconcerted to be using path-less routes occasionally in areas of open access, & by certain steep slopes.  The Lake District is just like that!  We will not do the same walks as previous years, but those who have come on all the holidays may find they are occasionally crossing the tracks of previous routes.

We will use OS Outdoor leisure Series NE & NW Cumbria (yellow covers).  You might also like to have OS Landranger Sheet 98, West Cumbria., showing the guest house Grid Ref. 214 326 at the N end of bassenthwaite Lake.  A metal walking pole (or two?) is highly recommended, and waterproof overtrousers are essential.

Kiln Hill Barn, Bassenthwaite is a good centre for the Northern Lakes.  In the house there are 5 double or twin rooms, and 2 singles.  In the annex there is one double and 1 twin.  Rates at 2000 were ca. £32 per night bb/em.  The very pleasant site overlooks fields down to the lake, and behind looms the bulk of the Skiddaw massif.  Mr. & Mrs Armstrong run a small farm, with free-range chicken, sheep and calves.  Parking is in a clean, cobbled yard.  The accommodation is good quality, with some rooms en-suite, all with central heating, and tea-making facilities.There is a hall pay-phone & TV lounge.  The dining room is in the upper floor of the very fine barn… and the food is varied and very good.

For evenings, there are attractive local walks from the house.  Paths on Mr. Armstrong’s land are well-maintained & waymarked.

Transport – By car, using M6 to Penrith, then A66 Keswick bypass and A591 to Kiln Hill Barn.  It is possible to arrive by public transport.

Interested?  Then please make your own booking: Ken & Heather Armstrong, Kiln Hill Barn, Bassenthwaite, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 4RG.
Tel. 017687 76454

And please let us know you have done so!

Janet & Roger Moreton

Quotation – William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Composed 1804 at Dove Cottage;
Published 1807

Saga – Yorkshire Wolds
Bishop Burton College, near Beverley, 8 August 2001
The company, SAGA, which specialises in holidays and services for the 50-plus age group, runs holidays in University College accommodation during the Summer.  We have used two such centres, at Writtle near Chelmsford, and at Bicton in Devon.  Both were excellent, with comfortable accommodation and good food.

In August 2001, we plan to go to Bishop Burton College, near Beverley, to spend a week rambling in the Yorkshire Wolds.  We have walked in the area about 15 years ago, and know there is pleasant walking in undulating hilly country.  We invite our friends to make their own booking with SAGA, and join us for some pleasant 10 – 12 mile walks.

SAGA also lays on daily coach tours, which are popular with the majority of their guests, (but not compulsory!)  These cost around an extra £12 – £16 per day, and could be an alternative option for an inclement day, or for a non-walking partner.  Two tours, to Castle Howard, and to Burton Constable Hall, are included in the price.

We advise you to use SAGA’s Freefone 0800 300 456 to order their Great British Holiday Brochure, and make your own booking.  Please liaise with us, so we know how many people are coming….  The Beverley and the Yorkshire Wolds Holiday costs £219. for bb/em.  We have been told the food is very good!  There is no supplement for single rooms, but there is a supplement for en-suite facilities…

And, if you are not yet 50, we hope to research b/b accommodation in the vicinity for anyone else who would like to join the walks…

Local Literature
Series of books, “100 Walks in”
Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire-compiled by Katherine Appleton & Bob & Celia Wallace. 1998.
Essex-compiled by Anita Totham. 1995.
Suffolk
-compiled by Robert H Stoner. 1996.

This is part of a series published by Crowood Press, covering most of the counties of England.  Each book has just what it says…100 walks, each with a minimal sketch map, and a route description.  Many walks tend to be on the short side for active ramblers, being in the range 3 – 10 miles, with a majority at ca. 5 miles. It would, in general, not be possible to combine 2 walks to give a longer circuit, as the routes tend to be distributed all over the county. The descriptions also give required maps, and are strong on historical notes and points of interest.  Pubs and parking places are suggested.

