Burghley, Stamford and the canal

This is the same walk as on January 22nd, without the detour along the Welland after the bridge.
Altogether it was about five and a half miles of flat walking. 

Tommy, Gordon, Kate, Sue, Norma, Chris and I had a fine walk in dry bright weather, starting from Burghley House car park, turning right at the bottom of the drive and walking along the new footpath by the road as far as The Dingle. 
Then we crossed the road near the bend, and took the footpath down the track to the left of the Dingle, turning right to walk round the field by the stream, and turning left to reach the railway crossing in the far corner. We followed the path over another field, and then continued to the footbridge over a stream, turning right to walk with the Welland on our left as far as the road to Uffington.

My suggestion of an extra couple of miles did not go down well! 

We turned left to cross the stone bridge, then left again to the footpath following the course of the canal.

This path continues for a mile or so, through trees with the Welland just south of us on our left.

We turned left at the first footbridge, crossed a field and another footbridge, then another field to reach the gate on to the track near the mill. Once again, my suggestion of an extra half mile was laughed at.  We briefly admired the old bottle, and greeted the crocodile improving his shining tail, before heading up the track to the Uffington Road. We waved to Morrisons supermarket, and took Priory Road. The benches in the Priory gardens were ideal for our coffee break.
From there it was simply a matter of walking down past Wharf Lane car park, over the Albert bridge, and following the Waterside road to the main road, just opposite the pedestrian entrance to Burghley Park. A short mile through the park took us back to the cars. Unfortunately the Orangery is not open on Mondays or Tuesdays.