{"id":1945,"date":"2013-08-31T07:43:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T07:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=1945"},"modified":"2015-09-08T08:42:58","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T08:42:58","slug":"great-ouse-odyssey-stage-6-sandy-to-brampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2013\/08\/great-ouse-odyssey-stage-6-sandy-to-brampton\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Ouse Odyssey &#8211; stage 6: Great Barford to Brampton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"note\">This is stage six of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/2012\/06\/the-great-ouse-odyssey-introduction\/\">Great Ouse Odyssey,<\/a> a hike along the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ldwa.org.uk\/ldp\/members\/show_path.php?path_name=Ouse+Valley+Way\">Ouse Valley Way<\/a>, from the mouth to the source of the River Great Ouse, the fourth longest river in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s hike was just over 20 miles in length and walked in early August. The map below shows where I&#8217;ve walked so far (orange line), where I walked on this stage (red) and where I still have to walk (yellow). \u00a0The map is just to give an idea, it&#8217;s not an accurate route map or anything.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=205759860622319968049.0004e3e8b7dcfcce12547&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=52.444292,0.035706&amp;spn=0.803587,1.757813&amp;z=9&amp;output=embed\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<small>View <a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-align: left;\" href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msa=0&amp;msid=205759860622319968049.0004e3e8b7dcfcce12547&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=52.444292,0.035706&amp;spn=0.803587,1.757813&amp;z=9&amp;source=embed\">Great Ouse Odyssey<\/a> in a larger map<\/small><\/p>\n<p>I took the train to my starting point, the town of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sandy,_Bedfordshire\">Sandy<\/a> in Bedfordshire. \u00a0I had three or so miles of cross-country hiking before arriving at the river Great Ouse.<\/p>\n<p>On my way I passed the delightful <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/River_Ivel\">River Ivel<\/a>, a tributary of the Great Ouse.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-ArIlrxXv6nI\/UgkS6-gIrQI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/_iu74Zm6TPo\/s512\/DSCN0027.JPG\" alt=\"The River Ivel at Sandy\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The River Ivel at Sandy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I joined the Ouse at <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Great_Barford\">Great Barford<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 574px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"  \" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-8tHeCAFdc5U\/UgkS5mmqhsI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/ll8k6do8vTo\/s912\/DSCN0032.JPG\" alt=\"The river Great Ouse at Great Barford\" width=\"574\" height=\"311\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The river Great Ouse at Great Barford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Barford bridge, built in the 15th century, looked beautiful from the riverside.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 574px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-foEJ-nn09I0\/UgkS5Sf-hQI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/orQv9Jz1ojU\/s912\/DSCN0033.JPG\" alt=\"Great Barford bridge\" width=\"574\" height=\"294\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Great Barford bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I kept an eye out for Otters as I walked but they kept themselves well hidden away&#8230;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-6uBjuy6HM0k\/UgkTBv8ieAI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/lK0uUs7PSq4\/s640\/DSCN0037.JPG\" alt=\"Otters!\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Otters!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I couldn&#8217;t always see the river as the banks were often overgrown with trees, bushes and reeds. \u00a0Every now and again I caught a tantalising glimpse of water.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-YFgy1w3eJkk\/UgkTCN8-HhI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/Gjlmx42Dcro\/s640\/DSCN0040.JPG\" alt=\"River Great Ouse\" width=\"576\" height=\"426\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">River Great Ouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just outside St Neots I came across some excellent &#8216;street art&#8217;. \u00a0I should really have noted down the artist&#8217;s name to give him\/her proper credit, oh well.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-OdBOpqoWnEI\/UgkTGNOvU-I\/AAAAAAAABC0\/QlId0LHRtq4\/s576\/DSCN0045.JPG\" alt=\"Street art at St Neots\" width=\"576\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Street art at St Neots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The river traffic at St Neots was busy-busy.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-Qufm5i2R6BI\/UgkTHLqWebI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/GBWC16wXM8A\/s800\/DSCN0046.JPG\" alt=\"River traffic at St Neots\" width=\"576\" height=\"345\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">River traffic at St Neots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Leaving St Neots I passed a friendly cow.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 512px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-iBJwm8i0hDU\/UgkUxqtm0DI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/joYujJepZNE\/s640\/DSCN0047.JPG\" alt=\"Cow on the path\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cow on the path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I saw blackberries growing alongside the riverbank, free food! I stopped, foraged and gorged myself.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-t4En0x-hYZY\/UgkTSbyMziI\/AAAAAAAABC0\/A8g5PJS3FmM\/s640\/DSCN0055.JPG\" alt=\"Free food!\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Free food!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I continued my way north towards Brampton, where the hike would finish. \u00a0The river was now constantly in view, I was feeling tired as I approached 20 miles but felt happy and very glad to be where I was.<\/p>\n<p>I saw some nice looking wild camping locations along the way, the one below was particularly enticing.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-a4Hwg-70Eps\/UgkUxiNXMBI\/AAAAAAAABDQ\/EWjeYLX4ypA\/s640\/DSCN0052.JPG\" alt=\"Wild camp?\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wild camp?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What is the location? \u00a0Ah well, let&#8217;s just say that you&#8217;ll find it somewhere between Sandy and Brampton, on the banks of the River Great Ouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is stage six of the\u00a0Great Ouse Odyssey, a hike along the Ouse Valley Way, from the mouth to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[97,36,44,32,43,92],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1945"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4392,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions\/4392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}