Islip, Denford, Woodford Mill, Ringstead

On a very fine, bright and frosty morning five of us set out on this gentle walk from near The Woolpack Inn in Islip, just before the bridge into Thrapston. The walk was extended for an extra mile or so from the original as the weather was good, and there were only five of us.

We followed the Nene Way over the field, across the disused railway and turning east alongside the A14. It goes under this noisy road and turns west, following the road for a short distance before turning on to the disused railway track path toward Stanwick Lakes.

Very soon the footpath which forms part of the Nene Way turns off to the left, just after a bridge. You keep close to the hedge, on your left. A footbridge takes us into the next field, and now we keep the hedge on our right until we reach a gap. We turn right across the field. On the OS map the track goes diagonally over this big field, but on the ground it's slightly different. We come to another bridge/stile and in the next field take a diagonal path for the bridge at Denford Lock. 

We cross the bridges towards the village.

We wander through the village of Denford and then back to the river.

A pleasant spot, but too early for a break!

Just after the third bridge we turn left along the footpath which follows the river as it curves round to Woodford Lock. This is very pleasant walking, and easy underfoot apart from the odd wet gateway. We turn left along the track towards Stanwick Lakes, crossing the viaduct, then going through the bridge carrying the Ham Lane track, and over another viaduct. In about a mile we reach the sign for the Woodford Mill tearoom, and head over there for coffees and teas.

After a break we agree to extend the walk by a mile or so, and take the road toward Ringstead, but turn off to the left and follow a footpath alongside Kinewell Lake.

We pass the car park on our right, and soon afterwards walk through a kissing gate and along a fenced-in path which comes out near the Axe and Compass pub. We walk through the village, past the Post Office and shop, and up a short hill past a building site, to pick up the path leading to Denford. This follows a hedge to our left, some allotments on our right, and there is one sticky field to cross downhill, and back into Denford.

We pick up the route over the river (third crossing of the bridges today), and the Nene Way back to the railway track. We turn right this time and head under the A14 and directly back towards Islip.

Thrapston Denford Ringstead

Fri, 4 Mar 2016 9:51 GMT

With Marta. Cold day with wind, but warm sunshine too. Just under 7 and a half miles. Flat. Some mud.

From Thrapston, just by the Woolpack, along the Nene Way then into Denford. (A little wetter than yesterday.)Turn right through the village, and follow Ringstead Road until a footpath leaves where the road bends left.  Follow the clearly marked footpath as it climbs uphill across a muddy field, though this was firm today. 

The path then goes by the hedge over grass, and alongside some allotments before reaching Ringstead. We walked towards the church, and turned right along Church Street. We found a suitable place for a break at the Memorial Playground, with benches and tables. 

Then we continued along Station Road, and crossed over on to the track leading all the way to the disused railway track from Stanwick Lakes. We turned right and walked the three miles back to Thrapston along the track.

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July 2015 By the Nene - Ringstead, Stanwick Lakes,Irthlingborough, Little Addington

Thu, 2015 Jul 9 9:32 AM BST

With Maureen and Gordon. Warm and sunny, mostly flat. Coffee at Stanwick Lakes Visitor Centre, later pause by river for a scone. Lots of birds and insect life. Between 8 and 9 miles.

We parked near the disused railway path and fishing lakes, not far from Ringstead village, then followed the road back to the junction and continued almost to Ringstead. A couple of hundred yards before the village sign, a footpath leads gently uphill and south. Today this crossed a field of blue flax flowers, sprinkled with a few red poppies.

 The path crosses the field diagonally, then another field. After this it was diverted slightly because of quarry workings, but was easy to follow between two fences. In fact we had to walk along the two sides of a right angled triangle instead of the hypotenuse. At Top Lodge, a deserted building, the path continued. Originally it held the southerly direction the whole way, bu once again we had to walk two sides of the triangle. Once we'd rejoined the main route, it was clear, crossing a footbridge and heading for the A45. It turns right slightly before the main road and after a hundred yards or so, we turned right again, almost doubling back on ourselves along the bridleway marked Hog Dyke on the OS map. This passes another small lake then crosses some open land before joining the disused railway path from Stanwick Lakes Centre. we turned left to follow this.

Modern ancient hut

 The Visitor Centre has a well supplied cafe and shop, and was an excellent place for a mid-morning break. By now we had walked around four miles.

Art installation marking the railway route

 We continued along the railway path with bridges over the river, and views of swans and a couple of herons, as well as ducks and gulls, and some swallows.

 Just before the A6 there's a turn to the right, over the bridge, along the old road. This leads to the now disused Kettering football ground, or Diamonds ground, and then on to the Nene Way footpath.

 The path was clearly labelled and easy to follow until it left the riverside, when there was a mile or so which didn't correspond to the map (more sides of triangles rather than diagonal field crossings), and there were few footpath signs until we reached the road near Little Addington. I think it's been like that for some time, judging from the map record from last time I was here in 2011.

 We walked through this very pretty village, which the road bypasses conveniently.

 The path from the other side of the village, downhill to the Nene was much clearer and took us gently back to the car.

Are we there yet? Nearly!

 On the way are a few bridges, and locks and fishing lakes.

Some pretty pink water lilies too.

Lots of insects out today, especially small tortoiseshell and other butterflies, and lots of dragonflies and damselflies.

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Thrapston - Nene Way - Woodford - Ringstead- back via disused railwaypath

With Maureen and Gordon. Between 8 and 9 miles. Our route out crisscrossed the return path three times. Along Nene Way, return via disused railway. Lots of fields were edged by grasses full of seeds. Return very simple. Flat. Warm and sunny, with cloud later.

We set off near the Woolpack Inn, on the road into Islip. Over the road into Thrapston from the A6116, and hidden in the hedge a sign for the Nene Way footpath. We head along the track, through a gate and over a bund, where cars are not to be parked.  There's a fishing lake on our right behind the trees. We make our way south towards the railway bridge and road viaduct carrying the A14.  Not scenic but very useful. There's a boat moored almost underneath the road. 
We follow the path and when it becomes a wider track we turn to our left and walk along field edges. It's not clearly marked here on the ground, and we have to retrace our steps slightly to get back on track. 
Near the weir and footbridge to Denford we turn sharply right and head west to cross the old railway path near Woodford Lock.  

Lots of these poppies flowering at the moment. Garden escapes or just a different variety?

 There's a choice of paths into Woodford, and we take the lower one, rather than follow Nene Way signs. It comes out at a thatched cottage, with more thatched animals than I have seen in one place before.

Foxes chasing a rabbit, and a pheasant

A thatched stag

an owl

 We have a look inside the church, which is large and airy, then I make the mistake of thinking that a stile could mean a path to somewhere. It led only to a field with cows, and no exit at the other side.

The stile which fooled me.

 From now on I resolve to follow the route and the map, rather than my faulty instinct. It is straightforward and marked pretty well.  We soon arrive at another crossing of the railway path, and a sign to Woodford Mill, where the café is not open on a Monday. Good job I'd not mentioned this to my friends in advance. 

These good-looking goats turned their backs on us

 Instead of a cafe we had our break on the grass near Willy Watt lock.

 About half a mile of road walking came next, on a raised footway at first, then turning right into Station Road, which leads only to the marina and fishing area below Great Addington.
Here we met the railway path again, and this time followed its very straightforward course back to Thrapston.

A branch of the Nene, fringed with water lilies

We saw a fair number of butterflies, damselflies etc. A swan with cygnets, various ducks, a few swallows.

Swan and cygnets - photo taken with phone. Just for the record . . .

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