Thrapston, Denford, Woodford, Willy Watt and back.

uFri, 2015 Jul 10 9:51 AM BST

With Marta. Covered a lot of the same ground as Monday's walk. I know the mileage on this machine is incorrect. (Maybe it's the thick walls problem in church and cafe!) I'd say 7 to 8 max! Very warm and sunny.

We followed the Nene Way from opposite the Woolpack in Islip, by the fishing lake,  under the old viaduct and on under the uglier A14 bridge.

Soon after meeting the railway path we turned left along the official Nene Way footpath towards Denford Lock, and diverted over the bridge, through the cows in the meadow, into the village.

One cow thinks the grass is greener . . . or is thirsty.

There's a green with benches by the river. An early coffee was certainly in order on a fine day like today. The washed out effect in the first pic below makes me think American West!

 











Back to the footpath, across the railway at Woodford lock, and along the low level path to Woodford itself, with the thatched cottage decorated with animals, as seen on Monday, and some lovely gardens, including this one with lavender full of tortoiseshell butterflies and bees.

A brief call into Woodford church which was full of lively people, including some small children, decorating it for the weekend's flower festival. We asked someone about the mummified heart, and were shown the pillar niche and text about it.

No diversions into fields with no exit today, but back on the right track, along the road and then paths through tall weeds, including nettles - finally emerging at the sign for Woodford Mill Tea shop, at Willy Watt Marina. It's open on  a Thursday. Lunch beckons.

The water wheel, motionless now, though another one still functions. For the History of Woodford Mill click on the name. Seems Willy Watt comes from "Willow Ait" or Willow Island.

We took the easy way back along the railway path, hot with little shade.We are not sure what the tree below is.

We strode on, passing this opportunity for another break in the shade - yes, another break. It was hot.

Eventually we paused for a last coffee under the old viaduct, which was pleasant enough, in spite of the roar from the A14.  All in all something over seven miles, or maybe eight.

Map and details

Thrapston - Nene Way - Woodford - Ringstead- back via disused railwaypath

With Maureen and Gordon. Between 8 and 9 miles. Our route out crisscrossed the return path three times. Along Nene Way, return via disused railway. Lots of fields were edged by grasses full of seeds. Return very simple. Flat. Warm and sunny, with cloud later.

We set off near the Woolpack Inn, on the road into Islip. Over the road into Thrapston from the A6116, and hidden in the hedge a sign for the Nene Way footpath. We head along the track, through a gate and over a bund, where cars are not to be parked.  There's a fishing lake on our right behind the trees. We make our way south towards the railway bridge and road viaduct carrying the A14.  Not scenic but very useful. There's a boat moored almost underneath the road. 
We follow the path and when it becomes a wider track we turn to our left and walk along field edges. It's not clearly marked here on the ground, and we have to retrace our steps slightly to get back on track. 
Near the weir and footbridge to Denford we turn sharply right and head west to cross the old railway path near Woodford Lock.  

Lots of these poppies flowering at the moment. Garden escapes or just a different variety?

 There's a choice of paths into Woodford, and we take the lower one, rather than follow Nene Way signs. It comes out at a thatched cottage, with more thatched animals than I have seen in one place before.

Foxes chasing a rabbit, and a pheasant

A thatched stag

an owl

 We have a look inside the church, which is large and airy, then I make the mistake of thinking that a stile could mean a path to somewhere. It led only to a field with cows, and no exit at the other side.

The stile which fooled me.

 From now on I resolve to follow the route and the map, rather than my faulty instinct. It is straightforward and marked pretty well.  We soon arrive at another crossing of the railway path, and a sign to Woodford Mill, where the café is not open on a Monday. Good job I'd not mentioned this to my friends in advance. 

These good-looking goats turned their backs on us

 Instead of a cafe we had our break on the grass near Willy Watt lock.

 About half a mile of road walking came next, on a raised footway at first, then turning right into Station Road, which leads only to the marina and fishing area below Great Addington.
Here we met the railway path again, and this time followed its very straightforward course back to Thrapston.

A branch of the Nene, fringed with water lilies

We saw a fair number of butterflies, damselflies etc. A swan with cygnets, various ducks, a few swallows.

Swan and cygnets - photo taken with phone. Just for the record . . .

Map and details

Twywell circular

Tue, 2013 May 21 10:34 AM Western European Time 

With Marta. Good weather, fairly flat. Some navigational tests because of poor waymarking, and paths not made clear on the ground. One accidental timer stop. One crossing of A14. About 10 miles ish. Grey weather but no rain.

From Twywell to the footbridge over the A 14 .  We head towards Woodford, and walk through, past the pub and turn right, ignoring the church and paths to the left. We walk for a little way along the road - not too busy, luckily.  The foot[path is clearly marked and we walk along a plain track. Too plain, as it happens, and we realise we have gone a couple of hundred yards too far, so turn back.

