Town and Country: The Orton Walk described

By Hilary Lewis

Please note that pictures of this walk are also now available on our website.

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How could a walk that takes you into a city centre, with a half-time break outside a supermarket, be classified as a proper Ramblers walk? The group of 33 who gathered in the Orton Mere car park, having been willing even to pay the necessary parking fee, were obviously keen to find out.

The River Nene has always played an important part in Peterborough’s heritage, and signs are still visible today, long after the industrial activities themselves have disappeared.

The first half of the walk took us alongside the Nene Valley Railway, which regularly offers trips by steam train. A well-maintained boardwalk allowed us to cross the reed beds which have encroached on the ponds that formerly collected the wastewater from sugar beet washing when British Sugar was a dominant local employer.

Further ponds collected condensate from the boiling process used to extract the sugar, and all of these ponds now have a new purpose as havens for wildlife.

The busy railway lines, carrying enormously long freight trains, reminded us of Peterborough’s importance in the history of railway engineering, with the Railworld Wildlife Haven, maintained by local volunteers, now encapsulating it in model form. We rested briefly on the wharf used in the Middle Ages to unload the Barnack limestone for building Peterborough Cathedral, before returning along the opposite side of the river.

The wearing of walking boots was justified as we traversed very muddy paths through strikingly quiet woodland – amazing to think that the main city thoroughfare were never more than 200-300 metres away.

We emerged from the woods to walk alongside the rowing lake with its sculpture park, reflective of a more modern culture, before re-crossing the river and the railway at Orton Sluice, which brought us back to our starting point.

Editor’s note: We do welcome both descriptive commentaries and photographs of all the walks undertaken by Peterborough Ramblers – both from walk leaders and from those participating on the walk.  If you have either photos or a commentary for any walk please do forward it to Tony@schools.co.uk, making the subject line “Ramblers”.