Passing people's horses and a friendly ram I left Brandon and Breckland to enter the Fens. A very flat area, once marsh, most has been drained to become fertile farmland. Ploughed fields were often black with peat, very different from Breckland's sandy soil. The marshland has been preserved (or recreated) in Lakenheath Fen, around which I walked for several kilometres on a raised embankment. Bleached reeds spread out to my left, waving on the wind, their seed heads catching the low winter sun when it smiled through the clouds. On my right, geese floated on the Little Ouse. My embankment and another on the far side contained the river and the strip of grass or reeds beside it. Its water level was a little higher than that in the marsh to my left. Lakenheath Fen is managed by the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds) to protect birds and wildlife. In addition to Canada Geese and a few swans I disturbed a deer, my second of the morning. Its camouflage in shades of brown was so good that if it had stayed still I would not have noticed it. As I left the Fen I saw another animal, too small for a deer but too large for a hare, with short ears and back legs slightly longer than its front ones. Further research indicates it was a muntjac, a type of deer not native to Britain.
Contrary to the forecast the wind was strong today, creating ripples with white peaks on the river. I found myself leaning into it, its gusts off-balancing me slightly. Being a headwind more effort was needed to cover the miles. I left the area of marsh and its reeds by a pumping station. A vertical, centrifugal pump lifted water from a drainage ditch into the river. Nearby was a ruined house. Maybe once the pumping station was manned, when pumps were less reliable, and this was where the pump person lived. Later, at the village of Prickwillow I stopped by the Drainage museum, sadly closed, but a sign said that to keep the neighbouring farmland dry, water had to be lifted 4.6 metres from the drainage ditch to the nearby river, enclosed by high embankments. Systematic drainage of the fens began in the 17th century by the Dutch, but it was not until the use of steam pumps in the 19th century that land was reliably kept clear of water. Although highly fertile the level of the fields was falling according to the sign, I noticed many roads are at a higher level than the surrounding farmland. I walked beside huge fields for much if the day, freshly ploughed or green with some kind of grain. A field of sheep contrasted with the largely arable farming.
Overhead, fighter jets howled, their black silhouettes strangely separated from their sound. RAF Lakenheath is nearby, maybe they were newly arrived US Airforce F-35s. The most unpleasant part of the day was a stretch by a busy road. Many large lorries thundered by, I moved onto the uneven verge to avoid them and their strong slipstream. On a quieter section the first Hereward Way signs appeared, maybe a sign I had entered Cambridgeshire. Although tired I found the final part of my walk was especially beautiful as the low sun caught the seed heads of the reeds lining a drainage ditch beside me. Lines of electric cables, hung from pylons, extended far into the distance. Ely cathedral slowly grew larger on the skyline as I approached.
Today's walk of some 36 kilometres was rather longer than planned or desirable for my knee, which definitely did not want to get into action this morning. The place I had intended to stay on the way to Ely was not accepting bookings and a back up plan to shuttle from Shippea Hill station failed as there were no trains (and no hill)!! So after a long day walking to Ely I decided to recover by having a day's sightseeing tomorrow to recover.
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