Ten do Devil's Dyke

This was the invite from Joyce:

"Tuesday 3rd December. This Tuesday, I am offering Devils Dyke Walk. We have a plan for this linear walk. Can all of you park at Woodditton Village ready to start the walk at 11am. I will park along this lane under the Water Tower. We will then walk the Dyke (7.5 miles) and at the end we will have a coffee at Elk Coffee Shop in Burwell before we transport you back to your cars at Woodditton. If anyone else is joining us then we will happily put you on the hourly bus back to Newmarket and then transport you back to Woodditton a little later so don't be put off. Joyce. "

But what about the wolf, goat and cabbage problem? How were we going to get everyone back to their cars? I volunteered to help... and a plan was formulated...  I would meet Joyce in Burwell, leaving mine and one other car there and Joyce would drive us to meet the rest at the start in Woodditton. And with 1 more seat available in her car I could give Julie (who lives very close) a lift and take one less car to the start.

So I picked up Julie and we drove to Burwell to meet Joyce, and she drove us and 1 other driver to Woodditton to meet the rest of the group, 10 of us in all. So five in each car to get back. Simples!

We set off at 11am on the dot. No need for maps to check we were still on track... this was our route along the top of Devil's Dyke, a man-made bank up to 10.5m high.

Here are a few of my photos.


At the start...

With me behind the camera, there is still one missing. Ah. There she is...

The start of the walk, even though it doesn't say Devil's Dyke.

To get to the dyke we had to cross a bit of a muddy field.

And here we climbed up to it.

There were a lot of trees each side of us.

But we did get nice views when the trees thinned out. The soft wintery sunshine gave a pale golden glow to the landscape.

We crossed the Icknield Way...

 

"Devil's Dyke is the largest of several earthworks in south Cambridgeshire that were designed to control movement along the ancient Roman roads. When it was created, it completely blocked a narrow land corridor between the southern edge of a region of water-logged marsh (now known as The Fens) in the north-west and dense woodlands in the south, so making circumvention difficult and forming an effective defensive barrier for the lands to the east. The dyke crossed three important Roman roads, including the ancient Icknield Way, and may thus have served as a way of controlling trade and movement in and out of the area."

..and, later, the railway line between Ipswich and Cambridge. Just a single track, you will notice, which limits the  frequency of trains... I'll say no more.

Mostly bare trees on the skyline  testify that we are in winter now.

The path now is much more open.

We passed the golf course. A couple of the championship tees are actually on the path.

In the distance I spotted the Ship of the Fens through the haze about 12 miles away.

We stopped to eat our lunch between the two Newmarket racecourses.

We were glad there was enough wintry sunshine to throw shadows.

The Millenium grandstand at the end of the Rowley mile.

We carried on in parallel to  the July course and stopped close to where it happened to hear the story of  Frankie Dettori's plane crash. The narrator was on-duty and called to the scene and was the first one there, helping get Frankie safely off the plane. He didn't get mentioned in the press coverage, though.

Looking back to the grandstand.

We crossed the Beacon (Cesarewitch) Course that extends the Rowley mile for another 2 furlongs, just before we got the A14. Anyone for a race?

Eventually we could see Ely Cathedral again, but it was hard to get a view without power lines.

WSe were heading for Burwell and our destination was in sight now.

Nick and Aidan stopped at the high point (Gallows Hill) and view surveyed the view. "What area can we see from here?",  he asked. We could see Ely Cathedral 11 miles away so, assuming we could see that distance in each direction, I did a quick calculation... about 380 square miles.

As well as a hare, we saw some deer.

I was now at the front of the group as we neared the end of the Dyke at Reach.

Then it was on to Burwell to the Elk coffee shop.

Then it was back to the start in mine and the other car. Thanks Joyce for the great walk and sorting out the logistics and everyone else for the company.

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.