Another ride around the Welland Valley

Gretton - Lyddington - Seaton - Barrowden - Wakerley- Harringworth - Gretton.

the elderflowers have gone. Plenty of meadow cranesbioll and some mallow. Wild roses, another umbellifer (ie not cow parsley), knapweed, honeysuckle. The river looked peaceful at Wakerley Bridge.  Looked as though the pub was open in Barrowden - people picknicking on the green, near the duckpond.

Three hills - up from  Lyddington, up to Barrowden turn on Morcott Road, and finally Harringworth Hill.
oh yes,  the road between Wakerley and Harringworth is bad, but not as bad as the one past Kirby Hall!

No photos today. About 14 miles I think.

Warkton, Grafton Underwood, Cranford St Andrew

Mon, 2015 Aug 17 9:22 AM BST

With Gordon. Weather fine and dry, some sun. Mostly good paths, a few ploughed fields, but dry. Just under 10 miles. Fairly flat.

I was looking for a walk nearby that would cover some new ground.  Warkton and Grafton Underwood fit the bill.  Why haven't we walked there? The walk is on the edge of the Explorer Map, and needs some folding and unfolding. So I packed the Landranger map as well.

We set off from a side street in Warkton, taking a path directly opposite the road, heading east between two houses, then over a stile and along a path between hedges. Another stile took us into a field with an avenue of lime trees. The sheep were having a lie-in, and moved reluctantly as we made our way through. 

It was tempting to follow the line of trees, but a map-check showed that we cross them to the left diagonally. We found our route waymarked, over a stile and alongside a field, then across a private estate road. Cows in the next field came to see us through the gate at the end.

The next section involved keeping the same direction across a couple of ploughed fields with no clear path yet, and then by the left hand side of a small wooded area and another couple of ploughed fields. It's that time of year, and luckily the ground was dry.
Some of the signage leaves a bit to be desired.

So we are on right path?

Oh yes!

We continued along paths which led into Grafton Underwood, through a field with horses, and one sheep which saw us and ran towards us - we thought it was a pet until it headbutted its way through the broken dog gate at the stile and went to join its fellows in a paddock close to the houses. 

Grafton Underwood is an attractive village, with the stream running beside the road, and, early as it was, the bench by the bridge was not to be resisted.

Ducks and a cat watched us without pestering.

It was agreeable walking through the village, next to the brook.

The next section involved a bit of road walking, south to the crossroads, then left as far as the first footpath sign on the right. The path runs more or less south along field edges, then swings right (west) to meet the road. A little tricky to be sure you're on the right track here, but we were close to the pathline.

We turned left for another section on the road into Grafton Underwood, where we were ambushed by the Old Forge café. 

Opposite the café is a road called Top Dysons. This is our route and leads to a bridleway, good and clear. We turned right to head north just before Grange Farm, but there are several footpaths and bridleways around here.  

We continued slightly east of north as far as the road between Grafton and Warkton. After a mile of dodging the cars - just a few too many to make it pleasant, we arrived at the estate road, and rejoined the path we started on, crossing the lime tree avenue once more.

Lime Tree Avenue with sheep

This was a much pleasanter way back into Warkton.

Garmin machine says 10.2 miles, but when I synched it with the computer programme the distance given is 9.7.

Map and details

Corby - Little Oakley - Geddington Chase - Stanion - Corby

Led by Barry. With Maureen, Gordon and Eddie. Weather fine, though rain threatened. Very strong wind. Lots of lovely mud. A whisker over 10 miles.

Rumours of rain on the way. Someone mentions snow.  I hope we've already had the morning's promised shower.  We set off from Barry's house, through the new streets of the Snatchill area, turning right from Windermere Drive across a mud-bath field to a fine graffiti decorated footbridge over the railway.  Waterproofs on for a while, but it's hardly worth the effort. We turn slightly right, skirting South Wood. 

We follow the edges of fields and join the minor road to Little Oakley. A turn to the left takes us towards the village, and we turn off left again just before the first houses.

We must be walking further than planned in the next section. When I look at my Garmin map, I see we had to walk two sides of a triangle, or three sides of a square, simply to avoid the worst of the muddy ploughed fields.  No matter, we make it to and across the A43, and walk alongside the woods towards Geddington Chase.

The sky glowers at us, dark grey. "Quick, let's take a break before we're soaked!"  No arguments about that.  Maureen's scones go down a treat.  Next time we look up the sky is blue again.

Ready to roll?

I think that's the right way

On we go up past the house in Geddington Chase - there seems to be just one dog in the kennel today, and it looks friendly - for a guard dog.

We head north then north east following the path over fields and bogland to Stanion.

We turn left and take the road through the edge of the village to the A43.  Luckily this road has a wide grass verge, and we walk to the roundabout, and turn towards the Euro-hub.  There's about a mile and a half of road, fringed by litter-infested hedge bottoms, before we turn off by the Wincanton distribution depot.

The Roman road 

There's a section of Roman road marked on the map. We pay our respects,  then turn right and slide and squelch our way along the path by the railway.

