City of Cambridge

Summary

Distance: 9km/5½ miles  l  Ascent: 3m/11ft  l  Time: 3 hours  l  Walk type: City and commons  

With surfaced riverside paths and café-lined alleys, Cambridge is great for winter walks. The willows are frosty and medieval colleges glow gold in low afternoon sunshine. This station-to-station route includes the city’s most famous sights, ringed by commons and water meadows, where cows graze, swans drift and rowers train in all weathers.

Navigation level: Easy  l  Difficulty: Easy  l  Type: Linear 

Start: Cambridge Station, CB1 2JW (TL46285747). / End: Cambridge North Station, CB4 0WZ (TL475606). 

cambridge

 

Route

Classic view of King's College from the _backs

Getting there

Where: A linear walk through Cambridge. Regular trains from Norwich, Ipswich, London, Stansted (www.greateranglia.co.uk) and other places, including Brighton, Birmingham, King’s Lynn. Plenty of buses and coaches too. Drive via M11 and A1309 or, from north, via A10, A1134 and A603. 

Maps: OS Explorer 209, OS Landranger 154. 

Eating & drinking: Kerb Kollective at Museum of Technology (kerbkollective.coffee), Green Dragon pub (01223 363506, greendragoncambridge.co.uk). 

Sleeping: YHA Cambridge (yha.org.uk/hostel/yha-cambridge, 0345 3719728), Novotel Cambridge North (novotel.accor.com - search ‘Cambridge North’, 01223 867170), Waterman Pub (thewatermancambridge.com/, 01223 323813).  

Visitor information: www.visitcambridge.org 

Guidebook: Country Walks around Cambridge by Phoebe Taplin (£4.99, Pitkin Press, ISBN 184165681X). 

 

Waypoints

  1. Exit Cambridge railway station and immediately turn left along Station Place, past bus stops. After Stop 4, turn right into Brookgate and follow it to busy Hills Road. Cross at lights by Costa and continue along Brooklands Avenue. At junction, cross Trumpington Road and head slightly right onto tarmac path signed Newnham. Keep left at fork and cross big green-railed footbridge. 

  1. Immediately after footbridge, turn sharp right onto riverside path with water on right. Approaching road, fork left over grass to tunnel under road (if flooded, simply cross road instead) and continue along waterside path. At end of path, cross bridge right towards Mill pub, turn left along Laundress Lane and left again over Silver Street Bridge. 

  1. Follow pavement of Silver Street past Queens’ College and turn right through bollards onto surfaced path. Keep right on sandy path. When it reaches Queen’s Road, walk past gates of King’s College and fork right again with views across The Backs to King’s College Chapel. Follow pedestrian signs around gate of St Clare’s and, at next junction, turn right along Garret Hostel Lane. Cross bridge and follow lane ahead. Turn right on Trinity Lane and soon left along Senate House Passage to emerge near Great St Mary’s church. 

  1. Turn right past church and soon left into St Mary’s passage to reach Market Square. From far corner of market, walk along Rose Crescent, turn right on Trinity Street and keep going along St Johns Street. Continue straight along Round Church Street, turn left on Park Street and soon right into Lower Park Street. Turn left through gate of Jesus Green onto tarmac path. 

  1. Reaching River Cam, turn right with water on left and continue for more than a mile, under bridges, past boats, boathouses and waterside pub. Walking under A1134, keep on along pavement, passing Museum of Technology with tall brick chimney. 

  1. Beyond museum, keep going along pavement and then riverside path by Stourbridge Common for another ½ mile. Walk under railway and immediately turn right up steps and cross new foot/cycle bridge. Walk back along far side of river and follow signs right and right again to Cambridge North station. Just before level crossing, turn left along Moss Bank. Follow lane and path ahead to station, which has frequent trains back to Cambridge if needed. 

 

Problem with this route?

If you encounter a problem on this walk, please let us know by emailing volunteersupport@ramblers.zendesk.com. If the issue is with a public path or access please also contact the local highways authority directly, or find out more about solving problems on public paths on our website.

 

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