Orlingbury, Lt Harrowden, Hardwick

Thu, 2015 Jul 23 9:18 AM  BST

With Gordon and Maureen. Fine, dry, cloudy. Dry underfoot. Good paths. Around 7.5 miles.

This was a very similar route to another walk from July 2012, in reverse with a few slight variations.

We left Orlingbury via Rectory Lane, passing Orchard Close on our left and turning right before Lammas Close, then left, and following a footpath out of the village.

Yogi?

The path kept the hedge on our right, and then crossed a field of wheat or barley, with a good path leading to the back of Little Harrowden Primary School, then through gates to the main road through the village. Here we turned left and very soon right as the path left on the opposite side of the road. 

More cornfields and clear paths brought us close to Great Harrowden. We crossed the road just before the village, and took the path leading sharp right - a wide track, eventually going past Blackberry Fox Covert and a row of electricity pylons before reaching the Hardwick Road from Wellingborough.
We crossed the road, and walked over another field, then along a shady wooded path behind the Sports Ground to reach Moonshine Gap, or Appleby Gate. This road is fairly busy, but we walked only about fifty yards along it before turning off along a bridle track to the right, opposite a road junction.  

In less than half a mile we took a footpath to the right, across yet more arable land. this brought us to the village of Hardwick, where we had a break outside the church.

About half a mile north of Hardwick, we took the second footpath on the left (the one near the top of the hill, not the one at the right hand bend).   More arable fields, more clear paths. In just under a mile we met the row of pylons and turned left along a bridleway. At a hedge we turned left again and followed this path until it met the more direct Hardwick to Orlingbury path, just after it crosses a footbridge. We turned right and followed the clear path uphill to the hedge, and northwards, over a stream and then uphill.

The fields become pasture as the route nears Orlingbury , and supports cows and sheep. We walked under the pylons again, and crossed pasture with a few stiles to climb before reaching the road and turning right into the village and across the village green.

We saw a fair number of butterflies, and the odd large blue dragonfly too.

Map and details

Hardwick, Sywell, Mears Ashby

Tue, 2015 Jul 21 10:06 AM BST

With Marta. Between 8 and 9 miles. Most paths fairly clear,apart from nr Hardwick Lodge Farm. Mostly arable or woodland edges. Warm, some cloud, some sun. Dry underfoot.

This is a very similar route to the walk we did on February 10 2015.

We started from the church at Hardwick, walked north as far as the right hand bend in the road, and took the footpath on the left, which leads northeast. At this time of year the footpath was clear, through the ripening wheat crop, over a coupe of fields, and led us easily to the footbridge over the stream. There was a clear footpath going uphill, and slightly right. When we met the hedge, though our route to the left was not so easy, so we followed tractor tracks to the next hedge and picked the path up as it went through the hedge. From here until Hardwick Lodge the paths were once again easy to follow.  Keep to the hedge until the corner, then go over the open field to the ruined brick building. Turn left, pass rusting machinery and continue through the field and round the small copse. Continue to the road. 
Hardwick Lodge advertises itself as the home of Happy Hens. Unfortunately we didn't buy any eggs - thought they could end up scrambled before we got home.

It's a little tricky to find the right paths around here - we ended up following the footpath between the fence and a stream round the edge of the property and over a footbridge, where dogs barked from the other side of a fence. At this point the path is unclear on the ground, but heads diagonally left over the field. We end up in the right place, pretty much at the corner of Hardwick Wood. Then we turned left towards Hardwick Short Wood. 
We followed the edge of the wood for about a mile, decided coffee was in order, then carried on to meet the road to Sywell near Wood Lodge Farm.
The stretch of road between here and Sywell is not very pleasant - a few hundred yards with no decent verge to walk along and fairly busy. At the Aviation Museum life gets easier as there is a pavement. 
In a short distance we cross the road and take the footpath left just before Sywell Hall. The footpath sign is invisible in the hedge from our direction.

that damned elusive pimpernel?

The path behind the houses and the hall is short and soon turns left at a small road. Today we followed the path alongside the hedge inside the field. This meets the path we need to take, turning left again and slightly uphill to this very pleasant bench. A sip of water and a couple of minutes of relaxation are not to be resisted.

Paths are again made good and easy to follow at this season. We cross one small section of field and another long one, downhill to a wooded stream, over a footbridge and up gently towards Mears Ashby. We meet Glebe Road, and decide to turn left and walk the short mile to Beckwith's Emporium and garden Centre to pick up sandwiches.  While we're there we are treated to an aerobatics display from nearby Sywell Aerodrome.

Our change of route means a stretch of road walking along a fairly busy road. We turn right and it's just over half a mile before we meet the footpath. We take this path to the left, and follow the hedge.  The path goes to the left through the hedge, and divides into two. We take the right hand one, which crosses a bridleway (this can be a bit tricky, but the route goes along to the corner of a field). The path carries on and turns slightly right heading into the village of Hardwick.

