2. Downham to Littleport

From Downham Market (aka Downham), I head down towards the Denver Sluice Complex.  This is important for water management across large parts of the surrounding Fenland area (comprising over 1,500 square miles of former marshland at or below sea level); in the 1650s, the swampland was used to create productive farmland out of the unused land - river channels were straightened, new channels dug, levee banks piled high, and the land was drained.  At high tide, a series of sturdy gates at the Denver Sluice are closed, and the water is forced to back up in the river relief channels until the tide falls below the river level.  When the tide falls to a low enough level, the sluice gates are re-opened and the river is allowed to continue its flow out to sea; if necessary, an area of animal grazing land at Welney — 20 miles upstream of the Complex — is sacrificed to the waters as a temporary reservoir.  It was fascinating to visit this before heading further down river.

I pass the small, but growing, village of Ten Mile Bank before en route to Brandon Creek; is where the River Little Ouse joins the Great Ouse and for much of the its length it defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk; indeed, after crossing the bridge, one is in Suffolk.  From here the walk south is sandwiched between the A10(T) and a floodbank of the River Great Ouse (it is both hot and a little noisy at times, but there are good views of boats on the river), before heading to Littleport railway station.

It was fascinating to visit this before heading further up river to reach Downham Market (aka Downham) and the end of this leg of the Fen Rivers Way.Read more