Chelveston, Stanwick - circular

Led by Barry, with Gordon and Eddie and me. Weather dry but grey - some muddy fields. Almost 8 miles in all.
We started from the Red Lion in Chelveston, and walked for a short distance towards Higham Ferrers.  The footpath was on the right hand side of the road and took us through a field, and down to Water Lane.  
We crossed this road a little way uphill of a ford, and followed the path west through a ploughed field, and then turned left after crossing the stream via a footbridge,  alongside some trees, to follow the edges of a couple of fields with horses. The path followed the course of the stream as far as Stanwick Road, which we crossed.  Still close to this stream we carried on to the A45.  The stream goes underneath the road through a culvert. No such luck for people though.  Luckily it's dual carriageway, and with a little patience we crossed over.

We continued north west at the edge of woodland around the gravel pits until we emerged on to the old main road (A6).  From here the viaduct carrying the current trunk road is visible.  We turned right and followed the road round , over the old railway track and almost to the roundabout near the present Kettering Town football ground.  Just before Diamond Road, we turned right on to the marked Nene Way, and followed the path along Marsh Lane as far as the lock on the Nene Navigation. Around here is the Irthlingborough activity centre - and today it was full of activites - mountain biking, climbing and canoeing.  We continued to follow the Nene Way, past a footbridge, with 'No Entry' signs and on to the next footbridge.

From the footbridge the Nene looked uninviting today

 Here we left the Nene Way, and turned right over the bridge towards another play area with a zip wire, and a bench where we sat for our break.

Time for a break?

We turned right after the footbridge, and followed the path towards the visitor centre, though one small diversion was irresistible.

When we met the disused railway track, we turned right to Stanwick Lakes Visitor Centre, and out via the road to the roundabout on the A45 and the road to Stanwick.
We decided to walk through the village, rather than take a path right next to the main road.
At the church we went straight on, past the school then turned left when we reached the Chelveston Road.  After a couple of hundred yards, just before a small cemetery, we took a footpath to the right,  leading south along a farm road.  When the road swung right we went straight on, then turned left when we met another signed footpath.  This hugged the edge of the field.  At the corner there were two huge pipes, and we turned right and went as far as the next field corner, where we turned left into the next field 
A small deviation from the mapped route here - not helped by the waymarker, which indicated slightly across the field.  We'd have done better following the field edge for a short distance before heading diagonally and slightly uphill to a gap in the hedge, and the footpath sign.

From here it wasn't far to the pub, where we went wild with 3 J2Os, a lemonade and a game of pool, before returning home.

Map and details