How did we miss the tumuli, labelled Three Hills? The usual lack of mapwork, I suppose!  Unfortunately we can't see the path on the ground, but work out where we should be able to meet it by walking along field edges and finally see the waymarkers. Back on track we head for Rectory Farm, and turn left into Great Addington, in search of lunch. We find this at the Hare and 'ounds. It's dropped its aitch, poor sign.  A good enough sandwich, a friendly landlady, and rather dear J2O, but it does the trick.

Off we go again, taking the path from Cranford, beside the Manor House.  We have a slight feeling of dread on seeing the sign "Footpath to Burton Latimer", but hope we'll be able to find the paths on the ground as clear as on the map. It's not to be, of course, and each time we stop and look for a trace of a cross-field "made good" path, we are disappointed.  To cut a long story short, we try our best, find some way markers which don't help a lot, and emerge on the A510 about half a mile to the south of the Round House.  For the sake of simplicity we walk along the road - there is a decent sized grass verge.

At the Round House we take the bridle way north, over the drive to Wold Farm, and a couple of fields, before we turn left along a hedge and then follow a diverted path round the edge of a quarry.  

Then over a field and we have to brave the A14 itself.   Life would be pleasanter with more bridges and subways!  The central reservations makes the crossing simply a matter of patience, and we are on the edge of Cranford.  We have to do a bit of thinking to be sure that we're on the right track towards Twywell  At first we wandered too far to the right.  

Once on course, it's pretty straightforward, and we arrive at the Hills and Dales country park - we walk north east into Twywell. 

We saw and heard a pair of lapwings and lots of red kites.

A footnote - Irthlingborough's Waterloo film centenary!

Map and details

Nene Way 6 - Irthlingborough - Thrapston

With Marta. Just under 10 miles. Wet all day, muddy underfoot in places.

Wet - a day for testing your outdoor gear.

Ready for the pole? The trekking pole . . .

Not many photos, and I'm not entirely sure we appreciated what views we saw. Lunch at Woodford in the Dukes Arms, where they even had a wood fire in the bar. Oh August in England . . .I  ♥ underwater walking.


We set off from the football ground, and found our way to the lock nearby and followed the towpath.  Slightly off the official route maybe, but near enough as we soon saw the signs.  We followed the river bank past the Frontier Camp, until we reached a Nene Way sign near a footbridge, pointing away from the river and uphill across fields - recently harvested and sticky with mud. We walked round the edge of these fields - it was slightly less sticky.  Eventually we emerged, several inches taller and with worked-out leg muscles (I wish) into Little Addington. We walked through the village, and almost decided to wait for half an hour in a bus shelter, along with copious quantities of swallow or martin droppings, either for the rain to stop or the pub to open.  No, we carried on, womanfully.


We left the village loop road, and shortly after we joined the Irthlingborough - Woodford Road we turned off to the right and followed a path back down to the river.  Over a couple of bridges and through a gate which gives access to anglers' cars, and past the marina and disused railway track, and the path becomes a road leading to the old Ringstead Station. At the T junction we turned left towards Willy Watt Mill and Woodford.  The pavement is raised above the road level here - useful if the road floods. It has recently been improved with non-slip planking.


At the mill, which unfortunately doesn't run to a cafe for wet walkers, we found the Nene Way path leaving a track to the right, before you reach the bridge over the dismantled railway.  It crosses the disused railway line and turns right again shortly before Glebe Farm.


We crossed this field diagonally,  passing some wet and uninterested cows grazing there, and continued following the signs until we reached Woodford.  Hunger had to be heeded, so we went to the Duke's Arms.  Good food and even a fire helped us begin to dry our clothes slightly. 


From Woodford the signs took us between groups of houses and through a stile into a field.  The path takes you diagonally downhill to the bottom of Woodford Shrubbery, then through the woods.  When we came out of the shrubbery we should have turned right and right again to get back to the Nene.  We did make a slight deviation, but were soon back on track.


Then we followed the river for a short distance, crossed the dismantled railway again, and headed towards Denford.  The church is slightly to the right of the lock we were aiming for.


At the lock we turned left and the path led us across fields towards the A14.

Crossing the A14  under this viaduct.

The path goes east under the viaduct, doubling back west to make its way across fields to where the road bridge into Thrapston crosses the river near the Woolpack Inn.  Was the rain starting to ease off? 

I swear it's not quite so black over Bill's mother's! Ever the optimist.

My verdict on the wet weather gear - coat not really effective, waterproof trousers ok, but encourage condensation, boots dry inside, though some water got in via my socks I think. A long time since I've been wet all day like this.


Map and details