Stapleford Walk

Today we had a trip to Cambridgeshire to do again a walk I had led for the group in the past (see here).

This was the invite from Joyce...

"Wednesday August 31st Glen and I are doing a 9.5 mile circular walk from Stapleford Granary, using local paths to Babraham, crossing the River Granta,  walking the old Roman road to Wandlebury Country Park and climbing the Magog Downs back to our cars. Please park at Stapleford Granary, Bury Road, Stapleford, Cambridge, CB22 5BP for coffee at 10.45am and a prompt start.  Glen is taking the train to Gt Shelford so contact him if you would like to travel in the same fashion. 

Pls note that this walk will be a faster pace than normal as some have a train to catch. We will be back at our cars by 3.15pm latest. "

This time we started at Stapleford Granary, with a lovely cup of coffee beforehand at the café there.

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

Ready to go outside  The Granary.

We started walking parallel to the  River Granta. Up to our left was Magog Down, which we would be at later.

We soon reached  Babraham Church.

Opposite we could see the field that had the bonfire ready to light last time. It looks like they've started collecting wood for it for this year.

This time St. Peter's Church was open so we went in.

The modern stained glass window is very impressive. See if you can work out for yourself what all the symbolism is before looking at the next photo.

You might need to expand this to read the writing.

I didn't know the meaning of the upside down cross, chains or anchor... but I do now.

We continued past the impressive Babraham Hall. Established in the 16th century the present building dates from 1833-1837 In 1948 the estate was sold to the Agricultural Research Council, now the Babraham Institute. 

In Babraham Village we found a book swap cupboard.

Then it was on to seek out the Roman Road  Worsted Street, which runs towards the centre of Cambridge.

We stopped for lunch about 1/2 way up.

We entered Wandlebury Country Park via a lovely avenue of trees.

We had a drinks stop near the 18th century house.

Joyce reminded me there was a Dinky Door here somewhere, but where? A quick search found this news article with a photo... then it was just a matter of finding where that was.

And here it is!

Then it was out the park and across the road to Magog Down. As I quoted in my previous blog:

The Gog Magog Hills are a range of low chalk hills, extending for several miles to the southeast of Cambridge. The highest points are situated either side of the A1307 Babraham Road, and are marked on Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps as "Telegraph Clump" at 75 m (246 ft),  The area as a whole is undefined but is roughly the elevated area lying north west of the 41 m (135 ft) col at Worsted Lodge.

In English folklore, Gogmagog was a giant, and according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae, one of the inhabitants of Albion discovered by Brutus of Troy and his men. He was the last of the giants that they killed, and was thrown from a cliff by Corineus. The book Where Troy Once Stood argues that the ancient city of Troy was in fact located in the Gog Magog Downs; however, this is not taken seriously by scholars.

I don't believe it either.

There are lovely views from the top....

...and on the way down.

And then we were back at the Granary.

Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and everyone for the company.

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