Foxcam one

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This is a flat route that roughly follows the route of the River Cam or Rhee. Whilst the landscape is unexciting the villages along the route generally pre-date the Norman conquest, and over head you may see planes from the nearby Duxford Air Museum (I saw a Spitfire barrel roll during my walk).

Foxton has few amenities other than the railway halt. The walk to Barrington is mostly on the road with no pavement, however traffic is fairly light (be wary at some blind corners).

At Barrington a slight diversion off route will take you to the enormous 22 acre village green complete with charming thatched pub (The Royal Oak), village shop and the 13th century All Saints Church. Parts of the church are built using the local hard chalk known as ‘clunch’ that you can see softly eroding in the open tracery at the porches.

Taking Glebe Road to head toward Harston you re-cross the railway serving the chalk quarry. The line was used to export cement manufactured from the chalk, but now it runs in reverse bringing in spoil from projects such as HS2. You can see the white cliffs of the former quarry in the distance at the foot of the ridge that once formed a frontier between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia.

Glebe Road gives onto a path through fields that is well drained and unlikely to become muddy. Soon after rejoining the line of the river the path disappears into a zone of hedge and trees - whilst passable there was some bramble and nettle encroaching onto the path when walked in August 2021 and some locals have been bypassing by walking round via the field margin. At some point in the next decade it is possible the proposed Oxford Cambridge rail link will cross the river somewhere near here.

Approaching Harston you can glimpse the 14th century All Saints Church and Harston Manor across the water. During the Civil War royalist cavalry attempting to ford the river were repulsed by Cromwellian forces, the site is known as the Red Field. There is a pub and village store if you divert east to the village high street (the A10).

Taking Button Lane out of Harston this leads onto a well drained field path to Haslingfield. After crossing the River Rhee a well signed permissive path granted by Trumpington Estate allows you to divert off the Slow Way, by following a concrete track around a new mixed woodland planted in celebration of Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. The path back to the Slow Way through Cantelupe Farm is within a wooded field margin that is likely to be muddy in wet weather.

The track through Cantelupe farm is tarmac and concrete with much recent lime tree and hedge planting. To the west you can see some of the dishes that comprise the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory located on the site of a WWII ammunition store.

Shortly after crossing the M11 on a pedestrian bridge you enter the village of Grantchester. There is a choice of pubs and The Orchard where you can take tea and scones on deck chairs beneath the apple trees. The village is often busy at weekends as it is an easy walk from Cambridge through the meadows. You may well see canoeists and punts on the river and it is a popular spot for wild swimming despite discouragement from the land owner – King’s College.

You enter Cambridge via the suburb of Newnham. From here there is a choice of routes to the centre but the Slow Way route next to the river and then up Mill Lane is probably the most attractive.

This route is fairly flat and benefits from great views over the flat Cambridgeshire countryside for much of its length. The section to Grantchester is very well walked, on a smooth tarmac path and has good views of the river. The motorway crossing is via a fairly steep bridge with wide steps, and there are sections across fields which would be muddy following wet weather. The road from Barrington to Foxton is rather unpleasant; a nicer alternative would be to end the walk at Shepreth which can be reached via a footpath across fields from Barrington.

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