Bedford to St Neots

On my too-regular journey from Norfolk to Milton Keynes, I drive along the A428 past St Neots, down the A1 to the “Black Cat” roundabout, then right onto the A421 which takes me past Bedford. Today’s walk took us over all of these roads (twice for the A421) and at one stage we were walking right next to the A1. However, for much of the route we were on peaceful riverside paths. It was a pleasant summer day, just slightly too warm on occasions. The other disadvantage of walking in mid-summer was that the vegetation sometimes made it difficult to see the river, even when we were close to it, but it was lovely to walk past locks in use and generally to see others out enjoying a summer Sunday and we had attractive dragonflies and butterflies for company.

We parked one car at the long stay car park close to Riverside Park in St Neots (TL178602) (free on Sundays) and one at the Priory Country Park car park (TL078487) accessed via Priory Business Park on the outskirts of Bedford (always free) and we were walking before 10 am. We passed Cardington Sluice and Cardington Lock and we were soon back on the Ouse Valley Way in Priory Country Park. We had just a few dog walkers for company as we left Priory Lake (where sailing was just beginning to happen in the distance) behind us and walked past the attractive “Ribbon Lakes”, with one strand of the River Great Ouse on our right.

We turned right onto the old railway line, now the Bedford to Sandy Country Way, and slightly busier (though not horrendously so) with cyclists and runners passing us and a couple pushing a push-chair walking a short distance in front of us; we passed them when they stopped to sort out their small child, but they continued at approximately the same speed as us to Danish Camp, which was presumably their destination. The route ran straight in typical railway-line fashion, then wiggled slightly to cross the A421. As we descended from the road bridge, there was a good view to the Cardington Airship Hangars (where airships were built between 1915 and 1930) to our right whilst a sign told us that the flooded gravel-pit to our left was on the site of an ancient burial site.

We regained the line of the railway track and carried straight ahead for a while, but to our surprise the path then bent slightly to the left through woodland and with a softer surface. It was very pleasant walking. We emerged near Willington Dovecote and continued straight ahead past Danish Camp, a café and watersports centre. Most of the other people on the path seemed to be stopping there but we didn’t. A short distance further on, as we passed Willington Lock, the route became a footpath, with instructions that cyclists should dismount; some of the cyclists don’t seem to be able to read…Soon afterwards, the cycle route turned right to return to the line of the old railway line whilst we continued on a path by the river (not cutting across a field as shown on the map).

OS Explorer Sheet 208 is a two sided map, and just on the map turn, the route crossed a bridge and took us to the north of the river. Great Barford Church came into view with a house in front of it, making the view look like a Constable painting. We reached Barford Bridge, an extremely attractive place (before the by-pass was complete, my route to Milton Keynes used to pass through Great Barford, but I had no idea that this pretty corner of the village was here). There is a footpath signed along the river bank from Barford Bridge but our route was not that way; instead we followed New Road past the auspiciously named Jordans Close Scout Activity Centre and the sewage works…

We turned right onto a footpath immediately after the sewage works and this brought us back to and along the river bank. The walking was pleasant enough, but it was somewhat frustrating to be walking close to the river, but unable to see it for much of the time because of the thickness of the vegetation. We could hear boats passing but we didn’t see most of them. We stopped for lunch at a spot with a restricted view of the river, but with good views across arable crops to Roxton Hill and Roxton Hill House.

After two or three miles of walking alongside the river we reached Roxton Lock, which boats were passing through, and Roxton Weir, which a canoeist was negotiating. It was a lovely summer scene. We came within sight (and definitely sound) of the A1, and followed the river as it turned towards the north. We reached a lane towards Roxton (this is Ford Lane on the map) and took this rather than risking the route of the Ouse Valley Way, shown as cutting across fields slightly further on. Ford Lane took us past the fishing lakes we had been walking around since before Roxton Lock and brought us to Roxton, a pretty village.

We took the lane opposite the garden centre, which crossed the A421 and brought us to Chawston, where we turned right. Then we took a path which led, somewhat unpromisingly, from someone’s garden, but which passed a little lake where we sat down for another rest, watching a family of geese; the frequency of our breaks was increasing as it got warmer! The route of our path became unclear on the approach to Wyboston, but we followed around the edge of a little common near Manor Farm. Given how close it is to the A1, Wyboston is remarkably attractive.

We reached the A1 and crossed it by way of a footbridge, then we followed close to the busy road past the Wyboston Lakes Business and Leisure Centre, and up a slip-road (which I usually drive down!) to a roundabout. We crossed the roundabout and walked through an industrial area and into Eaton Socon. We turned right past the church and the “Eaton Socon Cage” (a little lock-up) and down to the river; there was lots of activity here, with a pub in the old mill building, a lock and a weir. We crossed the river by the weir and turned left, through woodland.

I’d expected this final section of the walk to be very well walked but it was quite overgrown in places, though it passed through a campsite and then back across the river to St Neots’ busy Riverside Park. We left the route of the Ouse Valley Way and had an ice cream at the Ambience Café before returning to the car. We collected the other car and drove to the Bedford South Premier Inn, where we were staying for the first time but which we would definitely recommend.

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