Because dogs aren’t allowed on buses, I usually have to make do with circular routes when I walk locally, so it was a nice change to be able to get a lift (from my very understanding girlfriend) to do an “A to B” walk following part of the Northamptonshire Round (thanks to @TowcesterNews for the recommendation). This leg takes in the view up the huge drive to Castle Ashby, Yardley Chase, Salcey Forest and the villages of Yardley Hastings, Horton, Piddington, and Hartwell. Although there was a lot of road work, the route was very enjoyable.

Northamptonshire Round

The Northamptonshire Round is a 50-mile circular route set up by a bunch of “fellows” (their words) who formed the Ten Foot Club to give a walk or selection of walks to others in recompense for the pleasure they had gained from walks organized by others. It is designed to show people some of the delightful villages and sights around Northamptonshire.

Northamptonshire is a low-rolling and modest Midland county. Most ramblers, contemplating the map in search of a good walk, let their eyes drift briefly across the county before deciding on the Lakes, the Peaks or somewhere with a bit more elevation and glamour.

That’s why the Ten Foot Club has devised a 50-mile circular walk, the Northamptonshire Round, to lure walkers into discovering old deer parks, woods, farmlands, villages and other secrets and overlooked delights.

Telegraph

The Route

The route starts at the foot of the village of Cogenhoe (not pronounced how you might think), and quickly enters some lovely examples of Northamptonshire countryside – peaceful rolling hills, woods and farmland.

Castle Ashby

As you leave Cogenhoe behind you, and prepare to drop down (relatively) to the village of Yardley Hastings, you cross the impressive mile long drive to Castle Ashby. At the time the castle was just a blob on the horizon, but looking at the photos I took really show how big the drive is (it would be brilliant for cantering I am reliably informed!). The photo is towards Castle Ashby, taken about half way up the drive.

The Castle is the result of a licence obtained in 1306, for the Bishop of Coventry, to castellate his mansion in the village of Ashby. The present rebuilding of Castle Ashby was started by Lord Compton in 1574, and the house has been visited by Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, King William III, oh and Sir Elton John [source Wikipedia].

Yardley Hastings

I really liked Yardley Hastings. It seemed likely a perfect example of a middle England village – peaceful, friendly, and picturesque! I have heard of it before, but never visited.

What I liked a lot less is the next part of the route – a quiet country road into Yardley Chase that seems to go on for ever!

Whenever I am walking long stretches of road, I always have the first line of a song from Lord of The Rings rattling around in my head (best sung in the Radio 4 version) which @ydnab40 has kindly provided the rest of:

The road goes ever on and on,
down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
and I must follow if I can,
pursuing it with eager feet,
until it joins some larger way
where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then I cannot say.
Fellowship of the ring, a long expected party

Yardley Chase

Nothing brings you back to reality than the sound of automatic weapons! There I was, minding my own business, reading the various interpretation boards along the footpath (Yardley Chase is an Area of Special Scientific Interest) when suddenly I could hear the sound of rifle fire. Whilst the gunfire continued I passed a wire fence with a hard to view yellow warning sign (the zoomed in photo of which is above – click to enlarge (just like all photos on the site)), and looking at the map there certainly seems to be some suspicious huts marked with little moats – was this some kind of secret Army base?

Well, secret in the sense that it has it’s own Wikipedia page! The huts marked on the map are concrete and were used to store bombs until the 1990s, when the MOD shut them down due to their obvious ineffectiveness in a nuclear strike. The site is now used by the Army and Air cadets and the Territorial Army, which explains the weapon fire (blanks presumably!).  Judging by some of the forums I stumbled across the site, although fairly basic, is well liked by cadets.

The Northamptonshire Round leaves Yardley Chase and, after another long road, passes through the villages of Horton and Piddington (the field between Horton and Piddington was possibly the longest most horrible stretch of sticky mud I have ever walked through!) before turning South to head into Salcey Forest.

Salcey Forest

As it is right next to my village (Hartwell), I have walked a considerable amount of Salcey Forest – the official marked walks, the old (and in my opinion better) routes, the cycle route, the horse route and various other little tracks!

