Rutland Water - Normanton to Sykes Lane car park and back

With Marta. Tuesday 19 December. Five miles and a bit.

The Great Tower by Alexander

Great Tower with person (Marta)

Walking back 

From Normanton car park.

Exton, Fort Henry, Greetham, Exton

Monday 18 December. With Maureen, Norma, and Eddie. A beautiful frosty morning with sun. Seven miles, with a break for coffee at the bar at Greetham Valley Golf Club complex.
Similar to this walk, but with two small variations.
From Exton we took New Field Road, which goes over a  cattle grid and becomes a track, heading east. It bends slightly to the left and comes to a junction of three paths. We took the mud track which goes straight ahead and it took us to the metalled track between Lower Lake and Fort Henry Lake.

Ice on the lake

 We continued along the path to the left, past the lake and fields to the steps.

 Down the steps on the other side, following the signs to Greetham, past the bird hide and bug hotel - there were only a few tits today. Then we followed the path beside the golf course, and called in at the bar for a welcome coffee. The staff were very welcoming too.

Quick photo call

From here the path is clear, and we arrived in Greetham itself. We turned left along the road and after a couple of hundred metres followed the footpath sign "Exton - 2 miles". A clear track, some of it muddy, especially near the chicken farm - chickens wandering everywhere, doing what chickens do. Then we joined the path we have already walked several times and followed our previous route into Exton.

Lunch at Wellies, near Rutland Water.

Gretton - Rockingham - Caldecott - Gretton

Monday 11th December. With Eddie.
One of those days when each of us expected the other to call the walk off. I'm glad neither of us did.  The snow had fallen on Sunday, and settled well. I took my trekking pole - first time for ages.  Seven and a half miles.

From West Hill

Rockingham village - unfortunately the cafe isn't open on Mondays!

 Our original plan was to walk to Rockingham, then return along the same path - this is about six miles. Then we decided to carry on following the Jurassic Way path almost to Great Easton, turning right where it meets the road into the village. We walked along the road towards Caldecott,and  turned left and crossed the bridge on the A6003.
We went past the plough and turned right along the Lyddington Road. A quick coffee pause out of the wind in the bus shelter, before we found the path to our right which took us over the fields towards the Welland .

The fields on the Welland valley between Caldecott and Gretton

Well wrapped up.

We joined Mill Road at the bridge near the fish ladder, turned right and followed the road back into Gretton.

Lyddington-Seaton-Bisbrooke-Uppingham-Lyddington

The same route as last Thursday. Seven miles and a whisker. With Maureen, Norma, Marion and Eddie.  The morning began frosty and misty, but was clearing as we left Lyddington

Little wind today, so we warmed up in spite of the lingering mist as we climbed to Seaton and on to the fields beyond.

Coming through the mist

 The mist was burning off by the time we were almost at Bisbrooke church.

 I nipped through the graveyard to catch the church's sunny side.

 A small disappointment at Uppingham, when the Coppergate Cafe was unexpectedly closed, but we bought takeaway drinks or drank our own. Uppingham has a few benches.

Down through the churchyard with its steep steps, then along the road to pick up the footapth.

Not an inviting seat!

The black pigs were not sunbathing today - indeed we saw just one. The goats and donkeys and the hairy pigs were out, and then a horse and a pig who seemed to be very happy together, and very happy to have their heads scratched or stroked.

 Up to the school playing fields where some teenage girls were practising football - and enjoying it! Then down the hill and back to Lyddington.  The route was a little muddier today - the price of the temperature being higher.

Lyddington-Seaton-Bisbrooke-Uppingham-Lyddington

A fine frosty morning, crisp ground underfoot, sun shining, clothing well layered. Seven miles with Maureen. The same route as on several previous occasions, the last one around eighteen months ago. 

Across the village green, church away to the right, we head north past the ancient fishponds of Lyddington Bede House. Is that a ghostly monk? Maybe not.

We turn and skirt the wooded hill, through a gate and onto a path which used to be a mudbath, but has been surfaced - bliss! Uphill to open fields. The path is clear and well-marked, under a line of pylons, and soon turns left slightly and over a stream to Seaton Grange. From here a road climbs up into the village.
We turn right and walk until we find the footpath sign and steep steps up to our left. We've reached the plateau and the wind is blowing.
The signs are very good, the fields are clear, the path goes north as far as the dismantled railway, then turns to the northwest.   We can see Bisbrooke church with its tower away to our left before we go downhill then across a new footbridge. A lot of the stiles have been replaced by gates. That makes life easier!  The path goes between hedges and brings us out close to Bisbrooke church.

Someone has put windfall apples in a basket with an invitation to "Help yourself", but we don't want to carry extra weight.
We cross the Glaston Road and take a track (labelled Inmans Road at the start). This track heads directly west into Uppingham. It comes out on another Glaston Road and takes us into the town centre, past the cricket ground. 
We have a luxurious warm indoor cup of coffee at the Coppergate cafe, before taking our own sandwiches outside to a sunny bench, sheltered from the wind.

Then it's the footpath beside the cemetery, up a short steep hill, with a great view of the town behind us.

