Coronavirus walks

The dreadful global pandemic resulted in both Richard and me working from home in Norfolk, something that we are very fortunate in being able to do. By the time the UK went into lockdown on Monday 23rd March 2020, my "Office" had been the dining room of our house in Norfolk and Richard's had been the East Wing (the flat above the garage) for almost a week. We had left the flat in Milton Keynes for the duration, whilst Winchley Home, where Richard's Mum Diana is a resident, had also been closed to visitors for nearly a week. For eight weeks, the social distancing rules allowed us one walk each day, and thus it was that we revisited some of our favourite walks around the village many times as well as rediscovering others, and - amazingly given that we have lived here for more than 30 years - discovering some new routes too. We are amazingly lucky to live close to such beautiful scenery, which we were able to enjoy as spring progressed, whilst getting our daily exercise and meeting very few other people.

Most days we walked before starting work at 8am, again to minimise our contact with other people. On working days for the first month or so we usually just walked down Sluice Road, past Denver Windmill (sadly still without its sails following an accident in 2011) and Sluice Common (with three horses on one side of the track to West Hall Farm and two on the other) to the entrance to Rookery Farm and the railway line; Denver Station was here until closed in 1930, but trains on the line between Kings Lynn, Downham Market and Ely, Cambridge and London still cross the level crossing, though during the worst of the pandemic, they didn't carry many passengers. Occasionally we walked further down the road to the Denver Sluice Complex, where the original sluice was built by Cornelius Vermuyden in 1651 as part of the drainage of the fens. Click here for a selection of our photos taken on these walks down Sluice Road.

We have walked the basic circuit of the village many times before, and during the Pandemic it became a staple for when we wanted a relatively long walk on a weekday or a relatively short walk at the weekend or another holiday. Then on Easter Monday, we walked the slightly longer variant - which Richard remembers walking before, maybe 20 years ago, but I don't remember at all. That gave two different routes, each of which could be walked in either direction. With the added joy of the evolving sights, sounds and smells as spring progressed, this provided a pleasant amount of variation. From late April, we began to explore various part-circuits (shown in various shades of blue on the map) as an alternative to walking down the road and back as our exercise on working days. That gave lots of options! Unfortunately, the longer variant (shown in green on the map) ceased to be an option in Spring 2021 when the landowner put up signs indicating that part of the route was private.

Click here for our photos taken on circuits of Denver between March 2020 and March 2021.

Instructions (basic version, recorded in red on the map): Head west out of Denver, passing Denver Windmill on the left. At Sluice Common turn left through the gate onto the Common and about halfway to the back of it take the path left through the gorse bushes which leads to another gate. Pass through the gate and across a boardwalk and climb slightly onto a path between hedges, which passes behind the windmill and with views to the houses of Sluice Road on the left and open countryside on the right. Pass behind houses on Brady Close and emerge onto a track just by a narrow footpath leading to Brady Close. *Keep straight ahead onto the track immediately behind the houses of Brady Gardens and (further away) houses on Sluice Road. At a T junction of tracks turn right away from Sluice Road, then turn left onto Cow Lane**. Continue along Cow Lane to its junction with Whin Common Road and turn left here, to reach Sluice Road close to its junction with Ely Road, with Belle View B&B on your left and The Bell pub on the right. Turn right onto Sluice Road then left onto Ely Road which soon becomes Downham Road. Keep going, past Denver Church and Ryston Road on the right and past Denver Post Office and Beechey Close on the left. Just past the entrance to the Churchyard and before and the A1122, turn left down Sandy Lane. Remain on the lane straight ahead and then round a bend to the left and then just past West Hall Lodge, turn right along Gardeners Lane. Follow along the lane as it runs parallel to Sluice Road. Ignore a farm track to the left and continue behind the garden/builders' yard to a kissing gate on the left. Turn left here and follow the footpath back to Sluice Road. Turn left to the centre of the village, right to our house.

The longer route diverged from this one between the points marked * and **, but I have removed the details as sadly this is no longer an option.

Click here for our photographs on this walk between April 2020 and March 2021.