The Northamptonshire Round enters the forest in the North East corner and quickly joins the cycle route (going clockwise) – it was really nice to see so many families out walking on a Sunday afternoon! Just before you hit one of the roads that cross the forest, you turn off onto a darker, more mysterious track – one that I have never walked on before.

The route makes it way through the forest – after a bit of road you rejoin the cycle route briefly before continuing out towards the South West corner of the forest. At this point I turned off the Northamptonshire Round to cut back to Hartwell – my final destination.

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The Grafton Way is a 12.5 mile walk between Cosgrove (actually looking at the Ordnance Survey website, it seems to continue down the canal to Wolverton) and Greens Norton, passing past Towcester. The Grafton Way is joined to the North Buckinghamshire Way, The Grand Union Canal Walk, and Ouse Valley Way to the South, and turns into The Knighton Way at Greens Norton. The route is named after the Dukes of Grafton, who were large landowners throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Both @TowcesterNews and @moolife (both on Twitter) recommended this walk to me (as a training walk for Offa’s Dyke 4 Ms), but I was quite surprised to not be able to find a huge amount of information about it on the web – not even a route map. There are suggestions of a brochure available from the local council, but nothing available online. Fortunately the route is marked on the 1:25000 OS maps, so after marking it in Viewranger, I packed my rucksack, and begged a lift to Greens Norton from my parents to follow the The Graton Way.

Greens Norton

Greens Norton is to the North West of Towcester, and has been on a number walks I have done in the area. The pub, The Butchers Arms, is dog friendly and serves a good pub lunch, and has a good range of beers.

I have to admit to expecting a little more from the start of the route – alright in the grand scheme of things The Grafton Way is hardly a major long distance path, but after leaving the main road through the village, and passing through a housing estate, I did expect more than just a standard Northamptonshire footpath sign with the tiny words “Grafton Way”.

After cutting across a field, the path joins a minor (yet busy) road that heads towards Towcester. At this point I suffered a painful groin muscle twinge that almost had me ringing my parents to be rescued – fortunately, after some very embarrassing muscle stretching in public view, I was able to continue without further complications!

Towcester

Just as you approach Towcester, the route is slightly diverted from the marked path (on my maps certainly), towards the services on the busy A43 dual carriageway - this is so you can safely get across the road using the first horse road crossing I have ever come across (with horse shaped green/red lights!)

Once you have negotiated your way back onto the original route (it is well signposted), you follow along the edge of the field along the South West edge of Towcester. Sadly, like a lot of rural Northamptonshire (and probably elsewhere), this land is under serious threat of development. Public consultation is currently underway to build a horrifying 3000 new homes, 21 ha of employment facilities and a single lane bypass in this area – more information can be found here.

I do hope that should this development goes ahead, then consideration is taken to try and make the impact on The Grafton Way as small as possible, although ultimately you can never replace fields, woods and tranquillity.

As you leave Towcester behind you (the point you turn South is not well signposted),  there are a few fields (muddy at this time of year) to cross before you approach Pury End.

Pury End

Pury End caught me at a particularly good moment – the sun had just come out and the row of cottages look so picturesque – it seemed idyllic. Despite the fact I moan about the lack of stunning landscapes or large hill and mountain ranges in Northamptonshire, there is a kind of simplistic beauty to the rolling farmland and the rural villages and hamlets in the area. It is also quiet – I rarely encounter many walkers out of village bounds – and this level of peacefulness is hard to find anywhere else.

The route from Pury End is quite easy to follow, with some old and battered large while signs marking the route. As you approach Watling Street, originally a Roman road, you pass the site of an old Roman Villa (although admittedly I only know that by a Google search of the names on the map!).

After crossing Watling Street (a very busy road!)  The Grafton Way skirts around Pottersbury Lodge School – a Rudolf Steiner school specialising in children who are on the autism spectrum, including those with Asperger Syndrome.

Yardley Gobion and Pottersbury

Just before you get to Yardley Gobion, you pass the site of the Moor End Castle. Quite surprisingly (I would have expected the site to be historically irrelevant) this castle, which was built in 1347, was regularly visited by Edward III, who built a royal chamber, royal chapel, and rebuilt the gatehouse. All that remains now is the fragments of the original moat (now much altered).

