A Bridge for Sergeant Pike

An afternoon in Cambridge is followed by a drive across Adventurer's Fen from Swaffham Prior to Upware and beyond. Names on signposts spell out the eccentricities and local flavours- 'Commercial End', 'Goosehall Farm, 'Lord's Ground Farm' (cheers carried on the wind as another wicket falls behind the barn). And then Dimmock's Cote and this fabulous concrete bridge over the River Cam before it joins with the Great Ouse, and across the fields from the remarkable Stretham Pumping Engine. Startlingly white in this green and yellow landscape, it is a refreshing curve amongst the fenland horizontals. Sometimes known as the Military Bridge, it will be well-known to anglers trudging with their maggots along the riverside path, but apart from that I could find little to tell you about it. I wanted to get closer to the riverside abutments to inspect what looked like some concrete heraldry, but was prevented from doing so by extremely marshy ground starred with seductive yellow king cups. Headline in the The Pike Fisher's Mercury: 'Blogger Disappears In Fenland Ouse'.