Grafham Water is one of the most popular places to go for a long walk or bike ride near Huntington, Cambridgeshire. When I was growing up, hiking (or cycling) the entire 14km around the lake was a major achievement. You’ll often see families or groups of friends traversing this lake-side pathway.

On this occasion, we went out for a mini walk, with my new niece Nell, in a baby harness. We only wanted to walk for a few kilometers to stretch our legs, so we explored part of the nature reserve in one corner of Grafham Water.

Grafham Water walking map

This is the teeny route we took. If you would prefer to do the entire Grafham Water circular walk, you can see the full map here.

This was the middle of winter, so you can expect this walk to be much greener and prettier in the spring or summer. Still, it is nice to walk in the wintertime as it was very quiet and calm.

Grafham Water walk – the basics

We were hiking with baby Nell, so we only did a teeny portion of the circular walk around Grafham Water. However I’ve included the details of the longer walk, in case you fancy it.

Distance: 3km (or 13.7 km for the loop all the way around Grafham Water) 
Elevation Gain: Minimal – 40m (70m for the whole loop)
Time: 50 mins going slowly (2.5- 3.5 hours for the whole loop)
What to bring:
You may need wellies if it is muddy
Bring some cash in the summertime, as there is often an ice cream van in the car park by the visitor center.
Dogs: Yes! Dogs will love walking in this area!
How hard is it? The teeny section we did is super easy! As a child, I remember thinking the Grafham Water circular walk was super long, but if you walk regularly, you’ll be able to manage it in just a few hours.

Grafham Water Nature Reserve

Grafham Water is a large reservoir created in the 1960s to supply water to the local area. However it was quickly colonized by wildlife including plenty of birds. By the 1980s the area was so popular with great crested grebes, geese, ducks and coots that it was designated as biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Wildlife Trust website states that you might even see osprey here!

Path Around Grafham Water

Once you have made it down to the reservoir, there is an easy to follow path the whole way around. The path is a few meters away from the water’s edge, but there are plenty of little beaches if you’re walking with a dog that needs to get its paws wet! My sister’s dog Asher, did some great stick-fetching!

We found the whole way along the edge of Grafham water there were foam bubbles.

It’s pretty cool isn’t it? I guess it was made my the windy day churning up the lake’s water.

The woodlands around Grafham Water are a mixture of ancient woodlands along with plantations. The last part of our walk was along an old train line so it is flat, with a wide opening between the trees. I loved seeing the older, gnarled trees covered in moss.

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Leave no Trace

We didn’t actually see any rubbish on this walk (woot!) so it seems like local walkers are good at picking up their litter. I did find this super fluffy dog poop though! It was kind of cool to see it, but if you walk here, you really should pick up after your dog!

That is a super-short post for a super short walk. I hope you like the look of it anyway. Please click on the pins below to save them for later.

If you like seeing the English countryside, I wrote a couple of similar posts about winter walks. One near my village in Molesworth, and one in the Nottinghamshire countryside where Marc grew up.