and occasionally rides a bike.
A word of warning. The walk descriptions are not detailed enough to guide you - please take a map. The batteries never run out, and you always have a signal. Oh, And don't take left or right as gospel!

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Lamport and Draughton

Thursday 08 Dec 2016. 10 am. With Maureen and Gordon. 5.6 miles. Some muddy fields, but we have seen worse!  Weather a little drizzly to start with, but the sun emerged occasionally before we finished the walk.

Time seems to be standing still in this part of Northamptonshire, judging by the church clocks.

We leave  Lamport  at about 10am - or 3.05? . . . 
From Lamport we walked along the pavement next to the A508 towards Harborough , then took the bridleway to our left downhill to the Brampton Valley Way.
Sheep on the bridleway down to the Brampton Valley Way
 We turned right along the dismantled railway track, crossing the A508 once more and continuing for about a mile. 

Mosaics - and plenty of benches along the old railway
We left the Brampton Valley Way , turning right just after an old footbridge, a short distance before Draughton Crossing. We headed slightly uphill across a field planted with a crop. the path was clear and not too muddy. Then we kept to the edge of the next field for a while, but had to brave another muddy patch just before Draughton. The way was not clear at the end, but there is a stile in the top left corner, before reaching Home Farm. Another stile took us onto the Maidwell Road into Draughton. We went straight ahead to the church, and had a break and snack in the church porch.
One hour later in Draughton - it's 3.15!

Refreshed and ready for action after a break

I'm not sure what this flowering shrub is.
 We followed the road out of the village, and turned right when we came to a footpath sign.
The first section of this was no problem, but we had to cross another large field, with no signs that we could see, in order to reach a fairly busy stretch of road near Short Wood and Shortwood House.  We turned right along the road, then left along a byway past a house of barking dogs.

There were glimpses of fairytale countryside through hazy sunshine - very pretty.
A lovely view if you could see it better
We turned right near the top of a slope along a pleasant wooded path, before following field edges to the road into Lamport. We turned right and followed our noses back to the car.
A path through the woods returning towards Lamport.

3 comments:

Ida Jones said...

Not much halts you mud-larks! lol Clever that the old railway track has been made into an art gallery of countryside scenes...and that 'unknown' shrub is really pretty.

aliqot said...

The mud was not too bad today, though there were a couple of fields . . .
The Brampton Valley Way is a great local track for cyclists and walkers, and the mosaics are rather nice.
I was quite surprised to see the flowers in December, but I have already seen hazel catkins too.

Roy Norris said...

Love the Mosaics Alison, I'm surprised they are still in one piece, a vandal free area obviously.