Lyddington - Seaton - Bisbrooke - Uppnham - Lyddington

Thu, 2013 Sep 5 10:21 AM British Summer Time

With Harry and Jenny. Beautiful weather, very hot, good underfoot. Pretty fast pace, considering. Including looking round Uppingham - 8.7 miles.

It's a delight to show our countryside to someone who hasn't seen it before! 

sculpture inspired by the fishponds 

Lyddington church from the ancient fishponds

The first part of the path is clearly marked as the Rutland Round.  We walk across the Green, past the sculpture, through a gate and with the hedge on our left walk through the fields with the traces of the old fishponds.  At the end of this field we turn left, skirting a wood, before turning right and heading along a path uphill.  This was shaded and cool before we cam out into the fields. We head north east for a little while, then do a dog-leg. This is all clear on the ground with waymarker posts.  The path gradually turns further east, alongside a sloping ploughed field.

We come out into Grange Lane,  which leads uphill into Seaton.

A solitary wood pigeon

swallows are gathering

We walk through Seaton and take a look at the viaduct from the Glaston Harringworth cross roads, before going back to our path.

Seaton church

The path is not far from Moles Lane, and up a short set of steps. It heads north, and climbs gently before descending more steeply to the dismantled railway.  Here it turns north west, and crosses a large field with a stream - again the waymarkers are clear.   The path now runs beside trees and is enclosed on each side - it climbs almost unnoticeably into Bisbrooke, emerging behind the church.

We follow the road to the cross roads, meeting the odd chicken, and helping ourselves to some windfalls, offered free outside one of the houses.

At the crossroads we go straight ahead then turn left and right at the corner - the road becomes a track and then a path, and finally we arrive at the Uppingham School playing field and cricket pavilion. Into the town for coffee and lunch at Don Paddys, before looking round the town, and the Goldmark Gallery - there's an exhibition of George Grosz's work, and lots of other interesting items.

We leave Uppingham by taking the path through the church porch and churchyard, then at the road we turn left then right and head south and downhill.   There are some juicy blackberries on the way, so we pick them - making use of empty water bottles. Tonight we shall feast.

The path is clear, leading us to the playing field behind Uppingham College. We lose the track briefly, but find it again and it leads south east across a road, and over farmland towards Lyddington. 

That's what I call a path "made good"

A short diversion as we feed an apple to a horse,  we reach the road into Lyddington and decide to walk through the village back to the car.

This bird is going nowhere!

Map and details