Port of Sutton Bridge to Wisbech

The delightful weather continued over the Easter weekend, and after our lovely walk on the Peter Scott Walk on Saturday, we decided to fill in our gap on the Nene Way today. I was heading back to Simpson this evening, but wanted some time in Denver before doing so, so we headed out walking as soon as we could in the morning. This turned out to be sensible as it was really a bit warm for walking in the afternoon. Amazing for April. It also meant that the tide remained high for most of the walk. We parked one car at the Chapel Road car park in Wisbech ((TF458097 - free, massive, and again virtually empty when we arrived) and the other in the layby opposite the Port of Sutton Bridge (TF486221). There were two ships here and just as we were leaving, a person appeared on one of the vessels. We wondered if it would still be there on our return to collect the car (it was!). We set off walking around 8.30 am.

Today's walk did not look very exciting on the map - south along the bank of the River Nene, pretty much in a straight line, but it was surprisingly interesting. We started off on the eastern bank of the river and walked along the road to the "Bridge" of Sutton Bridge, the iconic Cross Keys swing bridge. The bridge was built in 1897, the third bridge on the site. We crossed the river on a pedestrian walkway next to the main bridge, which carries the A17, then crossed the main road, expecting to have to walk on the road for a couple of hundred metres which did not fill us with joy (there was no pavement). Fortunately there was slip road which avoided this necessity. We stopped here to put on sun cream. Yes it was 9am on an April morning, but we could already feel the heat of the Sun.

We emerged onto the minor road heading south. In travelling from our parking place in Wisbech, we had driven along this road in the opposite direction from Tydd Gote, and we therefore knew that it was relatively busy (though nothing like as bad as the A17) - and the map shows quite a long stretch of the Nene Way as being along the road. However after a short distance we were able to get down onto the flood plain of the river. This was a little rough under foot, and damp in places where the river had come over the bank (as it was threatening to do again now) but there was a clear path for most of the way. We passed the Sutton Bridge Power Station on the opposite side of the river.

We had to climb back up onto the road so as to cross the South Holland Main Drain. There is a sluice gate here, and good views to a wind farm. There are a number of power lines in this area (OK, so we had just passed a power station) and where these cross the river, the pylons are unusually tall, presumably to permit tall ships to pass down the River Nene. But is the river really used by ships that are that tall?

The road curved away from the River Nene, heading instead alongside the North Level Main Drain to Tydd Gote, and we'd expected to have to climb back to the road again but we didn't, as our path took us to bridge and sluice with a separate footbridge across the North Level Main Drain and so from Lincolnshire into Cambridgeshire and into the metropolis of Foul Anchor. The bridges were built by George Robert, a member of the Stephenson empire, in 1859 and the footbridge has delicate metalwork, most of which was not visible this morning because of the high tide. And as for the unusual names of the settlements: "Gote" means a water outlet (or alternatively a sluice), "Tydd" means a hill, and one explanation of "Foul Anchor" is that the tides are so strong in this part of the river that they rip out anchors of any boats moored here. It is a surprisingly pretty hamlet, given its ugly name.

The path was signposted up onto a bank (slightly sooner than shown on the map) and we followed this bank all the way to Wisbech. When I tell you that we passed a gas pumping station and (on the opposite bank) a sewage works, and passed under more power lines, you'll get the impression of an unpleasant industrial landscape, but it didn't feel like that at all. It felt as if we were miles from anywhere (which is odd as we could see and hear traffic on the A1101, the road which links from Wisbech to the A17 and is a road we have driven up and down many times) and we saw swans and muntjac deer.

As we walked past Ferry Farm we said hello to a woman sitting out in her garden, and realised that some other walkers had appeared in front of us (presumably having come down Ferry Lane). We stopped for a break (and to change my socks, put on more suncream, and eat chocolate Easter bunny) so never caught up with the walkers, but we also said hello to a couple of people out jogging. There is another Ferry Farm on the opposite side of the river, but there doesn't appear to be a ferry running now.

The tower of West Walton Church was visible across the river to our left, and there were good views to the spire of Leverington church to our right. The water in the Nene was not obviously flowing downstream (as it had been flowing upstream earlier) but the water level was obviously falling and some mud was becoming visible above the river.

It got more built up as we approached Wisbech. We passed the Yacht Harbour and left the river by the Port of Wisbech, which, from the amount of wood piled up on the quayside, appears to import little else. It's a real port though, described on their website as "a small port brimming with big opportunities". We took a cut through to a park, crossed a road, and continued on a footpath next to more parkland to the car park. We were still exactly on the route of the Nene Way, as we had been for the whole of this morning's walk.

Following leg