This website has always been keen to encourage the exploration of this delightful part of the world. Admittedly the mountains aren't spectacular, and if your taste is for hill-walking you ought to move, but there are uniquely Fenland delights to enjoy when walking hereabouts. The image above is just such a case in point. These are migrant Bewick swans taking off beside the Old Bedford River.

This spectacle (it can't be guaranteed, of course) was seen back in March 2009 while on just about the only circular walk that's feasible from Nordelph. From the corner of Birchfield Road you took (the reason for the past tense will become clear) Nordelph Footpath Number 7 to the south until you reached the bank of the river and scrambled up. That's where the grazing swans were. Then you turned to the north-east and follow the bank to Salters Lode, returning to Nordelph along Well Creek.

That's what you could do in 2009. You can't now (at least not easily), but you should be able to do so again soon! The culprit is Footpath Number 7, which is plotted below.

It isn't really evident from the map, but the footpath leaves Birchfield Road on the east side of the drain, but crosses to the west at some point in the first half of its course. The lack of precision is because there is no longer a bridge across the drain, and there is some degree of confusion about just where it was in any case.

Walkers in 2009, unaware that they were trespassing, simply carried on along the same side of the drain. There was in any case a disincentive when they reached the bank. Crossing another drain at the foot of the bank involved a stile and a bridge -- not in the best of repair, either of them!

In fact, the bridge is no longer there. Basically, Footpath Number 7 is a line on a map, and not a path on the ground.

But the news is good. The Parish Council are focusing on FP7 in an innovative sort of way, and in the process the footpath should end up routed in a more rational way. There's another issue with the path!

The map on the left (from 1902) shows how the path makes a dog leg near the southern end to run along the field boundaries, following the drain. This drain was filled in and the present-day map on the right shows that the field boundary was shifted to a more rational straight line following a neat swap of land between the neighbouring landowners. Anyone following the official line of the footpath walks in fields that would be better devoted to growing crops!

So what is planned? The College of West Anglia have agreed that their Construction Department can adopt the project as a student exercise and they will be carrying out the work. Once it has been decided exactly where the crossing of the drain should be sited (the County Council maps are acknowledged to be in error) a simple culvert crossing will be constructed, laying a concrete pipe along the line of the drain, earthing it in and building a simple superstructure -- all to be accomplished by the College. The bridge at the bank was removed by Norfolk County Council, and it is they who will be replacing it -- once the requisite legal steps have been taken to straighten the path so that it follows the field boundary: there is little point in having the new bridge and stile where it originally was.

The culvert should be in place by December 2011. It will also allow access for the equipment of the Upwell Drainage Board, which is responsible for keeping the drains clear and functioning. Once this is all in place, we can offer the circular walk on the website!

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