From Moor End Castle, The Grafton Way touches the edge of Yardley Gobion and Pottersbury, before continuing towards Cosgrove, past the lost village of Furtho.

At this point I feel I should mention that Northamptonshire Council clearly don’t expect backpackers to walk along The Grafton Way (or in fact most other footpaths in the County) – the kissing gates are tiny and extremely difficult to navigate with a pack and roll matt! [rant over]

The Lost Village of Furtho

As I approached Furtho, a medieval village, I tried to guess why the village was deserted. I couldn’t decide between the plague (which I believe is why my village just to the North East moved location by two miles), or due to land enclosures.  The answer is land enclosures! Not much remains of the village other then Furtho Farm, a partly 14th century church and a dovecote.

I have to admit to completely missing the dovecote – I was so focused on the church and having a look at the site as marked on the map! It was only later did I come across details. Dovecotes were an important part of the manorial economy, and were a reliable source of meat and eggs – and it is likely, based on when the village was abandoned, that the dovecote would have belonged to the lord of the manor.

The church, which ceased to operate as a church in 1921, is owned by Churches Conservation Trust. On quite a few of the walks I have done recently, I have come across these lasting monuments to long forgotten communities that, for one reason or another, have ceased to exist.

Cosgrove

Finally The Grafton Way finishes at Cosgrove (you can continue on following the Grand Union Canal Walk towards Wolverton and Milton Keynes).

I thoroughly enjoyed the walk – the countryside was quiet and peaceful, with subtle remnants of the area’s historical past. The Grafton Way itself is quite easy, there aren’t any major climbs, and even carrying a full(ish) pack I wasn’t completely dead by the end – definately recommended for anyone looking for an enjoyable and interesting walk through historic Northamptonshire.

Of course, like all good walks, this one ended in the pub. The Barley Mow in Cosgrove is an Everards pub, so it sells my second (only to banana bread beer) favourite beer – Tiger. You simply cannot beat resting your feet in a pub garden (although it was a little cold) with your dog and pint of nice beer of an enjoyable walk!

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After the excesses of Christmas and spending a lot of time in bed with various bouts of illness (what is it about evolving colds that won’t go away this winter!) the Offa’s Dyke team (well everyone except Alex) decided to break in the new year  with a 13 mile walk around the Northamptonshire countryside South of Daventry.

I have to admit to starting to run out of local countryside near where I live to walk around – if I was more organised it would be quite easy to get up early and, within an hour or so, end up in gorgeous hilly countryside (Derbyshire, The Malverns, and the Chilterns are really not that far away), but once again I left it to the last minute, and had to rely on trusty Viewranger to knock together a local route.

The circular route I chose started in Everdon, just South of Daventry. From there we walked over Everdon Hill to Fawlsey Hall, a manor house as early as 7th Century – although now a luxury hotel, spa and conference centre. We then headed South, joining the Jurassic Way to Woodford Halse, passing the lost settlement of Church Charwelton (just the parish church of Charwelton remains, isolated from the village).

After my decision to walk Offa’s Dyke in April, I seem to have become more interested in these, seemingly random, long distance routes. The Jurassic Way follows the jurassic limestone ridge between Banbury and Stamford, although most of it’s 88 mile route is in Northamptonshire. The Explore Northamptonshire website has the loveliest description of the route – which probably shouldn’t surprise me considering it’s aim is to market the county.

From Church Charwelton, we then cut back East towards Farthingstone, and finally turning North to return to Everdon.

I do enjoy walking in rural Northamptonshire – we might not have stunning scenery and breath taking views, but we do have lots of rolling pastures,  small isolated woods and picturesque villages. There is also the added bonus that, outside the villages, you are unlikely to meet another walker (especially perhaps considering it was hovering around freezing for most of the day!).

With Offa’s Dyke now only months away, it was great to be joined by Karen and her daughter for their first official training walk. They were both testing out some equipment they got for Christmas, especially new walking boots and rucksacks, which held up really well (no blisters). They both had no problems with the walk, and we all remained in good spirits which, considering how cold it was at times, was no mean feat!

For my part, this my first walk carrying significant weight on my back. I loaded my new Berghaus C71 with as much equipment as I could find – other than the cooker and the tent, I think I probably wasn’t too far off the amount of equipment I am likely to be carrying – it weighed in at 30lbs!