Instructions (basic version, shown in red on map): From Sluice Road, take the footpath to the east (right) of East Hall Farm (where Captain George Manby, one of several people who claimed to invent the precursor of the breeches buoy for rescuing people from shipwrecks, [was born in 1765). After passing through a kissing gate, turn right onto a track and continue along this, passing caravans on the right and bungalows on the right. At a T junction, another right onto another track (Sandy Lane) which bends to the right and then continues straight ahead to emerge onto Downham Road. Turn left and cross the Downham Market by-pass (the A1122) and continue into the town centre on London Road. After passing the Tesco car par take the slip road to the left by the town sign and onto Priory Road, past the back of Reeds Department Store and the Salvation Army Citadel on the right and past Trafalgar Road on the left, then follow the bend round to the right and then turn left at the T junction onto Railway Road. Eventually this leads to Downham Market Station and the railway line. Continue straight ahead, past Heygates Mil, then stay straight ahead (second exit) at the roundabout, now on the Bridge Street (the A1122), and cross the bridge over the Relief Channel. Continue on the A1122 round a bend to the left and then round another bend to the right. At the next bridge, turn left before the River Great Ouse onto the Fen Rivers Way. * Continue along, past Salters Lode on the opposite bank, to Denver Sluice. Turn left onto Sluice Road here ** and return to the village.

(shorter version, shown in green on map): At * continue along the River Great Ouse for a short distance until it begins a bend around to the right. Leave the river bank and head down a slope onto a lower raised bank. Cross a wobbly fence (probably once a stile) and climb again to the bank of the Relief Channel. Turn right and continue to the A.G. Wright Sluice. Turn left onto Sluice Road here**

Click here for all our photographs taken on this route between April 2020 and April 2021.

We'd walked the basic circuit before, on 11th April 2009. However, our rediscovery of the route almost exactly 11 years later, on Good Friday 2020 was memorable, almost magical, as described as the first of two Easter walks. Meanwhile, about a week later, the walk set the backdrop for a reflection on Death and Life and later it inspired further reflections on the same page.

We'd also walked the extension before, many times (described here), but previously from the little car park on Fenn Lane (see below) rather than from home.

Instructions (basic version, shown in red on the map): From the centre of Denver walk west down Sluice Road, passing the Windmill and the railway line, and continue towards the Denver Sluice Complex. Before the final bend before the A.G.Wright Sluice, turn left at the gate onto Environment Agency land (signposted "J. Lister, Silt Fen Farm", despite the fact that the Lister family no longer own Silt Fen Farm) and continue straight ahead, crossing the Cut-off Channel by way of the Impounding Sluice. Pass a lock on the right and, close to the junction of the Relief Channel and the River Great Ouse, with views to first the A.G.Wright Sluice and then Denver Sluice, turn left alongside the river and cross the Diversion Sluice. Continue past East Bank Moorings and go through a gate onto the river bank.Continue along the bank of the River Great Ouse to its junction with the River Wissey, opposite Ouse Bridge Farm and past a flooded area of fen.

Turn left along the River Wissey. In order to pass underneath the railway line, descend from the bank to the gate, where there is a notice explaining that the flooding on Silt Fen is deliberate, to attract overwintering birds, and signed by Joe Martin as owner of Silt Fen Farm (we know the Martin family as the owners of Ouse Bridge Farm, so clearly their empire is expanding!). Return to the bank alongside the river* for a short distance but when a track comes into view by a wooded area (Harold Covert) descend again and take the track past Harold Covert and over the fen. Where two tracks head to the right (one appearing to go back to the river, the other being the entrance to a remote bungalow and the old Pumping Station) continue on the main track as it bends to the left, past farm buildings, then right. Continue straight ahead between rows of trees, getting closer to the Cut-off Channel. Eventually the track bends** around to cross the Cut-off Channel and widens (with parking on the right - useful when we are not only walking from home!) on the approach to Border House. N.B. Useful information when walking the route in reverse: the track at this stage is known as Fenn Lane.

Turn right at Border House and follow the lane as it bends to the left around the edge of their garden. Reach a road near Fordham Church and opposite Church Farm and turn left onto it (effectively straight ahead), away from the Church. Pass the houses of the hamlet of Fordham and cross the former railway line. At The Old Rectory (marked on the OS map as "Southacre" turn left to walk alongside the A10 for a short distance. Just before the Lodge at the entrance to the Ryston Hall Estate on the other side of the road, take a track along a field edge. When there is an opening in the fence to the right pass through onto Whin Common and walk across the Common to Whin Common Road. Turn left onto Whin Common Road away from the A10. From here there are any number of routes to the centre of Denver, but to reach our house our favoured route is as follows: When Whin Common Road makes a sharp right bend, continue straight ahead onto Cow Lane. At a track junction turn right and then at another junction (as an orange coloured medieval farm building comes into view) turn left to pass behind the medieval building and then the modern houses of Brady Gardens. Take a cut-through on the right onto Brady Gardens, cut across the grassy patch to Brady Close and walk down the cul-de-sac to Sluice Road, opposite East Hall Manor. Our house is a short distance to the left, the centre of the village is to the right.