A few slightly tricky sections here. 

Map and details

Hardwick, Sywell, Mears Ashby circular

I decided on this walk, as we hadn't done it since 2013, when Barry led it for us. It's at least 8 miles, but felt longer because of sticky, muddy, recently planted fields. OK, maybe nearly 9 including occasional rerouting around fields. Beautiful weather, and very little wind today.

We set off from Hardwick church

Take the road opposite the church, and when it bends to the right, take the footpath going off to the left. This heads away from the track and alongside the hedge. In the next field, keep walking in the same direction until you reach a footbridge over a stream. We walked uphill with the hedge on our right, and when we reached the next field boundary turned left, keeping the hedge on our left.
 When we reached the end of the hedge our true path was directly across the recently ploughed field, to a marker near a small ruined brick building . Horses and people had gone before us around the field edge, so we decided to follow - the going was not easy, but easier.

We've already diverted round the edge of a large field to avoid mud! Onward toward Hardwick Lodge.

 We met the path at the point in the photo above, marked by some rusting machinery. We followed the route over the field and round a small copse with a pool, and came out at the road and a junction of paths near Hardwick Lodge, which sells eggs, and is well protected by dogs, who barked until we clearly showed that our intentions were honourable. The footpath has been routed round the edge of the properties. 
Now the path goes towards Hardwick Wood, turns left and makes for the corner of Hardwick Short Wood. We follow the edge of the wood, as it becomes Sywell Wood and then continues behind Wood Lodge Farm to meet the road into Sywell.
A left turn and a short section of road walking with no verge takes us past the Aviation Museum and some industrial buildings. Just before Sywell Hall our footpath turns off on the left - the sign was obscured from our direction, so involved a few yards of retraced steps.
The path soon comes out on a small road. Turn left here and before long left again to pick up the footpath to Mears Ashby. It goes uphill to a bench, before heading diagonally and downhill over a field towards Sywell Bottom. It may be possible to go further to the right and pick the path up. We went through the trees - see picture below!

Time to practise our limbo dancing? Near Sywell Bottom.

 Next we turned right for a short distance, then left to climb gently towards the village of Mears Ashby. Here we followed the road past the school, and through to Highfield Road.

Mears Ashby dog - the quietest one we met today.

 The path goes to the left from Highfield Road, just where the road bends to the right. The next big fields were pretty sticky - we ended up with extra boots, made of mud. Heavy workouts for the legs. Even after crossing the Sywell to Hardwick road, the going was - soft?  At one point we wandered slightly from the official footpath, by following the hedge. Luckily the magic machine showed us what we needed to do, and we were soon back on track and heading back to Hardwick. 

Very large snowdrops - or a vey small tractor? I think the leaves are a giveaway.

Another crocodilian

Still smiling after all I've led them through today!

Map and details

Sywell circular via Mears Ashby and Hardwick.

Mon, 2013 Jun 24 9:46 AM British Summer Time.

Led by Barry, with me, Eddie and Gordon. A dull morning, mostly dry underfoot. Not hilly, through arable land and villages. 9 miles.

The walk covers the same ground as this one, but starting in Sywell rather than Hardwick.  

Sywell church

From the church we turn east along the road towards Mears Ashby, ignoring the first footpath sign to our left, which leads between houses.  
Our path is off to the left, just as the road bends round to the right. 
The path crosses the corner of the first fields, and in the second one heads for the far right hand corner. It snips the corner of the third field, and in the fourth goes down to cross a stream.  Then we head almost due east again uphill to join Glebe Road going into Mears Ashby.

Too early for today's break

We follow the road on the north edge of the village and turn left at Highfield Road. In a short while the path goes left, heading north now.  After four fields we meet the Sywell to Wellingborough Road, and cross it.  We cross two fields, then come to a dividing of the ways - we take the right hand path - or head for the high ground.  Don't get skylined, advises Barry in ex-army mode.   We pick up the path and make for Hardwick, via farm buildings and houses.  We turn right along the road to the church, then left, and find our path off to the left as we come out of the village.
We're still going north, over a couple of fields and then a bridge over a stream.  At this point we decide to follow the field boundary since the path hasn't been made good.

When we reach the low ridge we turn left, going west.  It's fairly windy at this point and we pick a spot sheltered by the hedge for our break.  The path hugs the boundary until we reach a large open field - here we continue west straight across the field.
At the hedge we turn left - there's a small ruined building on the other side of the hedge.
South now.  In the second field there's a pool surrounded by trees - the path circles this - we choose the right hand route. 
We arrive at a very small road, and the dogs of Hardwick Lodge.  The people are friendly, and c hat a while, before suggesting we take the diverted route which is marked, and wishing us good walking.
We follow the path on its slightly devious route, eventually walking alongside Hardwick Short Wood and Sywell Wood.  We come out at Wood Lodge Farm, and meet the road into Sywell past the airport and the Aviator Hotel.