Considering this was the first time I have walked with a heavy backpack for over 15 years (I used to be in the cadets in my youth, so had my fair share of carrying equipment over Dartmoor and Exmoor!) I didn’t do too badly. My feet were a little sore on the soles, although that faded a few hours after we finished, and my hips were bruised (the tenderness faded by lunchtime the next day). The backpack itself was brilliant – the Bioflex system really helped spread the weight and made life much easier when the dog does pull.

However with only just over two months remaining before we start, I really need to get out there walking more – this walk was after all only the equivalent to an easiest day on Offa’s Dyke!

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As it was such a beautiful day on Sunday, I decided to walk the Woodpecker Trail in Salcey Forest – a 6 (ish) mile walk that circles the whole forest.

Salcey Forest is a remnant of a medieval royal hunting forest situated near the village of Hartwell in Northamptonshire, between Northampton and Milton Keynes.

The walk was less of a training walk for the Offa’s Dyke 4 MS challenge and more a chance to give the dog a nice long walk. That said I tried to keep up a good pace to build up some stamina on what is a fairly unchallenging walk. I also wanted to play around more with Viewranger – especially with the integration with my phone’s camera (most of these photos were taken on my N95 phone via Viewranger).

Walk Summary

Download the Salcey Forest Woodpecker Trail’s GPS data exported from Viewranger (you can use this GPS utility to convert the data for use with your GPS unit)

Walk Details

There are three main areas of the forest you walk through: the southern area (trapped between the road that joins the B526, and the road to Hartwell), the popular area (the area around the cafe, main car park and walkway), and the northern area (to the north and east of Salcey Lawn).

The Southern Area

This is by the far my favourite part of the forest – there is a free car park, large enough for horse boxes, with direct access onto the Woodpecker Trail, the cycle and horse routes.

The Woodpecker Trail quickly leaves the cycle and horse route and disappears into the forest. Most of the trail in this section follows fairly narrow (and sometimes muddy) tracks which meander through the forest with small bridges crossing over tiny streams.

On such a glorious day – it was brilliant to hear the sound of woodpeckers tapping away (presumably where the path gets it’s name?) and the call of birds of prey above (I just about spotted one, but lack the knowledge to identify it – it sounded like an eagle but probably wasn’t!). There was also plenty of squirrels, rabbits and a surprising number of bees, especially bumble bees!

One of the great things about this part of the forest is that it is quiet – I only came across a horse rider, a family of walkers, and a pair of cylists!

As the trail came out onto a larger track (about here on an OS map) which is the scene of carnage after logging activites last year, I found a small path to follow through Organ’s Hill that brings you out onto the cycle path and you have to cut back down a footpath to rejoin the trail – this slightly extends the official trail but is worth it to avoid the ruts created by the loggers!

Eventually the Woodpecker Trail joins the cycle path for a short while ready to cross the road and enter the next area of the forest.

The Popular Area

The Forestry Commission have undertaken a large amount of work over the years – improving the car park, building a cafe, developing the cycle and horse routes and making some of the paths accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs. All good stuff – however recently they received funding to build a treetop walk.

To me the treetop walk is a gimmick – it is in an unexciting part of the forest which lacks the charm found elsewhere. To reach the treetop walk, I think you are supposed to follow the short Elephant Trail (although it is not far off the other two trails), however as it isn’t well signposted, most visitors walk straight up a main track completely missing the chance to enjoy other areas of the forest, which is a real shame.

There is no doubt the treetop walk is popular, and on a nice weekend or a bank holiday, this part of the forest is absolutely heaving with people, but for every family looking for woodlice under stones, you have another family telling off their children for getting dirt on their white trainers. This popularity has also lead to something else I struggle to agree with – forest car park charges.

Each to their own I guess – irrespective of what you think about the treetop walk, the Woodpecker Trail joins the other trails and goes right through this popular area. On quiet days don’t forget to pop into the Forest Cafe for a cup of tea and a bite to eat!

This is my least favourite area of the forest and I am always grateful to leave the treetop walk behind me as the Woodpecker Trail heads into the northern area of the forest.

