Two named trails run past the centre of Kingston, following very similar routes via Church Lane, Rectory Lane, The Green and Crane’s Lane: the Wimpole Way and the Harcamlow Way.
Both are marked on that indispensable accompaniment to any local walk, the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey Explorer Map, Sheet 209. Paths are often marked by signposts and roundels, but it is usually wise to follow a trail map in hand.
The Wimpole Way runs thirteen miles from central Cambridge to Wimpole Hall. From Kingston you have about three miles to go before reaching the Wimpole tearoom!
The Harcamlow Way is a more challenging proposition. The name hints at its purpose, a 140 mile figure-of-eight route between Cambridge and the Essex town of Harlow, the centre of the ‘8’ crossing at Newport, north of Bishop’s Stortford. The route is shown on the following OS Explorer sheets: 174, 183, 194, 195, 208, 209, 210, and 226. Two short but helpful guidebooks to the trail written by Phoebe Taplin were published in 2014.
Like many other trails, both the Harcamlow Way and the Wimpole Way have entries on the Long Distance Walkers’ Association (LDWA)’s indispensable website: ldwa.org.uk. This supplies plenty of helpful information, and zoomable maps of the full routes.
Follow any signposted English trail and you will find that one path nearly always leads to (at least) one other. At Wimpole Hall, the Wimpole Way ends and the Clopton Way begins. Named after the deserted medieval village close to Croydon, the Clopton Way runs as far as Gamlingay. From Gamlingay you can follow the Greensand Ridge Walk through Bedfordshire to Leighton Buzzard. And from there a short connecting path takes you to a lovely viewpoint, Ivinghoe Beacon, and two of England’s finest paths, the Icknield Way running north-east, and the Ridgeway heading south-west through the Chiltern Hills and on across the Thames at Goring to the Berkshire Downs and the prehistoric stones at Avebury. And so on, and on!
An even longer proposition cuts through the north-eastern corner of the parish, adjoining Toft. Here a walker joins the Greenwich Meridian Trail (GMT). This 273 mile route is not marked on OS maps, but the LDWA website supplies a map and some information on excellent guidebooks, and the path is well signposted. On joining the Trail, crossing into Toft on the Church Road Bourn Brook footbridge and turning left takes you via the GMT to the Humber Estuary and beyond. Turn right, and the route leads you across the Thames at Greenwich and on over the North and South Downs to the Sussex coast.
Happy Walking!