Beds, Bucks, Cambs, Milton K, Norfolk, Northants

A source-to-sea route on one of England’s longest rivers, it follows the River Great Ouse on its meandering passage from close to its source to the tidal river at Kings Lynn, linking many towns and villages. It passes through Stowe Park to reach Buckingham, then fringes north of Milton Keynes and Newport Pagnell. It heads via Emberton Country Park to Sharnbrook (with H E Bates connections) and visits Bedford’s Priory Park and passes a Danish Camp at Willingdon, then links St Neots, Huntingdon (Cromwell’s birthplace), St Ives and Earith. After Earith, the Dutch engineer Vermuyden worked to shorten the river across the Hundred Foot Washes, while the Way keeps along the Old West River where the Stretham Old Engine tells the story of the draining of the Fens. Before Ely, with its cathedral visible on the skyline, it meets the River Cam, and after Ely it runs in common with the Fen Rivers Way, crossing the Bedford Level to Downham Market and Kings Lynn, where the river finally flows out into the Wash.