Thursday, 3 September 2026

St. Ives Walk

Today we had a circular walk from St. Ives Park&Ride.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Thursday September 3rd This will be our 10/10 walk from St Ives that includes (National Trust) Houghton Mill which has a Café and the Hemingford Grey and Abbots. Some would like to use the guided busway so you have options: 

Option 1 Park at Coles Road CB24 6BL at 9.30am (free parking last time I checked) and walk 1.3miles to the bus stop at the Cambridge Science Centre with me to catch the guided bus £3 or bring bus pass. The journey is approx 30 mins so we arrive in St Ives at 10.25am.  

Option 2 meet us at St Ives park n ride, Meadow Lane PE27 4LG (free parking + toilets) at 10.25am. 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."

I chose option 2 (as did most of the others). This was our route today.



Here are some of my photos.

Alicia, Glen, Shaun, Steve and I met up at the Park&Ride.


Her comes the bus with Janice, Joyce and Kim.
 

Off we go through the centre of St. Ives.


We said hello to Oliver Cromwell (or rather his statue) as we passed. He lived here for 5 years.


The crochet cover of this post-box is, I think, themed to support the forthcoming Jazz and Blues Festival in the town.


We stopped at The Waits to admire the gardens and flower displays.




We continued to the Parish  Church. The rabbits in the door are hard to see.




We didn't try and visit Holt Island today. 


Now we were on the path by the river. The path is broad and we had occasional glimpse of the river.


The village of Houghton is very pretty.


We stopped at  Houghton Mill for drinks.



We crossed the lock and Hemingford meadow.



At the far side we crossed the main branch of the River Ouse. The river is split here with the meadow in between the branches.


Through the village of Hemingford Abbots.




This is the Axe and Compass, which Dawn and I had had lunch at on this U3A trip earlier this year.


We visited Hemingford Abbots church - St. Margaret's. This was our lunch stop.





Unusually, the church is dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch.


Along the river now to Hemingford Grey.


We saw someone punting.


We passed the gardens at The Manor, visited in the aforementioned U3A trip this April.



We passed St. James Church but didn't go in today.


Donkey!


Now to cross Hemingford Grey meadow. While Shaun and Janice took the direct route, the rest of us followed the path along the river edge.



Team photo of the day.


Back through St. Ives now via the 15th Century bridge - now closed to motor vehicles.






Someone had some fun putting this depiction of "little boy blue" on the wall of the old police station.



We finished by visiting The Courtyard.


Here Janice spotted a refurbished walnut table, 4 chairs and 2 stools for an amazing price of £65. Just what Will needs for his new flat - he came and had a look and bought it later. Thank-you Janice for the spot!


And here is a map of the old riverport.


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

You can find more details of our 9.5 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr

Other related walks you can find on my blog include



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