We have test-walked some of the routes in each of these, and in general would not fault the descriptions. We find it a little puzzling, though, that the authors, (or perhaps the publishers) could not conceive 100 walks in each of Cambs. and Beds., without having to find only 100 walks between them! Still in print, the standard price is £8.99, and thus not expensive if one plans to explore every walk.

More Watery Ways…
July’s issue described The Nar Valley Way, The Iceni Way and The Angles Way.  This month it is the turn of The Nene Way.

A pack of leaflets is available from Northamptonshire County Council (at 9, Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP) describing the 70 mile section from Badby to Wansford. Cambs. County Council (Shire Hall, Castle Hill, Cambridge, CB3 0AP) has issued a single leaflet, with maps and notes on the 30 mile section from Wansford to Long Sutton, and The Wash at Guy’s Head.  We used also Landranger Maps 131, 141, 142, 143, 152 and 153, although now one would prefer the new Explorer series.

Four of us walked the Nene Way (pronounced “Nen” in Northants!) in sections between May & December 1993.  We started by staying for a weekend at Babdy in Northants, quite the prettiest part of the route. Here, we have a photograph of Roger spanning the infant river, with one foot on each bank!  Doing 12 mile days, and the two-car trick, we progressed through Upper Wheedon, and taking in part of  The Grand Union Canal, and on to Flore and Kislingbury.  It was interesting to walk through industrial Northampton along the river bank, and on to Cogenhoe.  The worst part of this section was having to cross the (then) A45 road, without bridge, underpass, or lights.  Elsewhere on the route, it was written into the guide to cross several very busy roads, probably the main defect of the route. Subsequently, using two cars, and in single days out, we passed through Earls Barton and Wellingborough. Earls Barton is famous for a magnificent church, with a huge Saxon tower. Spring turned to Summer.  In July, we found time to walk a 14 mile stretch from Irchester, via little Addington to Woodford.  Irchester Country park has a narrow gauge railway museum, and we enjoyed watching steam-up on an old, well-polished locomotive on the private tracks.  The diary records showers on the next occasion, taking us 12 miles to Barnwell.  En route, we particularly enjoyed the quiet section through Titmarsh nature reserve.  By now the River Nene was a very substantial watercourse, sometimes split into more than one channel.  In late August, walking Barnwell to Nassington, we made a highly recommended detour into Oundle.  The section from Nassington to Ferry Meadows, Peterborough, starts to have paths in common with the Hereward Way, and in places dual waymarking. In September, the four of us spent a week on the Isle of Wight, and not until 3 October did we tread the route onwards past Dog-in-a-Doublet to Whittlesea, using a convenient train for this section.  A dour day at the end of October, we made it along the south bank of Moreton’s Leam to Ring’s End and Guyhirn and Cold Harbour Corner.  Here the physical high-point of the route was the trig point on the bank at Moreton’s Leam. A bitter November day took us 9 miles from Cold Harbour through Wisbech to Foul Anchor, enjoying the bleak atmosphere of the low lands, and the dignity of Peckover House and the buildings fronting Wisbech’s North Brink. Had we timed it better, we could have toured the brewery here! On 11 December, there is a photo in the album of 3 bundled figures by the footpath sign in a strong wind bearing flakes of snow at Guy’s Head, having made it past the unsmiling Security Officers along the right of way through Sutton Port.  We had walked a total distance of 125 miles with detours, on this very worthwhile route.

Cantab Rambler by E-Mail & Post
Cantab usually appears every two months. A large number of you now receive Cantab by e-mail. By hand, 10p is appreciated towards the cost of paper and ink. If you would like to receive an issue by post, please send a large SAE, and a stamp.

Offers of brief articles will be gratefully received.

This is a privately produced magazine, and the views expressed are solely those of the editor, or of the author of an individual item.  Janet Moreton 01223 356889

e-mail roger.janet@care4free.net

© Janet Moreton, 2000

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