Earith Bridge to Aldreth Causeway and Willingham

The Ouse Valley Way doesn't go to Willingham, but in the spirit of walking between the two places (Sherington and Denver) where I was living in 2015, it seemed appropriate to visit Willingham, also just a short distance from the path, because we lived here from February 1985 to October 1988 and it was both of our children's first home. Saturday had been a miserable day weather-wise, but the weather forecast was reasonable for Sunday, and it was indeed a lovely autumnal day. The clocks had just gone back, meaning darkness around 4.30pm, but we had things to do first thing; so we left home mid-morning. We parked one car in a lay-by by the Green in Willingham (TL408705; note that parking is no longer allowed on the Green itself, but there is oodles of on-street parking in Willingham, so no need to worry) and the other at Earith Bridge (TL393747).

We turned onto the B1050 towards Willingham, and the Ouse Valley Way is signposted on the left from here, down a narrow path through Hermitage Marina. It was a bit overgrown and we had to undo a long chain attached to a padlock in order to open a gate (the padlock wasn't locked but maybe someone wanted us to think that it was) and negotiate some rickety wooden steps in order to get down to a metal bridge, but it was passable. We'd seen the overgrown path last time we were here, and wondered about walking around the Marina (via a short walk along the A1123) but in fact there was a gate that was locked at the point this path came down to the river (TL395746), so I think the official route was best.

We emerged onto the flood defence bank to the north of the River Great Ouse and essentially followed this for a next 3.5 miles to Aldreth Causeway. The river is now quite small; much of the water has headed north along the Old and New Bedford Rivers, from Earith towards Denver Sluice. The small river that's left, although technically still the Great Ouse, is also known as the West River between here and where it reaches the Cam.

We were initially running parallel with the B1050, a road that we know well from when we lived in Willingham, but I'd not previously realised that the river the road follows is the Great Ouse. The road turned to the south whilst the river, defence bank and path continued in a more easterly direction. We passed Flat Bridge and an information board telling us about the West River, then the bank and path deviated from the river around "The Washes", most attractive with grazing cattle.

We passed Haddenham Pumping Station, with the old building still there, though the modern pumping station may or may not be in the building. We passed Queenholme Farm on the other side of the building and reached a drainage ditch and a couple of tracks leading up to Aldreth. Incidentally, don't worry about the ford shown on the map here; there is a perfectly good path all the way.

We left the Ouse Valley Way and crossed High Bridge, with the first boat that we had seen since Hermitage Marina passing under the bridge just as we walked over it. We were now on Aldreth Causeway, one of the ancient routes across the fens; another information board told us about William the Conqueror's attempts to reach the Isle of Ely by this route, and Hereward the Wake's counter-offensives (Hereward the Wake was initially successful, but William the Conqueror got to Ely by another route).

We followed the Causeway towards Willingham; in places the amount of fly-tipping reminded us of Flanders and Swann's "Bedstead men", but it was generally attractive walking. We crossed the earthwork of Belsar's Hill, though you can see more of it from Google Earth than you can see from the path. We met a couple out walking their dog, then as we reached Schole Road (the track we had decided to take down into Willingham) an odd agricultural vehicle of some sort could be seen going backwards and forwards along the track. We never worked out what it was doing.