Lyddington - Seaton - Bisbrooke - Uppnham - Lyddington

Thu, 2013 Sep 5 10:21 AM British Summer Time

With Harry and Jenny. Beautiful weather, very hot, good underfoot. Pretty fast pace, considering. Including looking round Uppingham - 8.7 miles.

It's a delight to show our countryside to someone who hasn't seen it before! 

sculpture inspired by the fishponds 

Lyddington church from the ancient fishponds

The first part of the path is clearly marked as the Rutland Round.  We walk across the Green, past the sculpture, through a gate and with the hedge on our left walk through the fields with the traces of the old fishponds.  At the end of this field we turn left, skirting a wood, before turning right and heading along a path uphill.  This was shaded and cool before we cam out into the fields. We head north east for a little while, then do a dog-leg. This is all clear on the ground with waymarker posts.  The path gradually turns further east, alongside a sloping ploughed field.

We come out into Grange Lane,  which leads uphill into Seaton.

A solitary wood pigeon

swallows are gathering

We walk through Seaton and take a look at the viaduct from the Glaston Harringworth cross roads, before going back to our path.

Seaton church

The path is not far from Moles Lane, and up a short set of steps. It heads north, and climbs gently before descending more steeply to the dismantled railway.  Here it turns north west, and crosses a large field with a stream - again the waymarkers are clear.   The path now runs beside trees and is enclosed on each side - it climbs almost unnoticeably into Bisbrooke, emerging behind the church.

We follow the road to the cross roads, meeting the odd chicken, and helping ourselves to some windfalls, offered free outside one of the houses.

At the crossroads we go straight ahead then turn left and right at the corner - the road becomes a track and then a path, and finally we arrive at the Uppingham School playing field and cricket pavilion. Into the town for coffee and lunch at Don Paddys, before looking round the town, and the Goldmark Gallery - there's an exhibition of George Grosz's work, and lots of other interesting items.

We leave Uppingham by taking the path through the church porch and churchyard, then at the road we turn left then right and head south and downhill.   There are some juicy blackberries on the way, so we pick them - making use of empty water bottles. Tonight we shall feast.

The path is clear, leading us to the playing field behind Uppingham College. We lose the track briefly, but find it again and it leads south east across a road, and over farmland towards Lyddington. 

That's what I call a path "made good"

A short diversion as we feed an apple to a horse,  we reach the road into Lyddington and decide to walk through the village back to the car.

This bird is going nowhere!

Map and details

Photos of Castle Ashby Gardens

From our walk on Wednesday 4 September 2013

and from the farm:

Northampton Round 2 - Sywell Country Park to Castle Ashby

Wed, 2013 Sep 4 10:19 AM British Summer Time

With Marta. Very hot weather. Quite undulating. 7.5 miles then almost two more walking round Castle Ashby Gardens.

From Sywell Country Park we turn right and take the road uphill past East Lodge Farm, where the footpath is clearly marked.  We cross fields with horses, then the path crosses a line of trees and comes out on the A4500. 
We turn right along this, and soon left towards Ecton, on the quiet Wellingborough Road.  Ecton is a lovely village, with a large church, and attractive ironstone cottages.

The war memorial

  Benjamin Franklin visited in 1758 in search of his ancestors' graves.

Our route takes us along the High Street and towards the end we turn right onto a small path leading to West Street.  At the end of this we turn left, and walk south along a footpath.
The footpath joins a road, and we continue south along the road which goes above the A45.

Just after the bridge we turn left, or east,  along a byway - as the Northants Round instructions warn us, quite a lot of junk has been dumped here.   So much so that we missed our turning at first. Just before a gate you turn to the right away from the dual carriageway, and head south once more.

The bushes are covered in sloes and then haws as we approach fishing lakes and irrigation channels, and finally the River Nene. 

 

We have a break sitting on the bridge looking towards Cogenhoe Mill Lock.  The cows and bull obligingly move away from the pathway.  I think they're used to people from the caravan site and boats.

We have walked this way before

The church clock still stands at the wrong time, though it has moved in the two years since I last took its photograph.

We soon leave the short section shared with the Nene Way, and at the Royal Oak pub we turn left and downhill on the Whiston Road. 
Near the bottom of the dip the footpath is on the right, and leads south eastwards. 

 We walk along the hedgerow, under electrical power lines and follow the edge of the woodland.  Our instructions tell us to make two ninety degree turns - we manage the first  (to our right) and overshoot the second (to our left).   This adds a couple of hundred yards to our route, but we find the steps down from the embankment.

Jerusalem Steps, I presume.

The steps take us down to the bottom of the quarry, out of the woodland, then across a field and a track, and over a stream.  We turn right then slightly left to follow a track south east to the Denton to Whiston Road. We continue south east, through a short stretch of woodland and more fields to arrive at Chadstone Lodge.   On the small road we turn right and walk along to the tiny village of Chadstone. There a man and his daughter have been collecting plums, and he sings the joys of living there and foraging. "You can get a coffee . . ."  No he's not offering us one! " . . .at Ashby" he calls as he goes into his house.

We join the Castle Ashby Road, and walk the mile or so back to the car.  We take in the "rural shopping yard", fortify ourselves with tuna baguettes and cold drinks, and then explore Castle Ashby Gardens - £4.50 for us oldies, but a lovely place.  Lucky Marquess of Northampton.

Castle Ashby House with Latin words around the "battlements".

See next post for a few photos of the gardens.
Map and details

Kirby Hall round.

Tuesday September 3 2013.  With Harry and Jenny.

The route as usual - about five miles.

Along the dusty track, over the farmland path and down to the hall.

Harry and Jenny

perching peacocks

We came back via the road and the path leading up after the recycling plant, then across the fields to rejoin the track.

Fine skies, fine peacocks, and cows with calves in the field nearby.

Ashley circular via Stoke Albany

Mon, 2013 Sep 2 9:37 AM British Summer Time

Led by Barry. With Chris and Marion, Vera and Barrie, Gordon and me. Some dry ploughed fields made paths unclear. About 6 miles.

From Ashley opposite the George - the route is the same as the walk we did on July 8 2013, but without the diversion round Stoke Albany, and without the wrong turning after "John" Tugwell's grave.  He has a fine new slate stone since our last visit. I didn't snap it, but from memory it finishes with "Right. I must be doing."

The paths are not so clear at this time as the rapeseed has been harvested, so we had a few dry ploughed fields to negotiate.

Fine views, and a good six-mile walk in great weather.

We did spot masses of tiny frogs heading across dry soil - towards the stream?

Map and details