Rushton and Pipewell circular

 Monday 13th June

From Dave Askew’s website - thank you.

https://northamptonshirewalks.co.uk/about/walk-133-rushton-pipewell-circular/ 

Be careful at point 4 - don’t turn left parallel to the railway, just keep straight on the wider path.

At point 13   the footpath sign is almost hidden in the hedge, but the path through the crops is clear.

At point 14, just check the instructions carefully as we went the wrong way briefly! 

 

Over to Maureen’s for 9.30, drove to Rushton, and did walk to Pipewell, 

where we sat on a (different) bench and had a short break before returning via road and a field path. Passed Triangular

Lodge,

and walked through churchyard into Rushton. Just under 6 miles from where we parked.

Home for lunch.

Warm but cloudy - slightly humid.

Corby to Pipewell circular in reverse.

 Monday 26th July.  6 1/2 miles. With Eddie and Maureen. The route was easier to follow from the other end.

 

The graves of several Lloyds of Stewart and LLoyds and Lloyds Bank fame are buried here as the family used to own Pipewell Hall.

When I walked here in 2008 this pillar was in the field near the footpath to Wilbarston. We found no trace this year.

Hardly surprising we had problems finding the path last time.

Corby to Pipewell circular

 

Thursday 22nd July, with Maureen. 6.5 miles. 

A very hot day, so we had lots of pauses for shade and water.

It was a struggle to find the public footpath near The Spread Eagle at Great Oakley leading to the A6003.

On the other side we couldn’t find the way through. We accessed the path via the road to Pipewell.

The first field of the official route was not easy to walk through - an overgrown meadow, fine. No clear footpath, not so fine. Even after that there were still obstacles: a couple of excessively high stiles, and ones with overgrown nettles.

We decided against retracing this route for the return from Pipewell, choosing instead the bridleway about a quarter of a mile out of the village on the road towards East Carlton.

This was easier, though not always clearly marked. It emerges on to the A6003 by a farm gate. From there we crossed into Danesholme and life was straightforward again.

East Carlton to Great Oakley via Wilbarston and Pipewell

Thu, 2015 May 28 10:04 AM BST

Part of Corby Walking Festival. With Tommy, Gordon and a group of Kettering Ramblers (14 of us in all). Fine sunny weather, dry conditions underfoot. 7.5 miles approx.

The route is part of Mel Jarvis's Around Corby walk - pages 12, 13 and 14.  I enjoyed not having to think about the route this time, and just following the crowd.

The section between Pipewell and Great Oakley is the most awkward, with overgrown paths, one field of barley with no path on the ground, and two sets of curious bullocks. An enjoyable walk, and better weather than we could have hoped for.

East Carlton to Geddington

Tue, 2014 Jul 22 9:48 AM BST

With Marta. Hot - much more than 64 deg F! Sticky going and very overgrown in places, plus the odd ploughed field. I think around 11 miles.

A measure of the heat - I felt obliged to cover up bare arms before 10am! 

We were following the Around Corby route from Mel Jarvis's book. To begin with all was sweetness and light, though the fact that I've walked the route before was helpful too. We had no problems as we headed out of East Carlton Park, and towards the path which runs along the bottom of the park. We turned left along this part of the Jurassic Way, then crossed the road to walk between the two fences and out into the fields.

We followed the Jurassic Way to Wilbarston according to the directions in the book.  Then, when the Jurassic Way turns right at the crossroads near the Fox Inn, we continued to the bend in the road, turning left towards Springfield Farm. Facing the farm gate, there are two footpaths. We took the one through the farmyard, to our left.  We crossed one field, then took a gate on our left and followed the path diagonally uphill to a stile in the top right hand corner.

There is a gap in the hedge leading to steps which go down the embankment to the main Corby-Harborough Road.

On the other side of the road, the path restarts slightly to our right.  The stile at the top of the steps is a little overgrown, but not as bad as some we meet later!  The paths through the fields towards Park Farm are mostly easy enough to follow. We crossed over the driveway then the path goes along the field boundary on the right of the buildings.  There's an opening in the hedge ahead, and then the path continues with the hedge on the right.

There is a wood on the right.  The path goes through the hedge and continues south across another field. On the other side of the field is the old airfield, now used for agriculture. We followed the perimeter track round to our left for about a mile, passing some large hangars, a weigh bridge, a bend in the track, a road to the left and another bend before turning left to walk through the wood (between Pipewell Wood and Little Haws Wood on the OS map.

Once through the wood we turned left and followed the edge of the wood to Pipewell.

All went smoothly until we met the path out of the village and encountered "a small field that can in the season be badly overgrown with nettles". Luckily we hadn't decided on shorts today! It looked as though the path hadn't been walked for ages, though it is usually one of the routes for the Corby Walking Festival in May.  We did find the way-markers, but more by luck than judgement. 

By the time we reached the Spread Eagle near Great Oakley we were ready for lunch. 1.30 must be after the rush - the sandwiches were good and service rapid. 

Our route was under the bridge along the footpath. We made the mistake of crossing the first road and taking the obvious path, and ended up in the playground. Just as well school holidays hadn't started yet.

There's a seven year old trying to get out!

A quick back-track and look at the book, and we realised we should have crossed the road and taken the footpath a little to the right of the brook!  

Great Oakley church

This took us along to Woodlands Lane and eventually to a footpath with concrete surfacing leading uphill and to the old Station House. We followed the footpath across the field and under the railway.  Now that the new bypass road is in use it would be as well to turn right and walk along the road between Little Oakley and Great Oakley, then turn left along the road to Newton in order to use the road bridge. If as we did, you use the footpath, you have to detour back to the bridge in any case.

From here you find the footpath again and climb up to a plateau with a pylon at the top. There are several paths here, but we took the one leading southeast to the road between newton and Geddington. Our final stretch was along this minor road.

Geddington church from the tableland!

Map and details

Great Oakley to East Carlton via Pipewell and Wilbarston

From Mel Jarvis's Around Corby Walk but clockwise.  With Barry and Gordon.  Lovely dry sunny morning with no wind. About 7 miles - no big climbs, but lots of high stiles!

Monks in sheep's clothing - on the site of Pipewell Abbey

Pipewell Abbey

The wide expanse of Pipewell/ Desborough airfield

Some info on the airfield  If the link doesn't work first time try refreshing the page. No idea why!


Another link to a story from BBC People's War website mentions the airfield and more about Corby and Northants in WW2

One of several stiles

The path follows the line of the hedge

Worth a dollar or two?

Approaching Wilbarston

To be investigated?

Wilbarston

A carved tree at East Carlton

East Carlton Church

Wildlife - rabbits possibly a hare, definitely a fox running across the field with his brush flowing as he ran