(Longer variant, shown in green on the map): At * keep going along the River Wissey until you reach the A10, on the outskirts of Hilgay. Take the path up to the A10 and follow it, past a track on the left. At a field entrance in the field before the Cut-off Channel, take the slope down to the field and follow round the edge of it, towards and then (taking a 90 degree turn to the left) parallel to the Cut-off Channel. After crossing two fields reach the track on the bend** just before it crosses the Cut-off Channel.

First walked Saturday 11th April (photos here ; this walk is described as the second of two Easter walks). Shorter walk first walked Sunday 19th April (photos here; this walk also forms a backdrop to my reflection on Death and Life). All our photographs taken between April 2020 and April 2021 on these routes are here.

Instructions (longer version, shown in red on the map): From the centre of Denver walk west down Sluice Road, passing the Windmill and the railway line, and continue towards the Denver Sluice Complex. Immediately after crossing the A.G.Wright Sluice turn right onto the western bank of the Relief Channel. There are routes both immediately next to the Relief Channel and on the bank a short distance to the west. The former takes you closer to the water and wildlife on it; the latter makes it easier to spot the exit point for the shorter route). If you don't spot the exit point, there is eventually an overgrown area by the river and a locked gate on the bank. However the gate is easy to climb and brings you out by a modern house that is built behind an old one, and so onto a wide verge by the A1122. Turn left and follow the bend around to the right. Before the bridge over the River Great Ouse, turn left onto the Fen Rivers Way on the eastern bank of the river. Continue along, past Salters Lode on the opposite bank, to Denver Sluice. Turn left onto Sluice Road here and return to the village.

Note: it is easier to spot the shorter route (shown in green on the map) if the route is walked the other way round i.e. walk to the Denver Sluice Complex and immediately before Denver Sluice turn right onto the route of the Fen Rivers Way along the eastern bank of the River Great Ouse. When the river makes a left hand bend and the A1122 Bridge comes into view, follow a lower bank at 45 degrees to the right. This leads to what was probably once a stile but now is effectively a slightly wobbly fence that requires climbing over (I got better at it as time progressed). Climb up to the bank by the Relief Channel and turn right. Follow this to the J.G. Wright Sluice. Turn left onto Sluice Road here and return to the village. At the next bridge, over the River Great Ouse, turn left before the river onto the Fen Rivers Way. Continue along, past Salters Lode on the opposite bank, to Denver Sluice. Turn left onto Sluice Road here and return to the village.

For photographs taken on the variants of this walk, and many other permutations and combinations, between May 2020 and April 2021 click here.

Instructions (Basic variant (a), shown in blue on the map): Walk down Sluice Road to the T junction with Ely Road/Downham Road on the bend. Turn left and pass the Church on the right then turn right onto Ryston Road. Walk down the road past Denver School, Denver Lodge (entrance to Ryston Estate) and Nightingale Walk. At the end of Ryston Road cross the car par for Denver Clay Pitt Fishing Lake and follow the path across scrub land to the A10. Cross the road and take the path up a slope on the other side. This brings you onto Stone Cross Lane, an attractive wooded green track. Walk along the lane, passing a solar farm on the left and then follow the lane round a 90 degree bend to the left, so as to continue with the solar farm on the left.

Ignore a track which heads off to the right*; continue straight ahead. This brings you to the end of the solar farm and back to the A10^. Turn right onto the A10 and walk a short distance north, towards Stone Cross Service Centre (Esso petrol station)**. Cross the road and take the tarmacked track almost opposite the petrol station. The Stone Cross war memorial (on the site of an earlier cross) is to the left, but take a right hand fork to walk in front of RDG Engineering. Continue along the track (Rouse's Lane) as it curves round to the left, running roughly parallel to Bexwell Road. Pass Rouse's Farm and ignore a right-hand fork heading toward Bexwell Road. ***Turn left onto a tree-line track (which seems to sometimes be called Nightingale Lane, even back here). Follow it (no long free-lined) round a bend to the right^^ and a few wiggles to reach open scrubland. Cross this to the far side and just after a house on the right, turn left onto Cycle route 11.**** Continue along the path, with the open land to your left and houses to your right and eventually cross the footbridge over the A1122***** onto Nightingale Close, Denver. Follow Nightingale Close round to the right then turn left onto Nightingale Walk and right onto Ryston Road to return to the centre of the village and so home.

