Barrowden, Wakerley, Shotley and Harringworth

Barrowden to Wakerley, Shotley and Harringworth.

Monday 31 October 2016. 7.75 miles. Led by Tommy, with Gordon, Norma and me.

From Barrowden village green, near the Marquis of Exeter pub, we walked east along Main Street, turning slightly right opposite Kings Lane, and joining Mill Street. We had a small delay while the owner of a bounty of apples insited on giving us one each, and provided us with a bag of windfalls to take home after our walk.

Mill Lane becomes a narrow path past the old mill and the millpond, then through a wooded area. Shortly afterwards a footbridge crosses the Welland - this path is part of both the Jurassic Way and the Rutland Round long distance walks.  

This path lead across the fields, under the disused railway, and into Wakerley. We turned right along the road, and soon came out of the village. We took the footpath where the road bends.

This has a good view of the old lime kilns and Barrowden church behind. 

Our path cuts off the corner of the fields and rejoins the road again. We turned right here.

There was a couple of hundred yards of road walking before we took the first bridleway (sign missing) heading more or less south towards the woods. It crosses a disused airfield and leads into Wood Hollow, which is at the south west end of Wakerley Woods.  There is a fairly wide path where we turned right (west). This leads out of the woodland and towards an open field. We turned slightly left, now heading northwest. We crossed a track, then more fields, turning left along the edge of a field, before the dip of the old quarry.

We passed some bales of straw, and paused for a snack, sitting on an old trailer. From here the path took us west and then slightly north, joining the Jurassic Way as it descends into Shotley.  On this section of the route there are superb views of the valley, featuring the viaduct and the windmill at Morcott . 

I must go back on a clearer day! 

 From Shotley we followed the path and then the road towards Harringworth village centre, turning right at the footpath just before the road to the stables.  This led us through a field of horses and to the Welland, which was on our left all the way to Turtle Bridge. The river was clear and calm today.

Up to the left along the track for a short distance, then before the old railway we turned right again keeping the trees on our left. After a few fields we crossed the old railway and carried on with it on our right for a short distance. The path then heads diagonally across the field and continues until it reaches the road with new houses.  We carried on to the crossroads and followed the road into Barrowden and back to the green. We stopped for lunch at the Community shop and Café.

This is a remarkably pleasant scenic route, and the climbs are pretty gentle.