St. Ives Walk

Today we had a repeat of an old favourite walk from St. Ives Park & Ride.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Wednesday August 21st change of start point for St Ives and the Hemmingfords  A few people want to experience The Guided Busway but don’t fancy the 4 mile+ walk to and from. Therefore we will now park at Coles Road CB24 6BL  (free parking) which is just over a mile to the bus stop at the Science Park. Pls use toilets at Tesco’s Milton close to Coles Road before meeting us at 9.45am. 

Option 1 Park at Coles Road (free parking) at 9.45am, with me, and walk the 1.3 miles to the Cambridge Science Park to catch the guided bus £2 and arrive in St Ives at 11.05am. Option 2 meet us at St Ives park n ride (free parking) at 11.05am. We will then start our 7.5 mile circular walk to Houghton Mill and then the Hemingfords. It’s a lovely walk and at the end you can catch the bus back and walk the 1.3 miles to your car or simply hop back into your car at St Ives. If you haven’t experienced the guided busway then this is your opportunity. Please bring a packed lunch and of course we will grab coffee and drinks as necessary. Lifts available from mine at 9am" 

We decided on Option 2 and arrived at the Park & Ride Car Park at about 9:50 to find the others were just getting off the bus.

This was our route today.

Here are some of my photos.

There were 7 of us today.

We walked into the town.

Oliver Cromwell lived here for 5 years.

We passed a Greene King delivery lorry, but our friend Guy wasn't one of draymen.

We admired the flowers at The Waits.

We continued to the Parish  Church.

The rabbits in the door are hard to see.

Holt Island was said to be open but we didn't try and visit it today. The gate looked shut.

The path along the river is broad and we had dappled sunshine coming through the trees with the occasional glimpse of the river.

The village of Houghton is very pretty.

We headed to  Houghton Mill. for our drinks stop.

Onwards towards the Hemingfords.

We crossed the lock and Hemingford meadow.

The river is split here with the meadow in between the branches.

Through the village of Hemingford Abbots.

Was it a fox we saw at the far edge of the field we crossed? Yes it was!

We carried on along the river to  Hemingford Grey.

Our lunch stop was at St. James Church.

Time to head back to St Ives.

Pam being presented with a cygnet feather.

Then it was along the river through Hemingford Grey meadow back to St. Ives.

The Old Police Station.

Back at the Park & Ride, the others took their buss back to Cambridge.

A lovely walk, as always. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to the others for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 7.3 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Cambridge to St Ives Walk (Feb 2019)
• St Ives and The Hemingfords Walk (July 2019)
• St Ives Walk (June 2021)
• St Ives, Houghton and The Hemingfords Walk (Aug 2021)
• St Ives and the Hemingford Walk (Jul 2023)