September Walk - Ely to Prickwillow Engine House

Ely and the surrounding area are dominated by the cathedral. Prickwillow, on the banks of the River Lark, may have seen better days but the walk has plenty of variety including meadows, river banks and wide-open fens.

Walk out of the car park into Silver Street (Prince Albert pub); turn right then very soon left into Church Lane. At the end, walk in front of the cathedral then turn right with the backs of shops on the left and the cathedral on the right. Take the passageway which leads into High Street. Turn right and maintain this direction into the Market Place. Cross diagonally and go down Brays Lane into The Vineyards. At the end, where it turns left into Vineyards Way, go ahead on the signed footpath. Follow this across a road and eventually into Lisle Lane. Go left, uphill, and at the roundabout, turn right into Prickwillow Road, but almost immediately enter Ely Common. Take the right fork and follow this out to a road. Cross and enter another section of the common. Here take the left-hand path. Eventually you leave the common over a little bridge and a gate into the car park of Ely Sailing Club. Walk in front of the club and continue on the path until you reach a railway. A

Cross the railway. (Although this is only a single track, TAKE CARE.) Go over another stile into a large meadow and continue on the clear path. Continue in the second part of this meadow, walk to the far side, passing to the left of the reed bed. From the corner, the path crosses another railway line by way of two stiles. (N.B. TAKE CARE. This line is double-track and much busier than the first one.) Turn left for a few yards, then right through a small wood. At the far side, there is yet another railway but the path goes to the left with the railway on the right out to the main road at Queen Adelaide.

Turn right, and cross the railway by the level crossing. Continue over the bridge which crosses the River Great Ouse. Cross the road with GREAT CARE. (Ensure you have good visibility of traffic crossing the bridge.) B

Now climb the embankment and walk northwards, with the river on your left. After about 1ml, just beyond a small group of houses, descend the embankment by the convenient slope. Cross the road. (There is good visibility here but TAKE CARE.) Turn right, and then in about 50 yds, at Clayway Farm, turn left into Clayway Drove. C This bends to the left then the right across Padnal Fen but eventually meets Padnal Bank, beyond which is the River Lark. D Here turn right and continue with the embankment on the left. After a mile the path, now a road with a tarmac surface, passes under a railway line. If conditions allow, climb the embankment and continue beside the river; otherwise continue on the road into Prickwillow. (N.B. It is possible to walk along the top of the embankment much earlier but there is no path over the railway.) E

On reaching Main Street, cross over if you wish to visit the museum, otherwise turn right and walk for about ½ ml. to reach a turning on the left at a right-hand bend. Cross into Putney Hill Road. (CARE. Ensure you have good visibility to cross this fast road.) Almost immediately branch right of the small green to walk in front of the houses. This road runs into Old Bank. At first there is a tarmac surface and houses on both sides but after a ¼ ml. or so the tarmac ends. Go forward along the grassy track, ignoring branches off both sides. After about 1 ½ ml. there is a group of isolated farms. Continue on Middle Fen Bank for another mile. The track eventually rises up a ramp to meet a road. F

Here turn right for about 200 yards, and cross the road to take a footbridge over the River Great Ouse. Follow the path on the other side with a chain-link fence on the right. Then go over Cuckoo Bridge with a good view of a part of Roswell Pits and continue forward past the industrial units. Beyond ‘Cook Engineering’ turn back left, with the company’s car park on the left, down to a gate. Now follow the gravel path with a hedge on the right and grassland on the left. Soon you will see the river on the left and after about ½ ml. go under a railway and continue beside the river. G

Here there is a pleasant avenue of trees and seats facing the river. Keep on the path by the river until you reach Jubilee Gardens where you walk away from the river to reach Broad Street. Cross and walk up the slope through Ely Park with a fine view of the cathedral to the right. Leave the park through a gateway into The Gallery. The road opposite is Silver Street. Walk along this for about 200 yards until you reach the Prince Albert on the right and the entrance to Barton Road Car Park on the left.