Cambridge Corners 

Nine Wells

Can be done on foot or by bike although you'll need to leave your bike outside Nine Wells wood. Just over 3 miles to the starting point and then a circular walk of 2.5 to 3 miles.

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Start at the junction of Red Cross Lane and Hills Road. This is about 200 metres out of Cambridge on the right beyond the Addenbrooke's Hospital roundabout. This excursion can be combined with the Hobson's Conduit walk to make a longer stroll/ride starting in the city centre.

Walk up Red Cross Lane passing the Bell School and Educational Trust, where I worked for some years. Go through the gate which marks the end of the road and continue onto the concreted path, passing over a road and around another set of gates. Shortly after you get into fields the path becomes a good grass and dirt track. Follow this round right and left turns, eventually reaching the railway line to London. Ahead of you lies Trumpington to which you could continue to (and hopefully return from) if you were desperate for a visit to the pub. The less adventurous of us turn left without crossing and follow the railway line. Views of hills (good God!) appear ahead of us: Wandlebury leftish and Granham's straightish. Eventually, where the path meets a stream that runs under the railway, we bear left towards the trees of Nine Wells alongside the stream - Hobson's Conduit.

Looking along Hobson's Conduit back to its starting point in Nine Wells wood beyond.

Enter Nine Wells via a little bridge - bikes will have to be locked outside. Explore Nine Wells wood at your leisure. At the back of this end of the wood is an obelisk marking the exploitation of the wells, the best part of 400 years ago. They supplied water via Hobson's Conduit to Cambridge - quite a feat of engineering. Deep furrows, sometimes nearly dry in summer, springs and wiggly paths appear at every turn. Emerge from an exit at the far end but same side that you entered from.

Notice the tired sign a few metres in from the exit. Turn right onto the path. A few metres on we bear left (although if desperate again for a drink, you could follow the permitted path right - no bikes - to Shelford) and then follow the path right at a strange cage like structure. Continue on past a smaller wood. Further on our path turns right and continues on to Granham's Road - here turn left and then left again onto Babraham Road, following this back to Red Cross Lane. Alternatively, and only if you are on foot, you can walk left between two fields instead of following the path right. This takes you to a hedge that you follow left and then right, crossing a ditch on a large pipe(!). Continue along the edge of the field (can be overgrown), with a ditch and thick hedge to your right, until you meet the concrete track that emerges out of Red Cross Lane. Turn right back to our starting point.