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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Wednesday 9 October 2019

Wednesday walk Shelford to Cambridge - Grantchester - the Rupert Brooke walk, plus Cambridge Colleges


Book 1, Walk 26 - Shelford to Cambridge

Length: 20.5 km (12.7 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10


Either
London Kings Cross:  10-12 hrs   Ely service
Arrive Cambridge: 11-02 hrs     Change trains
Leave Cambridge: 11-21 hrs   Stopping service back to London Liverpool Street
Arrive Shelford:  11-26 hrs

Or
London Liverpool Street:  09-58 hrs     Cambridge service   Tottenham Hale 10-10 hrs
Arrive Cambridge:  11-09 hrs   Change trains
Leave Cambridge: 11-21 hrs   Stopping service back to Liverpool Street
Arrive Shelford: 11-26 hrs

Return

 Cambridge to Kings Cross: (F=fast) (S=stopping service).  15-57 (S); 16-14 (F); 16-24 (S); 16-27 (S); 16-44 (F); 16-54 (F); 16-57 (S); 17-08 (F); 17-25 (S); 17-29 (S); 17-43 (F); 17-57 (S); 17-54 (S)

Cambridge to Liverpool Street: 16-21, 16-36, 16-51,17-21 and 17-51 hrs

Rail ticket

Buy a day return to Cambridge PLUS a single from Cambridge to Shelford


Neither this walk nor the other Book 1 University walk - Oxford Circular walk - are posted very often. Perhaps both are more sightseeing outings than country walks but accepting this, both have their merits, and are well worth doing at least once - so do give today's adventure in Cambridge a go !

Leaving Shelford you now take the permissive path through farmland to Hauxton Mill. Then it's through more farmland to the village of Haslingfield. The chances of finding the Little Rose pub (the notional lunch stop) open are slim: even more unlikely it is serving food mid-week. If you need sustenance before you reach Grantchester, you should find the convenience store in the village open for snacks and drinks.  Onwards then, soon on a track through vast Cambridgeshire fields, passing on the way the Travelling Telescope, then on onto the village of Grantchester. You could stop for a late lunch in one of the three pubs in the village, but it is almost de rigueur to take tea at The Orchard, under the apple trees.  After tea you take a short detour to Lord Archer's house - The Old Vicarage - to see the statue of Rupert Brooke in the garden.

Fom Grantchester you follow the River Cam on a well trodden and popular route to the outskirts of Cambridge.

You now have a choice of onward route: if you have had enough of walking you can duck out of the tour of the colleges and head for the railway station. But if you still have some energy, the City tour of Cambridge's Colleges is well worth doing (at least the once). The tour is detailed and well explained in the Directions. Likewise, your post tour route back to Cambridge railway station.
T=1.26
Your walk directions are here: L=1.26







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

n=5 of us on this stroll across the Cambridgeshire landscape - big skies and wonderful cloudscapes. There were rumours of a 6th person, but no sightings. W=sunny-with-a-strong-breeze at times. The group heroically coped with the ( predicted) drama of a CLOSED lunchtime pub in Haslingfield. Most had come prepared, one stoically munched chocolate. Four stopped at The Orchard tea room in Grantchester, where it was just warm enough to sit outside. On the way back to Cambridge beside the Cam we passed a group of women who had just been for a swim! A good day out.
SarahS

Anonymous said...

Yes one more was on this walk but had to modify it in order to arrive back in Cambridge before dark. Managed to have qa lovely evening encounter with Cambridge and Kings College jfk