(Variant (b), shown in green on the map): At ***, instead of turning left onto the tree-lined track on the left, keep straight ahead. This brings you past Rouse's Lane cemetery and Masson Seeley Signs. Eventually, Rouse's Lane brings you out onto the Howdale. Turn left onto Howdale Road and continue to Church Road/London Road. Turn left and continue straight ahead at the roundabout by the Tesco Car Park then take the left hand fork onto Ryston End. Pass the Sixth Form Centre on the left and continue, as the road narrows, to the end of the School playing field. Turn left onto Ryston End then right onto Nightingale Lane (Cycle route 11). Follow Nightingale Lane straight ahead, being joined by a path from the left just as you reach open scrubland.**** . Alternative variant (b) route returns home from after the A1122 footbridge ***** in the following way: Cut though the gap in the hedge onto Denver Playing Field and cross to the far side. Cross Downham Road and take Sandy Lane (a track) opposite. Remain on the lane straight ahead and then round a bend to the left and then just past West Hall Lodge, turn right along Gardeners Lane. Follow along the lane as it runs parallel to Sluice Road. Ignore a farm track to the left and continue behind the garden/builders' yard to a kissing gate on the left. Turn left here and follow the footpath back to Sluice Road. Turn left to the centre of the village, right to our house.

(Variant (c), shown in red on the map): At *, just after passing the remains of buildings and before a clump of trees, turn right onto a track. This initially wiggles slightly, but then continues east pretty much in a straight line to Bexwell Lane (the narrow road between Ryston and Bexwell). Note that the track you have been on is marked as private in the opposite direction (but there's no indication of this in the way we were walking). Turn left, heading towards Bexwell. After a few hundred metres, just before Bexwell Lane bends to the right, take a track to the left. This runs parallel to Bexwell Road (the A1122) and passes Downham Home and Garden, then emerges onto the A10 by Stone Cross Service Station.**

(Variant (d), shown in orange on the map). At ^, cross the A10 immediately and enter the field then take the path along the field edge to join the track sometimes called Nightingale Lane on the bend, between its tree lined section and the scrubland. Follow along briefly, but then turn left to follow around the edge of the scrubland, eventually turning left onto Cycle route 11 just before the footbridge over the A1122, cross the footbridge ***** but then return home in the following way: Cut though the gap in the hedge onto Denver Playing Field and cross to the far side. Cross Downham Road and take Sandy Lane (a track) opposite. Remain on the lane straight ahead and then round a bend to the left and then just past West Hall Lodge, turn right along Gardeners Lane. Follow along the lane as it runs parallel to Sluice Road. Ignore a farm track to the left and continue behind the garden/builders' yard to a kissing gate on the left. Turn left here and follow the footpath back to Sluice Road. Turn left to the centre of the village, right to our house.

This walk has some similarities with Walk 5, but the sections past Ryston Hall and down the entire length of Bexwell Lane to Bexwell are different.

Instructions: Walk down Sluice Road to the T junction with Ely Road/Downham Road on the bend. Turn left and pass the Church on the right then turn right onto Ryston Road. Walk down to the very end (i.e. on this occasion don't cross the car park for the fishing lake, rather following Ryston Road around a bend just past the new barn conversions at Hill Farm, continuing as the road becomes a path and emerges onto the A10. Cross the A10 and continue along Ryston Road, heading towards West Dereham, passing Ryston Church, the entrance to Ryston Hall and Manor Lane (all on the right) then turn left down Bexwell Lane. This narrow lane takes you all the way to Bexwell, passing the Church, the memorial to RAF Downham Market and a converted barn, up by the A1122 (Bexwell Road).

Retrace your steps to a concrete track on the right. This runs parallel to Bexwell Road and passes Downham Home and Garden, then emerges onto the A10 by Stone Cross Service Station. Cross the road and take the tarmacked track almost opposite the petrol station. The Stone Cross war memorial (on the site of an earlier cross) is to the left, but take a right hand fork to walk in front of RDG Engineering. Continue along the track (Rouse's Lane) as it curves round to the left, running roughly parallel to Bexwell Road. Pass Rouse's Farm and ignore a right-hand fork heading toward Bexwell Road. Turn left onto a tree-line track. Follow it (no long tree-lined) round a bend to the right and a few wiggles to reach open scrubland. Turn left off the path and follow around the edge of the scrubland, eventually turning left onto cycle route 11 and stay on this over the bridge over the A1122. Cut though the gap in the hedge onto Denver Playing Field and cross to the far side. Cross Downham Road and take Sandy Lane (a track) opposite. Remain on the lane straight ahead and then round a bend to the left and then just past West Hall Lodge, turn right along Gardeners Lane. Follow along the lane as it runs parallel to Sluice Road. Ignore a farm track to the left and continue behind the garden/builders' yard to a kissing gate on the left. Turn left here and follow the footpath back to Sluice Road. Turn left to the centre of the village, right to our house.