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.

Lamport and Draughton via Brampton Valley Way

10 of us - Barry, Barrie and Vera, Norma, Sue, Steph, Gordon, Phil, Jill and me.  5.3 miles. Mostly fine with a couple of brief showers.

A bucolic scene

We started from Lamport High Street, and turned right along the Harborough Road which we followed for a short distance before turning left and following the path downhill to the Brampton Valley Way.  

We turned right along this pleasant path and crossed over the A508, then continued for about a mile and a half. 

We turned off to the right, near a disused footbridge.

We crossed a field, hugging the edges, to the road between Maidwell and Draughton.  We turned right and along the road to Draughton. Snack stop was outside Draughton church.

A few hundred yards further along, outside the village a footpath led to the right. We walked along the edge of a recently harvested field gently uphill to a spot marked as a tumulus - some vegetation and a round pond. This was when another shower hit us.

 We made our way  down to a gap in the hedge to the road,  

and crossed over to pass Shortwood house and a couple of cottages on the left.  There's a large area where they keep young game birds,  possibly partridges, in long runs. At the top of a short hill we turned left along a sheltered path, then across further fields.  It's a flat walk following the path and a very short distance after a left turn along the road we arrived in Lamport. Another left turn, and we were back at our starting point.


Map and details