Grantchester Fields Run

Milestone 1: Reaching the Hat & Feathers pub

Start from St John's porter's lodge and head south along Trinity Street and onto Kings Parade. Continue along Kings Parade, passing Kings followed by Catz on the right, and Corpus followed by Pembroke on the left. Turn right when you reach Pembroke into Mill Lane. Carry on along Mill Lane until you reach the river. You should see a black metal stile for cyclists and pedestrians. Go through that and run along the paved path that winds left taking you over a bridge. Turn right almost immediately after the bridge onto a smaller path. Go along the smaller path (over a small wooden bridge). You should see the Granta pub on the right and the side of an Italian restaurant (Pasta Italia) immediately ahead. Turn left and run along the path until you get to a pair of traffic lights. Cross the the road at the lights and run along the footpath. When the footpath ends, you should have come to a junction. Turn right at the junction and run along the road until you see the Hat and Feathers pub on the left (it's got pink walls!). Turn left at the Hat and Feathers. This is a smaller road. Just follow it as it winds right. You'll come to a point where you can either turn right or left along Grantchester Road. Turn left and go straight until you see the rugby field on your right.

Milestone 2: Getting across the rugby field

Cross the white barrier at the corner of the fields and run diagonally across, clipping the fenced pitch) towards a small mound just in front of a hedge. Head for the left edge of the mound and go over it. You should see a gap in the hedge (straight ahead or a few metres to the left or right depending on the point where you come down from the mound).

Milestone 3: Through farm land

Turn right after the hedge and run along the stoney farm track. The track winds left and later left again. Just follow it until you get over a gentle rise and down onto a road perpendicular to the path. Cross the road. At this point after you've crossed the road you'd see a barn immediately on the right and the trail slopes downwards a little. Go down the slope turning left. Go along the trail as it winds turns ninety degrees right, with the gradient rising at that point. Continue along the trail until you get to a trail junction. The ground should slope gently downwards as you approach the junction. To be sure you're on the right bearing, you should see, straight ahead in the distance, a white bridge.

At the junction, turn left, and go straight on along the trail until it runs into a grassy patch; and the trail becomes a narrow footpath through the grassy patch. There's a big tree on the left of that narrow footpath. (There shouldn't be any big trees nearby as you run along the trail towards this grassy patch! It's more or less open space as far as the eye can see into the horizon!)

Go along the narrow path and you'll come to a road bend. Cross the road and turn left. Run along the road passing a house on the right with a big driveway. Keep going for less than a hundred metres or so, follow it as it bends to the right, and you should see a (sign posted) public footpath on your right. This is easy to miss. The footpath has a wooden fence on one side and a pub (The Green Man) on the other.

Milestone 4: Along the river (Grantchester Fields)

Run straight along the path, which winds gently up and down through the Grantchester Fields. The river should be on your right, and you'd be running on higher ground. The path kind of ends when it narrows and is fenced on both sides. Go through that narrow path and you'll see the Pembroke playing fields on the left. It turns into a housed road but going straight until you can't go straight anymore. Turn right when you can't go straight and you should see the sign for the paradise nature reserve trail. (This is probably one of the smallest nature reserves ever!). Follow the path through the nature reserve. You'll be going over a wooden bridge, and the river is on your right. Keep on the path closest to the river. When you reach the end, there is a wooden swing gate. On the other side of this is a car park. Go through that, and turn right at the bridge. Run over the bridge and you should see another bridge (with steps leading up to it) further ahead. Go over that bridge.

After that bridge, you should see a pair of traffic lights diagonally to your left. Run along the path leading from the bridge and turn left towards those lights. (There are grassy areas on your left and right).

Cross the road at the lights (the Leys School would be on your right before you cross the road), and go straight along that path. There should be a field on your left and the back of some buildings on your right.

Milestone 5: Back along Kings Parade

When you reach the end of that path, there is a hotel on your left, and the University Centre straight ahead. Go straight past the hotel and the University Centre. As you pass the University Centre, you'll see on your left (and recognize) the first bridge your crossed over the river on your way to Grantchester fields, and you should also see (and recognize) the first black metal stile you went through. You're now back at Mill Lane.

Go through the narrow alley between the Anchor pub and the University Sports and Social Club. Then turn right into Silver Street. Run past Queens and keep going along Silver Street until you reach a bend in the road. You should recognize Pembroke and Corpus across on your right and left respectively. Turn left and run back towards Kings Parade, past Catz followed by Kings on your left as you sprint down the home straight along Trinity Street to finish back at St John's porter's lodge! (Watch for dodgy vehicle maneovring, cycles and people crossing Kings Parade without looking at this point)