At Ely the Ouse Valley Way combines with the Fen Rivers Way and heads along Sandy’s Cut to past the town of Littleport, which is useful for any provisions not acquired in Ely and on towards Brandon Creek, where the Great Ouse is joined by the Little Ouse.
The Ship Inn is a good option for food and drink.
courtesy of Ship Inn
courtesy of Ship Inn
The path continues along the Great Ouse which, if you are wondering how long this stretch of modified river is, is also known as Ten Mile River. It leads to the village of Ten Mile Bank with its modest church, which oddly predates the 19th Century village by six hundred years…
Walking along the Ten Mile River drives home how flat the Fens are and only offers a vague glimpse into what the area may have been like before reclamation.
Finally, the path reaches the Denver Sluice where it is joined by the New and Old Bedford Rivers.
The Sluice is a key part of the great system of fenland water control. The river, combining with the Old and New Bedford Rivers which were last seen at Earith, is then split between a tidal and non-tidal flow and the path passes between the two.
A little further on is the pleasant town of Downham Market, which these days is as much commuter town to Cambridge as it is a market. Unfortunately, the distinctive Castle Hotel is now private residences, perhaps for some of those Cambridge commuters…
courtesy of Uksignpix
courtesy of FromMorningToMidnight
Next leg: Downham Market to Kings Lynn
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