It's hard work, but we soon arrive back at the graffiti-covered bridge, and retrace our steps, fighting against the wind, to our starting point.





Map and details of the route

Hallaton-Allexton-East Norton-Hallaton

Led by Barry, with Maureen and Gordon. Fine, chilly wind, muddy underfoot, some ice. Just over 10 miles in all.

Such a beautiful morning as I drive past the Welland Lake on my way to Hallaton.  I haven't seen the valley so flooded for a long time, but with the sun sparkling on the water, I could live with it. 

The roads are clear of snow, but some glisten with hoar frost, especially the higher roads near Eyebrook reservoir, and through Horninghold towards Hallaton.  I shall probably keep regretting that I didn't stop to take photographs. 

I meet the gang in Hallaton, and we brave the cold wind and set off along the Horninghold Road. We turn left along a footpath which runs across fields, almost parallel to the road. When we reach Horninghold village we turn right and then left just before the Hall, which looks as though it has converted its stables into rather exclusive apartments.

The route takes us northeast as far as Muckelburgh Farm,  where we turn to the left and head due north until we meet Allexton Lane, which is more like a mud-track.  We discover a body behind a hedge - his legs are plastic pipes, and his body is just old clothes - a scarecrow taking five?  

 At the Hallaton road we turn right towards Allexton.  Belton is clearly visible behind Allexton.  Before reaching the village we take a bridleway to the left, due west,  more or less parallel to the A47.  It crosses the stream and arrives at the main road at a lay-by.  We cross the road and find the footpath a little way to the left.

We take  shelter behind a hedge and indulge in a snack break.  We plod on and are faced with four yellow posts to show the way.  A quick look at the map and we make our choice. All is well, apart from the mud-hopping we need to do each time we meet a gate.
When we reach a road into East Norton we walk down it - past this rather strange character in a window

a novelty hatstand

and an irresistible bench.

Taking a breather at East Norton

We have to cross the A47 again,  taking the old road to cut a corner, then along the road towards Hallaton for a short distance. 
Decisions!  Do we continue for two miles along the road, or do we turn east along a wide track which follows the ridge?  We take the consensus, and the track wins. At this stage the wind is getting stronger and there's rain in the air.  But we carry on boldly going. There's a junction - a surfaced road leads down to a farm, but our route goes ahead - across more mud.  We arrive at a farm, labelled as Fearn Farm on the map. It has an obviously non-functional sign saying "Teas" and a sign declaring in German that it's a Zollgrenze or customs frontier. No one inspects our luggage or passports, so we carry on our merry muddy way.
We're following the route of the Leicestershire Round and the Macmillan Way here, but these fields are the muddiest yet, and sticky to boot. We have another snack break on the bridge over the dismantled railway, before tackling the last field, and joining the road near Hallaton Recreation Ground, walking past the duckpond and the Fox pub and we've done about 10 miles.

They didn't leak when I walked through puddles hoping to clean them!

Map and details of the route.

Gumley circular

Led by Barry - with Gordon, Maureen and me. Fine and sunny, very wet underfoot in places. Very rolling - great views. 7.6 miles.  

Covering some of the ground of this walk on 21 Nov 2011, but this time we could see the views.
Some overlap with this walk on 8 October 2012   as well.

We set off from Gumley, and took the footpath opposite the telephone box.  This path heads south-west.  Just before Gumley Lodge we turned  west crossing several fields before arriving at a small road close to Laughton.  We crossed the road and followed the footpath into the village.  A token sit on the bench - to check the map - and then through the village and past the church.

Laughton church and 'cob'  wall

Crook House (cruck house?)

We followed the path to the west after the church, downhill towards Mowsley, over a brook, and up hill, across a lane and into the village by the church and the old school.

Mowsley church

At a bend in the road we took a path between buildings, and when it reached a field we took the right hand footpath. This led downhill, crossed another field and a stream.  and headed north along field boundaries, clearly marked.  We found a sheltered spot, with trees,  where the ground was not too boggy and had our first break of the day. 

The track led more or less north until we reached a junction near Saddington Lodge Farm.  Here we turned right and headed north east towards Saddington village.

They took the longer route - I went direct. Luckily the boots proved fairly watertight.

In Saddington we went past the church, the riding school and the pub.

View of Saddington Reservoir from the pub

A little further along we turned right along the Leicestershire Round path - 1 and 3/4 miles to Gumley. Through the long thin field where there is usually one horse, then over the three bridges and up the hill where cows were grazing today.

At the top the views of the reservoir were excellent with no crops to block them.

Saddington Reservoir

Not the memorial seat . . .

The flat high level path is one of my favourites in the area.  We continued to the memorial seat to Mary Hodgkin -the  ideal spot for a second break.

Views to the north east - maybe Church Langton? And Charnwood hills in the distance.

From the seat at the high point of the path we carried on along the Leicestershire Round path, across Debdale Lane and into Gumley past the church. 
A shortish walk, but quite hard going - hills and mud underfoot.