After a flat section, we reach a wider track where we turn left then right to go downhill again. Here be sleeping pigs warming themselves in the sun, looking like heaps of rich black soil near the fence.

And here be goats, an almost invisible donkey - and another sleeping pig, we think! 

Of course what goes down comes up again - another short steep climb before we cross the school playing field, and then descend an agricultural field to the Uppingham to Lyddington Road.
We meet horses who come to say hello, but are not interested when they realise we are foodless.

 We take the footpath across the road which takes us into Lyddington the back way, past a couple of large ponds and fields with more horses.

This route can be muddy, but today the ground is still frozen.

Exton, Fort Henry, Greetham circular

Monday 27 November 2017. With Maureen and Marion. 7.3 miles. A dull day, but dry.
The walk covers some of the same ground as the walk on November 02 '17 and the walk on Nov 06 '17, but it is shorter.

We set off from The Green near the Fox and Hounds pub in Exton, and walked along Stamford Road, following it as it turns right, then crossing over and taking New Field Road when it goes off to the left. This road goes over a cattle grid and becomes a track, heading east. It bends slightly to the left and comes to a junction. We took the track which goes slightly to the right and it took us round the side of Lower Lake. We turned left round the lake and met the wide track from where you can see Fort Henry and its lake.

We followed the path (to Greetham)  with the lake on our left as far as the steps.This time we crossed the roadway and went down the steps on the other side. It's been two or three years since I've been here and it has changed a bit - the first thing we noticed was a well-constructed bird hide with feeders. 

A not very good video of the woodpecker! Visible if you can view it full screen size.

An ideal spot for coffee, but we were happily distracted by a great spotted woodpecker or two and lots of blue tits, great tits and coal tits. There are pictures of treecreepers and nuthatches, but we didn't see those.  

This is part of Greetham Valley Golf Resort, and according to an info sheet, they have erected 8 owl and 8 kestrel boxes. At least one barn owl chick was raised on site last year.

They have left certain areas in  more natural condition and turned some into meadow-flower to support pollinating insects.

 Checking out the accommodation.

The golf course greens staff have built the Bug Hotel and built woodpiles to attract insects and native snakes.

The view from the Lake Hide - a heron flew up just after we arrived.

There are two bird hides, one in the woods and one by the lake, for the use of the general public - the public footpath runs by these.

They plan more nesting boxes and feeding sites, and habitat for the resident kingfishers.

The path is easier to follow than I remember, and the resort now boasts a hotel and self-catering cabins, a restaurant and bar and the sign Walkers are welcome.

The path goes on to Greetham, passing some strange structures - Rutland Glamping, and a footpath there for residents only.

At Greetham we turn sharply left just ouside the village and head south. The path should go diagonally across the field, and along field edges to join the bridleway where we turned right, and then the Viking Way, where we turned left, and followed the footpath signs.   To arrive back in Exton, we took the footpath off to the left across two fields and down Old Dairy Yard into the village.

Primrose Hill and the Regent's Park

Thursday 23 November.

A gloriously sunny winter day.

View from Primrose Hill

Regent's Canal

Mowgli and Bagheera

Monet-style bridge

View from the cafe

Look closely - there's a heron up there.

Gretton- Caldecott - Rockingham circular

With Norma and Maureen. Monday 20 November 2017.   9.5 miles. Around 350 feet of ascent/descent. Lunch at Lydia's coffee shop.

This morning we are three

a fine drizzle fades to nothing

at first our path goes past the church

through the damp grassy field

no cows or sheep today

across the railway line

look and listen

the next field's ploughed

the path just visible

sticky after last night's rain

downhill and on

to the road

we cross the Welland

and take the path

by the weir and fish ladder

over a stile and

past kingfisher fence

no bird here today . . .

ahead

we see a heron rise and glide 

stretch-legged and slow-winged 

low over the next field

to a new fishing spot

above

a red kite navigates

seeking carrion

we walk the wide valley floor

note where during the War 

a Lancaster Avro

clipped an ancient oak

then crashed 20 miles further on

near Northampton

Caldecott . . .

another road 

duck eggs for sale

and now a stretch of minor road

about a mile

before the turn to a plantation

and footbridges over the river course

as it chooses its route

the wind still chills

so we seek shelter

among the sycamores

whose yellow leaves carpet the ground

I choose a tree to be my back rest

coffee and scones

my walking esentials

then on to cross another road, 

head up into Rockingham

whose tea-shop doesn't do Mondays

we climb the steep roadside pavement

pass flowerpot men,

 a Bill and a Ben

- all together now  . . .

Turn at the forge 

past the cars and

down the meadow,

views over the valley to our left

Caldecott, Seaton, Lyddington churches

clustered houses, lines of trees

before the railway bridge we turn

it seems the farmer has blocked

the unofficial path - 

the one that cuts out West Hill

we take the longer flatter way.

 

When we arrive in Gretton

the cafe is filled to the brim

there's a funeral ahead.

We enter, muddy boots in hand

(not on our feet)

ah, there's a table free.

The volunteer servers are under pressure

but food is good, though coffee

could be stronger!

The funeral guests depart

and we expand into the space available.