Orlingbury, Lt Harrowden, Hardwick

Thu, 2015 Jul 23 9:18 AM  BST

With Gordon and Maureen. Fine, dry, cloudy. Dry underfoot. Good paths. Around 7.5 miles.

This was a very similar route to another walk from July 2012, in reverse with a few slight variations.

We left Orlingbury via Rectory Lane, passing Orchard Close on our left and turning right before Lammas Close, then left, and following a footpath out of the village.

Yogi?

The path kept the hedge on our right, and then crossed a field of wheat or barley, with a good path leading to the back of Little Harrowden Primary School, then through gates to the main road through the village. Here we turned left and very soon right as the path left on the opposite side of the road. 

More cornfields and clear paths brought us close to Great Harrowden. We crossed the road just before the village, and took the path leading sharp right - a wide track, eventually going past Blackberry Fox Covert and a row of electricity pylons before reaching the Hardwick Road from Wellingborough.
We crossed the road, and walked over another field, then along a shady wooded path behind the Sports Ground to reach Moonshine Gap, or Appleby Gate. This road is fairly busy, but we walked only about fifty yards along it before turning off along a bridle track to the right, opposite a road junction.  

In less than half a mile we took a footpath to the right, across yet more arable land. this brought us to the village of Hardwick, where we had a break outside the church.

About half a mile north of Hardwick, we took the second footpath on the left (the one near the top of the hill, not the one at the right hand bend).   More arable fields, more clear paths. In just under a mile we met the row of pylons and turned left along a bridleway. At a hedge we turned left again and followed this path until it met the more direct Hardwick to Orlingbury path, just after it crosses a footbridge. We turned right and followed the clear path uphill to the hedge, and northwards, over a stream and then uphill.

The fields become pasture as the route nears Orlingbury , and supports cows and sheep. We walked under the pylons again, and crossed pasture with a few stiles to climb before reaching the road and turning right into the village and across the village green.

We saw a fair number of butterflies, and the odd large blue dragonfly too.

Map and details

Orlingbury - Hardwick - Moonshine Gap - Little Harrowden - Orlingbury

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 9:20 Western European Time 

Led by Barry, with Gordon and me. Dry and fine, but muddy underfoot in places. Around 7.5 miles.

Moonshine Gap is a section of the road between Sywell and Wellingborough. We hadn't intended to walk there originally, but once we had, I couldn't resist using the name.  A mixture of songs in my head - 'I'm a regular moonshiner, moonshiner am I' competing with 'Cumberland Gap'.  The road itself is less poetic, and I couldn't find the origins of the name.

From Rectory Lane in Orlingbury,  we headed across The Green, and followed the Northampton Road for a couple of hundred yards to where a footpath went off to the left, heading south.  We crossed two fields diagonally, and in the third one went under a row of electricity pylons.  Then we followed a hedge (on our right).  More fields, and a certain amount of mud, especially around gateways - see the pic below.

One of the worst mud wallows I have had to cross.

We joined a minor road, which took us into the tiny village of Hardwick.  After our exertions in the mud, we were easily tempted to use the bench near the church and have an early break.

The church at Hardwick, and a welcome seat for an early break.

We left Hardwick after the Manor House, taking a footpath southwest, then south until we reached the minor road from Sywell to Wellingborough, and the section called Moonshine Gap.We followed the road, past Cheesecake Spinney (no, really), and at Appleby Gate, we left the road for a footpath leading straight ahead (northeast), and past the sports ground.

Past the sports ground just after 'Moonshine Gap'

The path crossed the Hardwick Road, and continued in this direction as far as the B574, just outside Gt Harrowden.

This looks more like pretty countryside - a pleasant change from overgrown crops!

we crossed the road, and walked northwest to Little Harrowden, crossing a footbridge over a stream. In Little Harrowden the path crosses the road again, and goes past the primary school.  It continues northwest, downhill , over a stream and gradually climbs back into Orlingbury.

Dovecote in Orlingbury

A doorway for hobbits?

Alas, poor dragonfly.

Map and details

Orlingbury - Little Harrowden - Orlingbury

2 June 2011.  With Barry and Maureen. Around 7 miles - just under two and a half hours. Fine, warm, dry.

Mostly arable land - wheat, rapeseed and some pasture. No bull in the field with the label, though we saw cows and calves - none of which showed any interest in us.
There was a hare on the path ahead of us at one point, and then a fox in the middle of a field, quite unaware of us for a while.  Both too distant to photograph.

A strange snippet about Orlingbury, and Badsaddle Wood