It was pretty obvious that Noddy wasn't too keen on walking to Cambridgeshire so I gave up and returned to Langley, but not before I had walked down the wrong path and had to scramble down a ditch and hack through a copse. It was only about three miles to the border so the trip didn't take very long. I stopped to admire Holy Trinity Church in Chrishall which stands alone atop a little hill. It has battlements and an interesting chequered design, not typical among Essex churches.
The county top of Cambridgeshire (479ft) is either an unmarked spot height on the B1039 opposite The Hall or the covered reservoir nearby. Not very inspiring! As I didn't have a GPS, there didn't seem much walking down the road trying to gauge the highest point as this may have attracted attention from the local residents. I opted to drive to the closest point to the covered reservoir which happened to be the car park of a nearby sports centre. I got out, Archie posed for a picture and we drove off. All over in seconds!
It was a great shame that the church at Great Chishall wasn't the highest point as it was very attractive. The whole village is well worth a visit as is the nearby Wood Green Animal Shelter. Noddy and I travelled on to Wandlebury which would have made a great county top were it not for the unfortunate lack of height (243ft). Wandlebury is an old hill fort that has some very interesting buildings inside it and is now a Country Park. You can see for miles in all directions and on the day that I went, Ely Cathedral was visible to the naked eye 15 miles away (although you could see it much more clearly with binoculars).
Noddy and I ended the day at the Cambridge Camping and Caravan Club site near Scotsdales, (for those of you familiar with Cambridge). The weather remained glorious so Noddy and I both did some sunbathing.
Cambridgeshire has another traditional county top at Haddenham village, the highest point of the Isle of Ely, which was a independent county until 1965. At 128ft it must seem positively mountainous compared with the surrounding countryside.
Our first county topping trip was very successful, excellent weather and no difficulties in finding or scaling the tops. Although the tops themselves were not as inspiring as I hoped, I did see some interesting views elsewhere in Cambridgeshire; the excellent panorama from Wandlebury and the nude sunbathers of Quy Fen.
1 comment:
Ah, I spent many a bored afternoon at Scotsdales in my childhood.
I like Wood Green Animal Shelter too. A long time since I have been though. Is the llama still a-llama-ing?
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