Orlingbury, Lt Harrowden, Hardwick

Thu, 2015 Jul 23 9:18 AM  BST

With Gordon and Maureen. Fine, dry, cloudy. Dry underfoot. Good paths. Around 7.5 miles.

This was a very similar route to another walk from July 2012, in reverse with a few slight variations.

We left Orlingbury via Rectory Lane, passing Orchard Close on our left and turning right before Lammas Close, then left, and following a footpath out of the village.

Yogi?

The path kept the hedge on our right, and then crossed a field of wheat or barley, with a good path leading to the back of Little Harrowden Primary School, then through gates to the main road through the village. Here we turned left and very soon right as the path left on the opposite side of the road. 

More cornfields and clear paths brought us close to Great Harrowden. We crossed the road just before the village, and took the path leading sharp right - a wide track, eventually going past Blackberry Fox Covert and a row of electricity pylons before reaching the Hardwick Road from Wellingborough.
We crossed the road, and walked over another field, then along a shady wooded path behind the Sports Ground to reach Moonshine Gap, or Appleby Gate. This road is fairly busy, but we walked only about fifty yards along it before turning off along a bridle track to the right, opposite a road junction.  

In less than half a mile we took a footpath to the right, across yet more arable land. this brought us to the village of Hardwick, where we had a break outside the church.

About half a mile north of Hardwick, we took the second footpath on the left (the one near the top of the hill, not the one at the right hand bend).   More arable fields, more clear paths. In just under a mile we met the row of pylons and turned left along a bridleway. At a hedge we turned left again and followed this path until it met the more direct Hardwick to Orlingbury path, just after it crosses a footbridge. We turned right and followed the clear path uphill to the hedge, and northwards, over a stream and then uphill.

The fields become pasture as the route nears Orlingbury , and supports cows and sheep. We walked under the pylons again, and crossed pasture with a few stiles to climb before reaching the road and turning right into the village and across the village green.

We saw a fair number of butterflies, and the odd large blue dragonfly too.

Map and details