Map and details

Apethorpe circular

Me, Eddie, Barry, Gordon, Maureen. Last minute decision, with booklet - done in reverse. 6.7 miles. Weather fine while we were out, with a chilly wind,  but it began to rain later, just as we ate lunch. Brilliant timing.
Wildlife: deer - muntjac - , kites, a hare.

I wasn't sure who would be walking today, and we had no advance plan.  Luckily Eddie had a booklet to hand, and with its help and the usual map we did this shorter walk from Apethorpe.  We left the village along the road at the side of the Kings Head and walked west. At the junction we took the left hand turn (signposted to Lodge Farm).  This road runs behind the hall grounds, and continues more or less south.  There is a clear sign to say that the bridleway has been diverted off to the left, and we followed the new path to the right hand side of a small lake, then round to rejoin the original roadway.  Our route was now just north of west to the corner of Tomlin Wood, where we turned left towards another small wood, Morehay Lawn.

We walked along the edge of this wooded patch, and carried on, turning slightly to our left then right along a field edge and into another wood (Holey Brookes).  We crossed another track in the wood but carried on through.  At the edge of the wood, our path led almost due west, diagonally across one field, and then along the hedge of the second one.  In the third field is an abandoned cottage, and a footbridge slightly downhill and to the right of it.

We had to cross a ploughed field after the bridge to reach the corner of Bushey Wood, where we had a break, before following a track along the right hand edge of Bushey Wood and then the edge of Hostage Wood.  The track heads north east and downhill to the stream.  The crossing is a bit steep and muddy, with some stones to help.

The route continues on a track which becomes covered in tarmac and leads past Spa Farm, with its watchful and barking dogs, the onwards to Spa Farm Cottages.  Here we turned right and followed the road back to Apethorpe, meeting the road beside the pub.

Then we went to the Sondes Arms in Rockingham to eat and celebrate Eddie's coming of age (65)  tomorrow.

It looks like Christmas already!

This walk from Aug 11 2011 covers some of the same ground
Map and details

Leics Round 1 - Foxton to Bruntingthorpe

With Marta. Grey, but no rain. Chilly wind. Muddy in places. Lunch at Fleckney. Almost 10.5 miles.

Lock Keeper's Cottage Café Foxton

A great start to the day was coffee and a slice of fruit cake at Foxton Top Lock before we walked down to the canal towpath at the bottom of the flight of locks,  and our official starting point for the Leicestershire Round.

We walked over Bridge 61 and turned along the tow-path north, away from the Locks area.  After a few hundred yards we crossed the footbridge, with its Leicestershire Round waymark and headed across the fields towards Gumley with  the church spire and the tower of Tower House visible in the woods.
The path climbs up to the village and leads on to the Main Street, where we turned right and walked up past Tower House and St Helen's Church.

We took the path by the church and near the wood, across a couple of fields to Debdale Lane. 

We crossed this small road, going downhill quite steeply, then up again by a small wood called Smeeton Gorse.  We arrived at the top of Smeeton Hill, where there is a bench.  Today the views of Saddington reservoir were much clearer than in summer.  The reservoir and channels were built to feed the canal.

A little grey, but lovely rolling countryside around Saddington.   And yes, we had to go up to the village.

After going through Saddington we mad our usual mistake and ended up a little too far  north, coming out near where the road forks to Fleckney on the left and Kibworth on the right. We walked a little way back to pick up the Leicestershire Round across afield to a gate part way along the hedge.  From here you can see a clump of trees, hiding a pond.  We made for the left hand side and then for the corner of the houses on the edge of Fleckney.

We decided it was lunch time, and walked an extra mile and a half or so to the Crown in Fleckney.  

We returned and picked up the track we needed which turns southwest at the corner of the housing, and heads upwards.  Once we joined the hedge we walked with this on our right for a while, and then on our left as far as the next road.

We crossed the road and walked straight ahead on a minor road for a short distance before turning on to the footpath to the left.  For most of the way ahead the path is fairly clearly marked, and took us through various fields with cows and horses, before climbing up past New Inn Farm, and on to the A5199.  We crossed this and walked along for a short distance to the road into Shearsby.

Shearsby church seen from the A 5199

perched on a hill

At Shearsby we took time for a mini-break, and a chat to a couple who have walked the Round before. There are convenient benches on the wide roadside verge.
We walked through the village, along Back Lane and Mill Lane and past some cottages which look like the model for a jigsaw puzzle.

Just outside the village the Leicestershire Round path turns right into a field.  We kept close to the hedge - it is the route, and kept us from disturbing the cows too. The path here was fairly muddy.   In the next field we kept the hedge on our right, and turned slightly left when we came to a small wooded area.  After this spinney, we crossed the hedge, which was now on our left. We went gradually downhill, and passed more trees on the left, before crossing a very big field - the line is marked by the signs.  In the next field, the path follows the hedge and joins a clear farm track alongside another two fields, before curving to the left and leading into Bruntingthorpe via Little End.  

1716 Tithe Barn in Bruntingthorpe

Next leg's starting point.

Map and details