Badby - Hellidon - Charwelton - Fawsley

Mon, 2013 Apr 29 9:39 AM Western European Time 

Led by me. with Barry and Maureen. Quite hilly, good underfoot - one ploughed field but dry. Weather dry and sunny with some wind. 834 feet ascent. Excellent views. 11 miles. Included the highest point in Northamptonshire at 738 feet/225 m. Peak bagged!

One of two ancient chestnut trees in Badby. They are trying to preserve them, but warn you not to park or hang around underneath them.

Leaving Badby by Bunkers Hill.

We crossed the A361 and followed the Gated Road to Catesby. It climbed gradually, and we took the second footpath on the left - a bridleway. 
After less than half a mile we could see the motocross track on Arbury Hill to our right, and walked to it across the field.  The summit is wide and flat and we're not sure we we found the very highest point.

Ha! I worked out the self timer. Another peak bagged - a molehill with quite a view.

Then it's back to the bridleway, and past the tunnel airshafts.  Yet another dismantled railway. We walk past a large house and arrive at the minor road to Hellidon.  We turn right then left into a very large ploughed field with little evidence of a path, apart from the signpost. Another smaller and easier ploughed field leads into a grass meadow and we see a small lake close to Hellidon village

There are swans nesting, and the trees show signs of approaching summer at last.

We find our way into the village which is glorious in its spring outfit. 

Spring and autumn together?

We stop to chat to a man who's repairing the stonework of his cottage, which dates from the eighteenth century. 

A fire insurance plate - if you didn't display this the firefighters would leave your house to burn.

We leave the village at the road junction opposite the Red Lion and make our way up Windmill Hill.

Hellidon from Windmill Hill

We find a place for a break - sheltered from the wind and with lovely views. The sun's shining and all's well with the world.
We follow the Jurassic Way as far as Charwelton. heading south east until we meet the minor road just before it crosses the old railway. We go slightly astray because the field is ploughed, but we're near enough.  We pick up the Jurassic Way signs and emerge on the A 361 in Charwelton, just opposite the pack horse bridge.

The footpath crosses a couple of fields from here and takes us to a small road leading to the church. It's open so we have a look round, then take another break on a sunny bench.

We leave the Jurassic Way now and take a path through a gate and to a gap in the hedge on the left side of the field, then across the corner of the next field. We cross the road and follow a footpath up a small hill, and over some open fields full of sheep,  and pass Fawsley Farm - (or Fawsley Grange) on our right. We come out on a farm road which joins a minor road at Little Fawsley. This road takes us into Fawsley, with its Hall - seat of the Knightleys, and the church which contains many of their tombs and monuments.

Fawsley Hall - hotel and spa.

 

Fawsley church

All this - and a box collecting for a food bank too.

We follow the Knightley Way - very well signposted through parkland, pasture and Badby Woods, where wood anemones are in flower and bluebells are beginning to bloom.

All that remains is the walk downhill into Badby - well, there's steep short pull at the end - and then finding the car.  Another delightful walk, and fine weather. Not quite fine enough to take layers off yet, though.
Wildlife - a couple of birds I think were wheatears - very noticeable pale/ white rumps as they flew up, quite strong markings on an open meadow.
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Jurassic Way 3 - Charwelton - Braunston

With Marta. About 9 miles in all. Fine, sunny, coolish wind, muddy underfoot in places. Good food and friendly welcome at the Admiral Nelson in Braunston.

We set off from Charwelton, crossing the road from the packhorse bridge. The path starts on a driveway, but soon turns right across a field, and heads north towards a minor road.

At the minor road, do not take the footpath directly opposite, but turn left and walk for a few yards to another footpath across a cultivated field. You don't go over the disused railway embankment!

The path is clearly marked for most of the way, over cultivated fields and grassland.  Just as we arrived at a hedge a large deer leapt out in front of us and dashed away downhill out of sight.  A little further on we met a track and needed to run right - this may have been because we followed the field edge instead of cutting through diagonally.  A bit of map reading needed there.  Keep the radio masts well to the left.  We had to walk to the right of the dome showing through the trees - part of Windmill Farm.

The path brought us to the village of Hellidon, source of the River Leam,  an attractive out-of-the-way place.  We turned left at the Red Lion, then along Stockwell Lane (signposted 'Village Only'.

The church is to the left of the road, and accessed by some steep steps.
We followed the lane through the village, until it became a gated road to Lower Catesby.

After the houses signposting disappeared again. We had to turn right across a field and then follow the boundary over several fields with stiles, but no way marks. Today these fields were some of the muddiest and smelliest I've walked through for some time! We could see Catesby Viaduct, which confirmed that we were pretty well on track.

Our route across the disused railway line led through a gap where once stood a bridge, and at last the ground underfoot was firm enough for us to stop for a quick banana and coffee break.

From here the path was clearly marked through rapeseed and wheat fields, over a few streams via wooden bridges,

uphill to Bates farm building and down into the village of Staverton., over the A425.  We took the street to the right of the pub, then past The Green , where there is a Jurassic Way marker, showing the distance to Banbury - 22M, and to Stamford - 66M.  At the moment we're averaging perhaps 9 miles per walk! Staverton is one quarter of the way along.
From The Green we went along Oakham Lane, turned right then left into Braunston Lane, which we followed as it became a bridleway.  We walked along the bridleway until it turned sharply to the right. At this corner the path led slightly to the left through a field and was easy to follow - over the A45, through more fields, across another dismantled railway line by a bridge and down to the Grand Union Canal, and the Admiral Nelson Inn, where we stopped for lunch before making our way to car number 2.

Top Lock, Braunston through the pub window. Narrowboats were going through in pairs to minimise water use.

Map and details