Icknield Way: Linton to Cheveley

After a few months break, I finally looked to finish the Ickneild Way Trail, I’d arrange to walk some of the remaining 70 kilometres or so with a friend who had done some of the previous sections with me. Due to the remote location and lack of public transport we were going to do 2 days of walking and had booked an Airbnb in Cheveley. There was limited accommodation on the route but the place we had booked looked perfect for our needs and was about 24 km from our starting point at Linton. It was somewhat of a mission to get to Linton, requiring an early train to Cambridge and then a bus but we eventually arrived at around 10 am. We didn’t start walking right away but spent some time buying odds and sods to make dinner with and grabbing a coffee from the cafe on Linton High Street. Linton itself looked like quite a nice town, there was a small Spar type shop, a nice little bakery and a couple of pubs at either end of the high street.

It was around 10:30 am that we set off, a simple walk out of the village though a park took us to the outskirts of the village and onto a gently rising hill, via some fields. The day was grey and slightly overcast with a chance of some rain and the path was very muddy due to heavy rain over the previous few days. Muddy waterlogged paths proved to be a feature of the day, though we didn’t know this as we set off. We passed an old Victorian water tower, generally heading Northwards to a road, before cutting across a field to a bridleway, where we joined up with the Harcamlow Way, following the route of a Roman road for a bit before heading though fields to the village of Balsham.

We didn’t spend anytime in the village it was only a short walk out of it and we once again headed off in a North Easterly direction passing though fields on muddy paths. We took a quick break for a bite to eat and some water, greeting a few dog walkers before heading off. We eventually reached a small stream next to a pumping station, the path was completely blocked by a massive paddle but the path crossed the river on a very narrow bridge which we crossed. We soon reached a small road and headed in an Easterly direction towards the village of Brinkley. As we reacted the village it started raining so we headed to the village church and sat on a stone bench within the churches entrance. We checked our progress on the OS Maps app and saw that we still had a fair distance to go, so we continued on to the village Burrough Green, where we stopped outside the village pub so my friend could put some blister plasters on.

We headed on past some stables and along some muddy bridleways, not only where there many puddles but some heavy traffic had been along it so there there were deep water filled ruts to deal with. We were near Newmarket and there was a lot of horse-racing related farmland, lot of well maintain fields with a few nice looking horses in them, I suppose that is why it is called the sport of kings as only the rich can afford to do it. We tried walking on though a wooded area on the side of the bridleway but we got barked at by two dogs who followed us along the other side of the fence, so we headed back to the path. We eventually reached the small village of Stetchworth, walking along some roads until we reached some small paths heading alongside field boundaries which were more muddy streams than proper paths. It was a struggle to keep out of the mud, requiring some wide legged walking and hopping from semi solid bits to others, hoping not to fall, but we managed the kilometre or so of this sort of walking with no problems. It was a pleasure to get past these water logged paths as the odd walking style was very difficult and tiring to maintain and hard on the legs.

As we left Stetchworth it was late afternoon and we hurried out to the East along a good but muddy path, there were a few people walking their dogs, it was a pleasant late afternoon, the clouds from earlier in the day had gone and the skies had cleared up. About a kilometre out of Stetchworth we crossed the Devils Dykes, an 11 kilometre ditch and bank system thought to be of Anglo Saxon age. After crossing this we headed across a field, looking back there were good views of the gradually approaching evening sky, it looked unlikely that we would be able reach Cheveley before it got dark. Around 5 pm, there was a wonderful sunset, and we had no choice but to finish the last few kilometres in the dark. Just before crossing a road north of Saxon Street we put on our head torches and headed to a bridleway, only to find that it was closed and the entrance was taped off. The alternative route would have involved a lot of road walking in the dark which was not appealing so we headed on regardless. The bridleway was very muddy in parts and there was a lot of tree cuttings blocking the path but it was not a problem for walkers, and eventually we emerged onto the high street at Cheveley. It was cold by now and we hurried to our Airbnb, passing some very expensive and large looking houses or rather mansions. The place we were staying at was a 14 century timber beamed house, it was pleasantly warm and the owner and her dog were very friendly, she welcomed us in despite our muddy clothes. I don’t think she had many walkers staying there and seemed unaware of the existence of the Icknield Way, most of the people who stayed at her house were going to the races at Newmarket.

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