U3A Linton Walk

It was the first Thursday of the month today and time for the second Bury St. Edmunds U3A Longer Walks Group walk of 2026.

This month we were led by Ian and this was his invite:

"Hi everyone,

My turn to lead the walk in February which will start from Linton, Cambs. There's a free carpark in the village at 83 High St, CB21 4JT where we'll meet near to the Granta medical centre at 09.45. If the carpark is full then there is street parking around (for example Symonds Lane)."

The weather forecast wasn't great, but we had a decent turnout of 8. The car park was busy but somehow we all got parked. This was our route going anticlockwise from Linton.

No proper camera today as I didn't want to risk it getting wet, but here are a few photos from my phone.

The health centre has an automated dispensary for collecting prescriptions. Nice idea.

We sheltered here before we started. Oh. I see I missed Tim in this shot - he was using the health centre facilities.

The village of Linton has quite a history and looks worth a proper explore another time.

The High Street is one way, which is just as well.

We passed the water pump....

...and left the village passing the watermill.

Crossing the River Granta.

It looked quite full but there didn't seem to be any flooding.

We like this row of terraced cottages, called Malting Cottages.

Looking back at Linton through the murk.

This is an odd looking farm building. It is possibly a small granary with cart shed underneath.

We liked the snowdrops in this garden as we neared the village of Bartlow.

Our coffee stop was at Bartlow Church. Bartlow St. Mary is one of only two existing round-tower churches in Cambridgeshire, the other one being located in Snailwell. The tower is all that remains of what is believed to be the original church and dates from the late-11th or early-12th century. The nave and chancel were built in the 14th century

There were aconites and snowdrops in the churchyard.

No pictures from the next stretch as it was a bit wet and windy and we were walking into the wind. Furthermore, my umbrella became damaged (although I was able to fix it a bit later).

Our lunch stop was in Horseheath.

We used the porch of the church to get out of the rain. The church of All Saints is prominent feature of  the village – an ancient structure of flint and rubble in the Gothic style of the 15th century, though its history dates beyond then. It consists of chancel, nave, north and south porches and an embattled western tower containing four bells. It was extensively remodelled in the 1300’s, was restored in 1880-91 and in 1911 six of the nave windows were completely restored.

Sheila managed to find a seat - on the window ledge.

A lady came with some things for the church and let us in to see it (and use the toilet). There is much of note – some rare brasses in the floor, a stone font from the 1400’s, a sundial on the porch from the 1500’s and large memorials to former Lords of the Manor.

Over halfway now and we started walking downwind. Our walk today was largely along the edges of big fields and we had some good vistas despite the gloom. The rain had eased off now.

We had a long straight stretch along the Roman Road. The northern part of it is known as Worsted or Wool Street.  It is the one I've walked on to Wandlebury on Magog down a few times - last done August 2022 (see here).

Here Ian, Dave and Sheila stuck to Ian's planned route across a muddy field...

...while the rest of us continued along the roman road to the Balsham road (on which we had driven to Linton earlier).

We met up at the end of the field and continued to the Rivey Hill Water Tower. At 367 feet (112 m) it is the highest point for several miles around. The hill has a steep slope leading down to Linton and a prominence of 69 feet (21 m). The highest point is on private land but a bridleway from Linton crosses near the top. A water tower on the hill identifies it when seen from a distance. The tower is a grade II listed building, was built in 1935–1936 in Art Deco style, and underwent major restoration work in 2018–2019. Read more about the tower from its official Historic England listing here.

Looking down at Linton from there.

And now it was all downhill on a pleasant path back into Linton.

Well that wasn't as wet or muddy as we had feared and we were under cover for both of our stops. Thanks Ian for the great walk and thanks to the others for the additional company.

Some of our route was along the Harcamlow Way which I'd first encountered on a Ramblers walk from Saffron Walden.

"This long distance walk takes you to some of the most beautiful countryside, interesting historical sites and delightful country parks in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. The route is a figure-of-eight, starting in Harlow and first heading to Saffron Walden where you will pass the splendid Jacobean mansion and gardens at Audley End. You continue through the Bartlow Hills, Horseheath, the Fleam Dyke and Milton Country Park to Cambridge. You return passing along the Wimpole Way where you pass the splendid Wimpole Hall and park. This 17th century country house has 3,000 acres (12 km²) of parkland and farmland and is owned by the National Trust. You continue through Melbourn and Chrishall to Newport, and then on to Debden, Thaxted and Takeley. You then pass through Hatfield Forest with over 1000 acres of footpaths and resident deer before returning to Harlow at the end of the route."

You can find more detail of our 12 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here).

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Hadstock Walk (Apr 2021).
• Stapleford Walk (Aug 2022).