Little Wilbraham fen
Little Wilbraham fen
Bike or drive to the starting point and do the rest on foot. About
4 miles out to the starting point and then a 5 mile circular
walk.
Start at the small bridge over Quy Water (easily missed) on the Newmarket Road (A 1303) that is 1/4 mile before the Quy roundabout - the A14 intersection. You can lock your bike up on the bridge on the right hand side of the road, heading away from Cambridge. This is 4 miles east of the city centre. If you are going by car there is parking in a lay-by two or three hundred metres before, on the same side of the road. If you're going by bike, a longer but far more pleasant route is to ride to the far end of Riverside in Cambridge - see the Riverside walk. Head straight across Stourbridge Common on the path alongside the river, passing under the railway line. Continue on the path across Ditton Meadows moving away from the river, turning left towards Fen Ditton village when you reach a junction through some trees. Once in the village turn right up the High Street and cross the busy Horningsea Road, going onto the quiet High Ditch Road straight ahead. This takes you onto the cycle path alongside Newmarket Road. Follow this left about 1/4 mile until you reach the starting point.
View from Quy roundabout of reed beds on Little Wilbraham fen. Photo thanks to Tim Roberts.
Take the footpath right by the river just before
the bridge. Follow this for a few minutes until you reach a footbridge
on your left over the river, with a footpath sign pointing across it.
Cross the bridge and follow the path across more open land bringing you a little
beyond the Quy roundabout, which is above you to your left. Bear right on a
boardwalk down Long Drove Way. There is an
information board near the gate onto it. A straight and even
lode (waterway) runs alongside to your left. This area is Little
Wilbraham Fen - the truest remnant of the fens as they
were in the Cambridge area. Notice the thick reed beds to
your right. After a mile or so follow the drove (path) as it
bears left towards Frog End farm. Through the farm you come
onto a small road. Take the second footpath on the left as
this road makes a 90 degree turn right. This takes you pretty
much straight into the Hole in the Wall pub in Little
Wilbraham. Enjoy the hospitality of what is now quite a smart
restaurant pub. Turn right out of the pub onto a side road,
passing a post box and telephone box on your right after a
couple of hundred metres or so. At Mill Road Farm take the
track left - Mill Road. Perhaps unsurprisingly there is a windmill
further on, to the right. 
The windmill on the edge of the fen. Photo thanks to Tim Roberts.
Go past this and through Hawk Mill Farm. Find the path out of the opposite end of the farm alongside a ditch. Beware: there are 5 paths into the farm! If in doubt ask for Little Wilbraham River, which the ditch runs into. When this is reached you are walking north-west. Always keep alongside the river, passing an interesting lake with an island in the middle. If you haven't been here before it is difficult to imagine this relatively wild area exists within easy reach of the city.
Avoid a track off to the left after 1/2 mile or so. This would take you to Teversham and Fulbourn Fen. The river is now called Quy Water. Wilder wooded areas appear on your right. This water takes you back past the footbridge you crossed near the beginning of the walk and then back to the road bridge where you started. You go up and the river goes underneath.