** Please note that this is an archive of the CANTAB publication and contains out-of-date information **

CANTAB RAMBLER

Editorial
The present issue focuses on Fenland, and the fen edge: walking opportunities, the villages, and issues affecting the long term state of the countryside. I hope you find it of interest: if not, please write with suggestions – or articles!
Janet Moreton

Along the Rothschild Way – OS Explorer Sheets 225,226,227
In 2014, Adrian Kempster, of Huntingdon’s RA Group created the 39 mile walking route between Wicken Fen and Woodwalton Fen. He sought to celebrate Charles Rothschild’s purchase in 1912 of land to preserve the fenland landscape. The Beds, Cambs and Hunts Wildlife Magazine of Spring 2017 celebrated the first full-length walk along the route by a party including Helen Bailey and Andrew Cuthbert, taking some 18 hours! The article suggests use of the route as a challenge walk, but this seems to me a poor way to appreciate the ambient countryside. Besides, how many of us can walk 39 miles in a day!

This article suggests that the route is used as a focus for a series of fenland rambles, each including a short section of the route, and one or two of the fenland villages nearby. For several long sections, the route follows existing LDPs.

Synopsis of the route
Start on the Rothschild Way along the well-used Wicken Lode path to Upware. From Upware, follow the Fen Rivers Way and Rothschild Way along the W bank of the R Cam to the Holt Fen Drove bridge over Old West River. (The last news reported the pub here is closed).

The 5 mile route uses Stretham Ferry Bridge, by The Lazy Otter pub, and crosses the A10, continuing alongside the Great Ouse and over The Twenty Pence Road. The route, still co-incident with the Ouse Valley Way, passes to the S of Aldreth along the river bank to the lock at Earith and continues to Brownshill Staunch, the highest point reached by North Sea tides.

From Brownshill Staunch to Broughton it is co-incident with the Pathfinder Walk. Finally, the route passes Little Raveley, Wistow, and approaches Woodwalton Fen via Common Bridge and Jacksons Bridge.

Points of interest and short walks along the Rothschild Way
Beware! The walks suggestions here are mostly outlne only, leaving detailed route planning to the reader. Some of the ideas derive from guidebooks now out of print, and the author has done some but not all these walks herself!

Walk 1:The start at Wicken Fen, Explorer 226
The National Trust’s Wicken Fen is one of the UK’s oldest reserves, having celebrated its centenary in 1999. The fen has been managed for centuries by traditional sedge cutting and peat digging. The resulting habitat is abundant in wildlife, especially invertebrates. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded, and in Spring and Summer an impressive array of wetland wild flowers. The reserve has good parking (free to NT members), information centre and a café. The classic walk of 2 miles around the fen is almost obligatory to obtain a real sense of the preserved landscape, and its wildlife interest. Then, start on the Rothschild Way along the well-used Wicken Lode path to Upware (Five Miles from Anywhere, no Hurry pub!). From Upware, take the path N past Commissioners Pit, and E to the Upware Road. A path leads E, and round the outside of the perimeter to Wicken Fen, and back to the café.

Walk 2 Stretham circuit, Holt Fen Bridge & Stretham Old Engine, Explorer 226
The Fen Rivers Way guide describes a walk from Stretham to Holt Fen Drove and along Old West River past Stretham Old Engine and the Little Chef on the A10, returning on a path going N into Stretham (described in Fen Rivers Way Guide, 2nd ed. pp31-33, 7 miles). Park considerately in Stretham, which has 2 pubs, and an interesting church.

Walk 3. Bluntisham, Explorer 225
Park considerately in the village, and cross the A1123 to take the path S on the Pathfinder Trail and the Rothschild Way to Brownshill Staunch, deviating if desired to visit the RSPB reserve. After lunch a circuit may be made via Wood End. (ca 6 miles).

An old Hunts RA Group publication by Judy Morris, revised and published by Hunts DC in 1990, gives a walk from Bluntisham going E through orchards to Earith, crossing the Great Ouse at Earith Lock, and following the S bank (properly here “the Bedford Level Corporation Barrier Bank”) to Brownshill Staunch, and returning to Bluntisham as described above. This walk along the bank, part of the Rothschilds Way, is sufficient to give a good taste of the miles of flat fenland walking experienced by the challenge walkers! (12 miles)

Walk 4 Broughton & Kings Ripton, Explorer 225
Hunts RA published a green booklet in 1998 called “Twenty Rambles in Huntingdonshire”. Walk 10 of this book takes us a very little further along the Rothschilds Way, as part of a circuit from Broughton Church, visiting Kings Ripton, Raveley Wood, and back to Broughton. (6.5 miles) The walk is almost entirely on field edges and good tracks.

Walk 5 Warboys, Explorer 226, 227
Our route, still along the Pathfinder Way, and co-incident with the Rothschild Way, takes us to Warboys. Here I sought recourse to Google, and an informative website: www.britishwalks.org/walks/2012/944.php

It includes routes varying in length from 2 to 25 miles. For those wishing, perhaps, to limber up for the whole Rothschild Way, the 25 miles route is as follows: St Ives – Houghton – RAF Wyton – Kings Ripton – Broughton – Warboys – Buss Drove – Somersham – Colne – Bluntisham – Brownshill Staunch – Middle Fen Drove (Swavesey) – The Guided Busway path – St Ives.

