Whittlesey to Peterborough
Walked by Sally and Richard, Monday 1st April 2013 (Easter Monday).
About 9 miles of walking (3 hours of walking - quite fast towards the end!), 7.5 miles progress on the Hereward Way and the Nene Way.
As yesterday, the first east-bound train that stopped at Whittlesea (the old spelling of Whittlesey and the spelling still used for the station - most confusing when using a machine to buy tickets!) wasn't until at around 11.45, so we decided to leave a car in Whittlesey, walk to Peterborough and catch the train back. We parked on the rough ground on the approach to the east-bound platform (TL 277946) and set off at around 8.45. It was initially overcast and it felt cold; the sun came out later.
We walked through the centre of Whittlesey, past St Mary's Church with its tower that would be visible for much of our walk, and the attractive Market place, with its 17th Century Butter Cross. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. We left Whittesey by way of the B1040 towards Thorney, which took us alongside Delph Dike, with flooding on the Nene Washes beyond - and in the distance we regained views of the group of brick chimneys and wind turbines that we'd first seen yesterday. These were also in sight for much of today. The Peterborough area was once a centre of the brickmaking industry, and to a certain extent it still is. A more recent industry is the humble potato chip! There is a McCain's factory near Whittlesey and apparently this is powered by wind energy from the tall wind turbines (all the literature talks about three wind turbines here, but we definitely counted four!).
I'm getting ahead of myself. We took a diversion away from the road, around an attractive flooded area described as 'Town Fifty' on the map. We were initially on 'Long Drove' which had a good surface, but we kept straight ahead when Long Drove turned right. The path had obviously been flooded quite recently and it was distinctly squelchy in places, but we had peace and quiet by way of compensation, and good views of swans on the flooded washes.
We returned to the road and crossed the River Nene on the Dog in a Doublet Bridge, then turned left past the Dog in a Doublet Pub to the Dog in a Doublet Sluice. The bizarre name comes from the pub, and the River Nene is tidal downstream of the sluice (from here it goes to Wisbech and thence to the Wash). But we were heading upstream. We climbed up onto the bank to the north of the road, which is in turn to the north of the River Nene. We followed this bank for several miles, sharing the route with the Nene Way (better signposted than the Hereward Way!). The route was straightforward, and rather straight, but the views were lovely.
At Wash Northey there were some houseboats moored on the river. The road left us at this point but a new 'Millenium Bridge' brought National Cycle Route 63 across the river to join us.
The path from here to Peterborough was tarmacked - not usually my favourite surface, but it did mean we could make rapid progress and so avoid a long wait in Peterborough for the two-hourly train service back to Whittlesey. We passed Flag Fen, Peterborough Power Station and the sewage works, and Peterborough Cathedral came into view in the distance. Given we were in the middle of a city not known for its elegance, the riverside path remained remarkably attractive. We passed underneath the A1139 (Frank Perkins Parkway) then crossed the road at the Town Bridge and passed under two railway bridges. We left the river at TL186982 and followed a footpath and steps up to the A1179 (Thorpe Road) and so to the station. We bought tickets (perversely more expensive than yesterday's although the journey is shorter) and caught the train with just a couple of minutes to spare.
