Quy Water Circular

A lovely little 4 miles starting and finishing at the NT’s Anglesey Abbey which can also be visited if open.

Parking is available in the NT’s car park (free for members).

• From the car park walk away from the visitor’s centre down the left hand side of the overflow car park. Follow the path until you reach a tennis court and walk diagonally towards the court and follow this path along the back.
• Walk alongside the allotments and turn left at the end. Follow this path until you come out at the end of a road. The back of the mill is on your left and a bridge on your right. 

• Go left around the side of the mill and follow the grass track along the edge of the water which should be on your left.

• Keep following the water’s edge for approximately 2 miles.

• When you reach the road turn right. When you reach some cottages on the left continue right  and then take the track on the right signposted to Quy Fen, Lode and Horningsea.

• Follow this track for about a mile or so until you reach a woodland on your right and enter the woodland at the break in trees.
• Follow the path through the woodland. Continue straight through until you come out with the water in front of you.

• Turn left and follow the path alongside the water (now on your right) towards the mill.

• Turn right to go back around the mill and follow the footpath back past the allotments, tennis court and to the car park where you started

Our route was 3.9 miles
See the route on mapometer
Terrain: Mostly flat, gravel, grass and dirt tracks (can be muddy in wet weather)
Habitats: River, farmland,
Facilities: Café and toilets at Anglesey Abbey

Quy Fen, Lode, Cambridgeshire (4.8 miles)

This walk starts at Lode in Cambridgeshire.  Parking in the National Trust Anglesey Abbey car park is recommended and free.  There are refreshments and toilets available just inside the Visitor centre (if you are not NT members you don’t have to pay to just go this far in) but check opening times.

The route is part of The Quy Fen walks and we followed the map available as part of the leaflet available to download.  However, we did go wrong and missed out a section that would have taken us to Quy and back in along Quy Water.  I have given both routes below - the one we should have taken and the one we actually walked.  There are lots of alternative pathways around and across the Quy Fen so you could walk much less and a little more than us.  We will take the OS map next time though!

Park at the far end of the main car park and head to a yellow marker post in the corner where the main car park meets the grass overflow car park.  Follow the path that runs the length of the overflow car park.  Take a left, then right behind the tennis court and past the allotments and houses.  Go over the water and just past the mill on your left but take the marked pathway on your right and keep straight ahead.  

Mill Lane, Lode

Follow the track along the field and into a small wood.  Turn right and then once out of the wood turn left.  Follow this bridleway and then take the turning on the right.  Keep going to the bottom of the bridleway and continue on as it becomes a meadow.  Take a diagonal across the meadow, you will pass a pond on your right.  Go over the small bridge at the end and enter Quy Fen.

Quy Fen, Lode

Follow the grass track diagonally left across the meadow and through the gate.  Take the small path ahead of you and come out with a larger rectangle pond on your left.

You have two alternatives here.  A. take the track alongside the long length of the pond, underneath the pylons take a track on your left then eventually left again back under the pylons or B. go straight on at the pond through a copse until you come out in a large meadow.  Take a diagonal grass track across the meadow to a gate in the top left hand corner (it is round a bend in the field so you can’t see it as you enter).  Eventually both these options should bring you out at a bridleway signposted to Quy which will take you past Allicy Farm.  Once past the farm carry on to the left.  

This is where we went wrong.  When you reach a fork - we took a left track back towards Lode and through Quy Fen the way we came when we should have gone right to Quy which would have added about a mile to the walk.  The instructions below are for the Quy option.

Going right at the fork the bridleway will make a right turn, follow this towards Station Road, veering off to the left just before to cut out the roadway.  Make a sharp left hand turn at Quy Water and walk back towards Lode along the waterway.  Follow the water all the way back to Quy Mill, going around the back and turning left back alongside the allotments, across in front of the tennis court and back through Anglesey Abbey car park.

Quy Mill, Lode

Our route was: 4.77 miles
See the route on mapometer.com
The Quy route was: 5.66 miles
See the route on mapometer.com
Terrain: Flat, grass tracks, bridleways - could be muddy in wet weather
Habitat: Waterways, meadows, woodland, farmland, ponds - livestock may be grazing.  Dogs allowed but must be kept under control.
Facilities: Toilets and refreshments at Anglesey Abbey during opening times.