Ryhall, Belmesford, Essendine, Tolethorpe

Thu, 2015 Sep 24 9:29 AM BST

With Gordon and Maureen. A fine autumn day, with a chilly wind from the West. Underfoot good. Very pleasant walk. About 8.5 miles in all.

The same route as we took on March 14 2011. Autumn is a good time for this one. The hedgerows were full of fruit, haws, rosehips, apples, blackberries, sloes all glowing on the plants.

From the car park outside Ryhall village Hall [036107](opposite the library), face the road and turn left, past the school and across a field footpath to Belmesthorpe. Cross the Gwash on a footbridge and go along Belmesthorpe Lane, turn left on Shepherd's Walk, then right on Castle Rise. Just after a left hand bend here's a footpath sign on the right hand side.   This  takes you across a small section of arable land. 

Then there are the llamas/alpacas and pot-bellied pigs.

After less than half a mile you turn left on to a wide bridle way, between hedges, which you follow for just under a mile until it joins a minor road to Uffington. This is marked as the Danelaw Way.  A section of road walking follows - turn left towards Essendine, and follow the road for a good mile and a half. About halfway along you cross a disused railway line - there is some serious work underway here.  The line once joined the main line not far away. After a right-angle bend to the right, the road emerges on to the A6121 between Stamford and Bourne. There's a good pavement alongsdide this, and in a fairly short distance you cross the road to take a footpath on the edge of a wood. 

Autumn colours in evidence now.

 Follow the path as far as the B1176 - we stopped for a break just before the road, which is quiet. We turned right along the road, and very soon took a more minor road to the left. This brings you to some houses just south of  Ryhall Heath Farm.  There is a somewhat hidden footpath sign to the left.   The track is on land belonging to Walk Farm, and goes through a couple of stile/gates which make this clear.

The tiny white dots are seagulls

There's a junction where we turned left, slightly downhill.  Follow this until you reach the minor road between Ryhall and Great Casterton.

Turn right along the road - it can be rather busy. Go past the turning to Tolethorpe and at the next bend take a footpath to the right. 
Here we were greeted by some curious sheep, who seemed to want to be photographed.

 The footpath goes down to the river Gwash, and follows it to meet the road in Tolethorpe, at the bridge over the river. Here we turned left, then right.

 We wandered along the footpath behind the old mill out of curiosity, but you can't see Tolethorpe Hall from there, though it is quite picturesque.

We returned to the road, and turned right (uphill). Where the road bends to the right we turned left on to a footpath which took us back to Ryhall, past some free range chickens in a field.

 We reached the main road, crossed over and followed Balk Road, past Spinney Lane to return to the Village Hall.

Dovecot near Ryhall Village Hall

A more attractive walk than I remembered from three and a half years ago.  We saw a few red kites and a buzzard today.
Map and details

Ryhall - Belmesthorpe - Essendine -Tolethorpe - Ryhall

Monday 14 March 2011 - 8 miles with Barry, Gordon, Maureen

From car park outside Ryhall village Hall [036107](opposite the library), face the road and turn left, past the school and across a field footpath to Belmesthorpe. Cross the Gwash on a footbridge and go through a well-tended street of bungalows - on the right hand side there's a footpath sign which takes you across arable land. This can be muddy - we were lucky. After less than half a mile you turn left on to a wide, well-hoofed bridle way, which you follow for just under a mile until it joins a minor road to Uffington. Turn left towards Essendine, and follow the road fo a good mile and a half. About halfway along you cross a disused railway line - under the bridge it has been filled in. This line once joined the main line not far away, and we saw several trains as we walked. After a right-angle bend to the right, the road emerges on to the A6121 between Stamford and Bourne. There's a good pavement alongsdide this, and in a fairly short distance you cross the road to take a footpath on the edge of a wood. Follow this to the B1176.

(This may be where we stopped for a snack break - must get hold of Barry's map to be sure.)

Walk beside this road for a short distance, then take a minor road to the left.

I think we went along to the point where a track lgoes to the left, opposite the entrance to Ryhall Heath Farm (note to self - CHECK this).  The track is on land belonging to Walk Farm. There's a junction where we turned left, slightly downhill.  Follow this until you reach the minor road between Ryhall and Great Casterton, Turn right, and in a couple of hundered yards turn left towards Tolethorpe.  This road leads all the way to the Gwash, and the magnificent Tolethorpe Cottage - if that's a cottage, what is the big house like?  Answer - big. It's where the outdoor theatre holds performances in the summer.

At a bend on the road we turned on to a footpath which took us back to Ryhall.

The second part of the walk is the more scenic.