Warmington circular

With Barry, Eddie and Maureen.  8 miles. It stayed fine, though some of the ground was muddy. Rain began on the drive home.


We took a footpath opposite the small cemetery in Warmington, heading north and then east, 
following field boundaries to begin with, then crossing a couple of fields to meet the road near Davey's Lodge. We turned left and after a longish half mile we turned right ( south-east) behind America Farm,  and past some more farm buildings. We crossed another footpath and  worked our way round the paths and footbridges marked Cold Harbour on the map, to head southwest, towards Lodge Farm. The building has a large kitchen garden, and some outbuildings.  The route continues along a rough road towards and past Papley Cottages to the remains of a moat and the site of Papley medieval village. 

Pond at site of medieval village of Papley

The sun came out as we had our coffee break.

Maureen and the  blasted willow

We retraced our steps to the point where a path went off to the left (northwest). After a couple of fields another path crossed ours and we turned left [though we missed it at first and had to turn back!].

Hope they can read.

This path headed south west and emerged on to the road by a small wood. 
We followed the road to the right past Toll Bar Gate, where it swings left and later right by Miriam's Cover.  At the end of the wood there is a crossroads - we went straight over and after a few hundred yards, just past a large farm (Tansor Wold Farm) the path went off to the right.
At this point there was quite a trek through rape fields, and some grass fields.

Warmington was in sight when we got through the gap

The last lap.

And back to Warmington.


Map and details

Nene Way 8 - Barnwell to Wansford

With Marta.  Weather fine, not sunny but warm.  14.44 miles, including short detour to Fotheringhay Church and shop in Nassington.


We started from Barnwell Country Park, crossed the old road opposite Oundle Mill and followed the Nene Way, which is pretty well marked, along past the marina, and locks, through some wide meadows, and over a footbridge into Ashton. The first part of the walk overlaps with this walk from Thursday, Aug 18, 2011

Through the village and after a while we turned left at the 'Entrance Lodge' to follow the road which turned into a track, past a Rifle Range, past Tansor Lodge on an old Roman road and into Warmington.  Coffee break (from a flask), part way along here. 
When we reached Warmington village we turned right, then left coming out at the church, which is a big one. 

and on to Eaglethorpe with its 17th century limestone dovecote

After this we made our way under the A605, through a decorated underpass

and over the fields to Fotheringhay. We climbed up the castle mound

Two boats below Fotheringhay Castle mound

The pub does a good lunch, then we wandered around the church - there's an impressive historical exhibition in there, and it's much lighter than many churches.

The prospect of another six miles was a little concerning, but we've done over 12 recently.  We left Fotheringhay on the Apethorpe road.  The turning to the right is just before the speed limit sign, but easily missed. A track leads to Walcot Lodge, where we turned right again.  About two thirds of a mile later, we were almost tempted to keep following the wider track which veers to the left, instead of going straight ahead. There is a Nene Way sign, but it's not immediately obvious.  There's a short turn to the left, then right a little later, but once all this has been negotiated, the route leads down towards Nassington. We needed something to drink, so detoured to the local shop.

Back to the route proper, and onward to Yarwell Mill, with its boats and caravan site. These millstones are on the road leading out of the Mill.

We should have taken a path across a field at this point. Instead we continued to the road, and turned right towards Yarwell. Not much difference in the distance. From here it's about a mile across fields - lots of horses grazing,

 and Wansford Bridge soon comes into view.

Phew, Wansford Bridge - that's the Northants Nene Way done and dusted.






Map and details