Hardwick to Cambridge

It had rained heavily all day yesterday, but today was a lovely sunny autumnal day. Parking in Cambridge is pretty difficult, so rather than leaving one car at either end of the walk (our usual approach for our regular short Sunday afternoon walks) we left both cars in the car park by the recreation ground on Egremont Road in Hardwick (TL374592), planning to catch a bus back from Cambridge. We had an early picnic lunch and set off walking around midday. First of all we had to return to the route of the Wimpole Way, which we did by walking south through Hardwick, back past the village sign and the Church. The Wimpole Way was clearly signposted along a track to our left.

The route didn't look that exciting on the map, essentially on a track running parallel with the main A428, about a mile to the south of it, but the reality was lovely. We walked through areas of woodland (with a particularly attractive one just to the north of Jaggard's Farm, after we had crossed Long Road) and alongside hedgehows. In between the trees, there were good views to Cambridge in the distance. We passed a "danger area".

After a couple of miles the track became a road which took us to the village of Coton. We walked though the village then turned off onto a tree-lined track towards the M11. We could hear the traffic, but the road appeared quite suddenly in front of us, with no sign of a bridge!; the path turned to the left alongside the motorway, then crossed it, then returned to the line we'd been on before.

It was clear we were getting close to Cambridge, partly because of the number of cyclists and partly because the track was now going along the back of modern University buildings. The iconic Schlumberger Building used to be by itself here, but it now has plenty of company, and we speculated that after another 800 years the University will be entirely in this area, not in the ancient buildings in the centre of the city. Mind you, from the number of cranes visible in all directions, it is clear that building is still going on all around the city.

We passed the University Sports Centre and the Cavendish Laboratory and the Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club, where plenty of people were playing tennis. After passing more sports grounds we crossed Wilberforce Road and walked down Adams Road to Robinson College, now on familiar territory because when we lived nearer to Cambridge (more than 25 years ago!) we used to park near here regularly to walk into town. Most of the parking is restricted now, but the walk was reassuring familiar, across Grange Road and then along Burrell's Walk past the University Library.

We crossed the A1134 and continued across "The Backs" on Garret Hostel Lane, crossing the River Cam between Trinity College and Trinity Hall; despite the fact that it was November there were plenty of punts and tourists photographing the punts...

We turned right onto Trinity Lane then left down Senate House Passage which brought back memories. We have been in the Senate House twice in the relatively recent past, for our daughter's BA and MPhil graduations. We were away when she got her MA (Master of Arts) which, bizarrely in the Cambridge system, is awarded to those who have a Cambridge BA (Bachelor of Arts), six years after matriculation (arriving at the University), simply on the basis of good behaviour. I also believe that Helen's MA is technically a "higher" degree than her hard-earned MPhil (and probably in the University's eyes it is a higher degree than her PhD, obtained from another university). And did I say that the graduation ceremony is conducted entirely in Latin...Senate House Passage brought us out close to Great St Mary's Church. The beginning/end of the Wimpole Way seems ill-defined, but this will do for us.

However, we were continuing to Jesus Green in order to link up with the point at which we declared ourselves to be at the terminus of the Fen Rivers Way back in March 2009. Cambridge was buzzing with Sunday afternoon shoppers as we walked down Market Street and Sidney Street to the Round Church (tourists rather than shoppers here!). We cut down past the Park Street car park and along minor roads to Jesus Green. Here there were people engaged in all sorts of Sunday afternoon pursuits, including what appeared to be Quidditch practice (the only explanation we could think of for people running around with poles between their legs and throwing and catching balls). We walked across Jesus Green to Jesus Lock, the point we reached at the end of the Fen Rivers Way (described here). In linking the Wimpole Way to the Fen Rivers Way we have also completed another link from Milton Keynes to home, and indeed from Lands End to home. These linkages are described on the new JordanWalks "Linking it all together" page.