A quick look at the map

flying the flags

Just before Sywell Hall we take a path to our left, which brings us out at the footpath we ignored on the way out.

Sywell geese

Map and details

Hardwick-Sywell-Mears Ashby-Hardwick

Mon, 2013 Mar 11 9:41 AM Western European Time 

Led by Barry. With me, Gordon and Maureen. Cold weather, strong wind. sunny at times. almost 9 miles in all.

One of those shall we /shan't we days.  Snow flurrying about, car windscreen and doors iced up, but the promise of sunshine too.   No more than a few minutes behind schedule we set off to Hardwick and parked near the church.  

Into the teeth of the icy blast - after five minutes, I decided I needed my waterproof-windproof layer on top of the three I already had. 

We headed north along the road out of the village, and when the road bends to the right, we took a footpath to the left.  It leads to the opposite corner of the first field, and then across the next field. We ended up slightly too far over and had to walk back a few yards to the gap in the hedge, and footbridge over the stream.

The route across the next field was clearer, and at the next hedge we turned left following the field boundary west, past one hedge, then across another field. We met a bridleway, and turned to the left, going south. 

As we reached the minor road near Hardwick Lodge, we were greeted by barking dogs - in an enclosed area.  The easier path here turns more or less west down the lane and skirts the grounds of this house and others.

We turned southwest to meet the corner of Hardwick Short Wood, and followed the edge of this wood, and then Sywell Wood.  After passing Wood Lodge Farm we met the Sywell Road, going past Sywell Airport and Aviation Museum.

Exhibit 'A'

Exhibit 'B'

Exhibit 'C'

Barry had half promised us there'd be a coffee shop, but apart from the Aviator Hotel, we saw none.

Just before the main village we took a path to the left, walked for a short distance along the road and then turned left again, and slightly uphill.  At the top of this field there was a seat, but we preferred to choose a more sheltered spot on the other side of the trees - not quite the comfort of a café but not bad in the sunshine. 

Onward and down to the stream, then up again and across to Mears Ashby. 

How about this for a guard dog? No need for walkies, either.

Along the road east as far as Highfield Road, we turned left and then along a footpath heading north.  This continued over farmland, then across the Wellingborough to Sywell Road, then more farmland.  Some of the fields were pretty sticky, even though there was still ice on top of the puddles.

Almost done!

We crossed another path, but carried on north before the path turned slightly northeast and back into Hardwick, past a farm,  and a few houses. We turned  right and were back at the car.  Cold, muddy in places, but satisfying.

Map and details of walk - part 1

Part 2

The map is in two parts - technical "issues". 

Orlingbury - Hardwick - Moonshine Gap - Little Harrowden - Orlingbury

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 9:20 Western European Time 

Led by Barry, with Gordon and me. Dry and fine, but muddy underfoot in places. Around 7.5 miles.

Moonshine Gap is a section of the road between Sywell and Wellingborough. We hadn't intended to walk there originally, but once we had, I couldn't resist using the name.  A mixture of songs in my head - 'I'm a regular moonshiner, moonshiner am I' competing with 'Cumberland Gap'.  The road itself is less poetic, and I couldn't find the origins of the name.

From Rectory Lane in Orlingbury,  we headed across The Green, and followed the Northampton Road for a couple of hundred yards to where a footpath went off to the left, heading south.  We crossed two fields diagonally, and in the third one went under a row of electricity pylons.  Then we followed a hedge (on our right).  More fields, and a certain amount of mud, especially around gateways - see the pic below.

One of the worst mud wallows I have had to cross.

We joined a minor road, which took us into the tiny village of Hardwick.  After our exertions in the mud, we were easily tempted to use the bench near the church and have an early break.

The church at Hardwick, and a welcome seat for an early break.

We left Hardwick after the Manor House, taking a footpath southwest, then south until we reached the minor road from Sywell to Wellingborough, and the section called Moonshine Gap.We followed the road, past Cheesecake Spinney (no, really), and at Appleby Gate, we left the road for a footpath leading straight ahead (northeast), and past the sports ground.

Past the sports ground just after 'Moonshine Gap'

The path crossed the Hardwick Road, and continued in this direction as far as the B574, just outside Gt Harrowden.

This looks more like pretty countryside - a pleasant change from overgrown crops!

we crossed the road, and walked northwest to Little Harrowden, crossing a footbridge over a stream. In Little Harrowden the path crosses the road again, and goes past the primary school.  It continues northwest, downhill , over a stream and gradually climbs back into Orlingbury.

Dovecote in Orlingbury

A doorway for hobbits?

Alas, poor dragonfly.

Map and details