Walk 6 Abbots Ripton, Little Raveley, and Wood Walton, Explorer 225
This walk, based on a reprint of the old Judy Morris book, “Country Walks in Huntingdonshire”, gives a circuit to Wood Walton. The route uses Hall Lane, around Wennington Wood, The Butts, past Little Wills Farm and on to Wood Walton. The return route touches the corner of Hill Wood, and runs SSE to Clay Lane, and returns to Abbots Ripton past Brooklands farm. (10 miles)

Walk 7 Great Fen (Woodwalton Fen and its extensions), Explorer 227
The reserve, an NNR and SSSI, lies at the lowest part of the Hunts fens, and surrounding drainage caused the reserve to dry out in the early C20th. Ground level shrank, and by 1930, the Victorian landscape of sedge & reed had become dense scrub. Since the 1950s much of the open fen has been restored and water levels raised to encourage wetland species, including 170 birds, and vast numbers of invertebrates.

Limited car parking is available on the bank beside Jackson’s Bridge. A leaflet available on site suggests 3 short walks the Bungalow trail (Rothchild’s original building, built on piles); The Reedbed trail; and the Mere trail. Taken together, these might be 3.5 miles, with a suggested walking time 3 hours! There is now also access into the new Darlow’s Farm Extension.

Also visit Holme Fen, which is the largest silver birch plantation in lowland England. The reserve also supports areas of cross-leaved heath and open water and is home to nightingales and the small copper butterfly. Find the famous Holme posts (originally sunk to their tops in the fen) at TL 200 891, and parking is possible hereabouts, along Holme Lode roadway. A short walk is possible on Holme fen, see local notices. It is not currently feasible to walk directly between Holme Fen and Jackson’s Bridge.

Ramsey
Do not consider making the long drive from the Cambridge area to Great Fen, without also visiting the interesting town of Ramsey. Parking is available off Great Whyte.

The Benedictine Monastery founded 969 was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, and largely demolished. The Lady Chapel remained, converted by the Cromwells into a manor house, which in turn became part of a school, and the Lady Chapel is now part of its basement. Other remains of the abbey are fragments of precinct wall and ruins of the once magnificent gatehouse, now National Trust. Nearby is the parish church of St Thomas a Becket, formerly the abbey guest house.

Great Ouse Tidal River Basin – Climate change and flood protection
The Environmental Agency (EA) is asking for billions to protect the fen landscape from future flooding, Flooding issues were quantified by the EA in a 2017 report.

The Great Ouse is tidal as far inland as Brownshill Staunch. Potential sea level rises due to climate change by the year 2100 were estimated as 1 to 3 metres. The EA have used these figures to determine the degree of flood risk and costs of protection. East Cambs District Council is lending support to the EA. See http://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/press/east-cambs-stands-alongside-environment-agency-highlight-risk-flooding-fens

World Rivers Day
The last Sunday in September is kept as World Rivers Day, first celebrated in 2005. In 2017, the occasion was marked in 79 countries, with the aim of focussing attention on rivers, their problems and benefits.

Locally, the Cam Valley Forum exists as a voluntary networking group to bring together concerned bodies, such as The Cam Conservators, The Environment Agency (EA), The Wildlife Trust, Cambridge City Council and the District Councils. Walkers using the river Cam towpath are sometimes only too aware that the river is a shared resource – fishermen with extending rods line the banks, and eights coaches whiz past on their bikes. But mostly a walk by the River Cam is a pleasant experience at all seasons, thanks to the work of the above agencies, and volunteers.

A leaflet produced by the Cam Valley Forum lists recent improvement works. These include: litter removal campaigns; reduction in deep dredging of streams; creation of more upstream wetlands to reduce flooding; better sewage treatment; improved agrochemical application on adjacent land; removal of alien plants,eg Floating Pennywort, and Himalayan Balsam; trapping of alien mink, and improved facilities for otters; and fish passes* at Byrons Pool and Sheeps Green.
* note also a new fish pass currently being built at Burnt Mills Gauging Station on the Cam near Haslingfield.

Waste at Waterbeach.
CPRE’s county magazine’s spring number, reports on their recent objection to a development by Amey Cespa. The company has a huge plant off the A10 at Waterbeach, sorting and treating domestic waste. For items which they are unable to recycle, it is proposed to build an incinerator on the site, with an 80 metre high chimney. There are pollution considerations here: the higher the chimney, the greater distance emissions are dispersed, and hence diluted. Alternative disposal is via landfill sites, which are in short supply.

CPRE’s objections are based on the appearance of the incinerator, and the effects on the landscape. The chimney would be visible from high points in the area, such as Ely Cathedral, and would have “significant and adverse visual impact on the local character and surrounding countryside”. CPRE agreed with Historic England’s submission that the incinerator would “overbear, overwhelm and completely destroy the fragile setting of the historic medieval Denny Abbey.”

The chimney would certainly be visible from the riverside, and from the Fen Rivers Way long distance path. The application was undecided at the time of writing. Meanwhile, wash out that pickle bottle for recycling!

Proposed busway route
Lib Dems’ success at recent local elections is claimed to have been influenced by their stand on the proposed Cambourne to Cambridge busway route. Cllr Van de Weyer was quoted “ I cannot support the off-road option at all. The finances and cost benefits are still not clear. There are fundamental problems . It would do huge damage to the villages along the route”.

It would also do huge damage to the path network in this part of South Cambs. Let us keep our fingers crossed.

Hauxton Mill development
Plans are afoot to turn the derelict Hauxton Mill and adjacent buildings into the focus of a “SciTech” Park. As well as creating quality office and laboratory space, the developer plans to open a café for the public “to enjoy one of the most popular heritage walking routes in Cambridge”. Local walkers will be only too pleased to enjoy the riverside path again, when all building work finishes around Hauxton Mill, and on the adjacent former chemical works, now a large half-finished housing estate.

Cantab Rambler by E-Mail & Post
Cantab now appears some four times a year. A large number of you now receive Cantab by e-mail. If you would like to receive an issue by post, please send a large SAE. 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@outlook.com
Cantab91 © Janet Moreton, 2018.