Camsaw one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 75.00% of reviewers

Very easy flat safe walk. From Sawston through the fields and farm track. Then into Stapleford alning the DNA, guided busway and nice stream side trail to town. Walked this a few times instead of driving on a dry day.

4 stars as this is a flat and straightforward route with plenty of amenities along the way. It is mostly paved, with unpaved sections next to Hobson’s Conduit and between Stapleford and Sawston (both sections could be bypassed).

The route suggests crossing to the west bank of the Cam to leave Cambridge but a slightly more direct way is via Granta Place on the east bank where you can follow the ancient looking back wall of Peterhouse College. Once past the back of The Leys private school the route turns east to take you across to Trumpington Road. A minor diversion down a side alley would allow you to approach via Chaucer Road where you can check out the mansions on Cambridge’s millionaires’ row.

Having crossed Trumpington Road an unpaved path follows Hobson’s Conduit – a C17th aqueduct named for Thomas Hobson who gave rise to the saying ‘Hobson’s choice’. On the east side of the conduit you can glimpse the flats that form part of the ‘Accordia’ development; in 2008 this won Britain’s highest architectural award – The Stirling Prize.

As you approach Long Road the path joins up with the major cycleway that runs next to Cambridge’s Guided Busway to the Addenbrooke’s Hospital site. As the hospital comes into view you turn east to cross the railway line. The top of the bridge gives a chance to take in the extent of development relating to Cambridge’s thriving biomedical research sector. Directly opposite the bridge is the crystalline form of the new Astra Zeneca HQ, flanked on the left by the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and on the right by the blue clad Papworth Hospital (specialists in heart and lung transplants).

As you leave the hospital campus you join the ‘DNA path’ which runs beside the rail line to London. This was painted with 10,000 stripes to celebrate completion of the 10,000th mile of the National Cycle network. The stripes represent the information contained in just one of the roughly 25,000 genes that make up the human genome.

The route from Great Shelford to Stapleford along Mingle Lane is all on pavements and passes St Andrew’s Church, mostly C14th but dating back to before the Norman conquest. Church Street takes you past two pubs – The Rose and the 3 Horseshoes. There is also a Spar convenience store.

Leaving Stapleford via Bury Road takes you past the recently completed new arts venue called Stapleford Granary. The road turns into a well drained farm track from which you can see a wooded ridge to the north - this is the site of the Wandlebury iron age hill fort.

The edge of Sawston is marked by a housing estate completed in 2021 by Hill Residential. A poor example of design featuring mean looking windows and solar panels that face away from the sun. Church Lane takes you past St Mary’s Church, parts of which date to the C12th. The back wall of the churchyard adjoins Sawston Hall which can be glimpsed through the trees. The Hall was begun in 1557 after the previous hall was burnt in an attempt to prevent Mary Tudor from ascending the throne.
The turn into the High Street is marked by a fun giraffe carved from an old tree trunk. Sawston is well served with shops and pubs including the Greyhound and King’s Head (the latter offers B&B).

A good route which we walked going south out of Cambridge, almost entirely flat except for some inclines on bridges. Much of the route is paved and/or of good-quality packed dirt and gravel, but some parts follow suburban pavements on residential streets where there are cars parked and narrow parts of the route, and other sections are on rutted and thus potentially muddy tracks. This and a few kerbs at road crossings, plus a bridge with steps, mean that (though we were on foot) the route would not in its current form be easy to use with a pushchair and would be impossible with a wheelchair or mobility scooter.

There are also two sections - both less than 300m long - where the route could be improved by slight alteration. One to cut out the aforementioned bridge, and the other to correct a deviation where the route GPX file does not follow rights of way but instead briefly goes through an allotment.

Currently the issues described in the paragraph above mean that the route needs improvement before it is suitable, but the improvements are small: cutting the bridge out by taking an alternative path, and changing the route so that the allotment section in fact follows the footpath that runs parallel to the allotments. With those two changes it would be a suitable route, though with the caveats mentioned above about accessibility for those on wheels.

With those changes my rating would go to a 3-star; the route is suitable for walkers but most of it is fairly unspectacular.

Regularly used this route to cycle to work, though there is a more direct route that is a cycle path that goes through Sawston and past the Dernford Reservoir.
Nevertheless, the paths are well maintained, particularly the DNA path out of Great Shelford and the busway into town, offering a very safe route into Cambridge.

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