I walked this, the 7th stage of my Grand Norfolk Hike, on Sunday 5th Feburary 2012.
It had snowed the night before and I was keen to get outside and see how the Fens looked covered in white.
I decided to walk up the Great Ouse from Littleport before taking a left and hiking out across farmland until I reached the Old Bedford River. Most of the farm tracks hadn’t been touched by human feet but plenty of animals had criss-crossed the path as I could see by footprints they’d left behind.
All the drains and ditches were iced over.
I had estimated it would take an hour to reach the Old Bedford River but I ended up taking twice as long. I seriously underestimated the distance from Littleport.
From the river the walk was as straight as an arrow north until I hit Downham Market. It wasn’t always the most interesting of walks. The highlight was spending some time at Welney Bird Reserve where I found a dry bench to sit on and enjoy a cup of tea and chocolate.
Welney is a wonderful place to visit, especially the night time feeding of the hundreds of migratory geese from Siberia and Iceland.
I finally arrived at Downham Market just as it was getting dark. My train was leaving almost immediately so no time for a pint. I made up for that by having a swifty in the Prince Albert in Ely.
From the map it looks as though you walked alongside the New Bedford River
you could well be right on that one…