The Northern Area

To be honest I don’t really have much to say about this area of the forest. With a couple of exceptions, the Woodpecker Trail mainly follows either the horse route or the cycle route through this area. Although you are mainly following gravel paths through the forst, this area is nice enough – in some ways it reminded me of some of the forest areas on Cannock Chase.

There are couple of sections of the route where the trail leaves the gravel paths and heads down some rarely trod tracks – again the forest feels tranquil and quiet with the noice and hustle of the popular area a distant memory.

Finally the Woodpecker Trail rejoins the cycle and horse routes, crosses the road again and you end up back at the car park.

Conclusion

I can definately recommend the Woodpecker trail for anyone that wants to enjoy all the different parts of Salcey Forest. It is, despite being busy in the middle, a real nice forest walk. Definately bring walking boots, as it can get muddy, and you are walking on some of the quieter non-gravel paths in the forest. I would also recommend starting the walk in the free car park – you can then stop for lunch at the cafe halfway around!

I would to hear your views on Salcey Forest, especially on the treetop walk and the parking charges – so please leave your comments!

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This was a filler walk, so I won’t go into too much detail. The walk goes from Hartwell, via Salcey Forest and the tip of Long Street Hanslope to Grafton Regis – with a slight detour to make sure we didn’t get to the pub before opening!

After a lovely lunch at The White Hart, we followed the canal, up the locks, to Stoke Bruerne. After another pint, we visited the entrance to Blisworth tunnel (since when did it become a tourist attraction?) and then made our way, across the fields, back to Hartwell via Roade – ending in the Rose and Crown in Hartwell for a final pint!

Route Details

Click here to view the route on the OS Explorer website

Click here to view all the photos

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Route Summary

Click here to view the route on the OS Explorer website

Route Details

The walk starts in the Warwickshire village of Napton-on-the-Hill (map 1). The village circles a hill, but only the church and windmill are built on the summit. Although the hill is only about 500ft high (that’s quite big for this part of the country) there are some excellent views across the landscape as there isn’t any other high ground to the West and North. This site has some great photos of the view (much better than mine!).

Follow the road south from Napton-on-the-Hill towards Marston Doles. At the road junction after Chapel Green, take the footpath into fields (map 2). The footpath cuts across a field and then runs parallel to the road. Watch out for the inquisitive sheep who presumably thought we had food! Go past the disused remains of a canal spur and wharf (map 3), and go across the fields until you are walking parallel to the main canal. Enter the tiny hamlet of Marston Doles – turn left onto the road (Welsh Road) and then immediately take the right-hand track going south (map 4).

When you reach the house, keep following the track to the left. At the end of the track, enter the field (straight ahead – ignore the path to the right) (map 5) and follow the footpath into the wood – the footpath goes through the wood, and pops out again at the top of the field – keep heading south across the fields (there isn’t really an obvious path to follow – so just head in the general direction) until you reach Priors Hardwick (map 6). There is an amazing amount of historic data on wikipedia about Priors Hardwick – including gems like agricultural output in 1801! It would be interesting to see a comparison with present day!

Go through the village, past the Church, and head down Lower End, taking the footpath on the left (map 7). Cut through the first field, and turn right into the next field. At the end of the field join the bridleway, running between two rows of bushes, heading roughly east. At the end of the bridleway, cross the road, and join a footpath heading across the field (towards the barn) (map 8 ). At the barn, take the footpath across the field, heading south east (this isn’t well marked!). At this point (map 9), we stopped for a well earned rest!

Keep following along the edge of the field, and at the end turn left into the next field. The farmer around here obviously doesn’t approve of walkers (or even riders on the bridleway), as the gates between fields are securely tied – fortunately Angel was in a jumping mood and managed to jump over them all without having to be lifted over! Follow along the southern edge of this field, looking out for the point at a junction of paths (map 10), were you want to cross the stream and continue across the fields heading roughly south east. Cut through the small wood (map 11), and follow the path through the next few fields – fortunately the farmer who owns this land has clearly marked the paths so they are easy to follow. The path comes out onto a road (The Twistle according to Google Maps) – start following the road towards Byfield, taking the small path on the left into the village.

I always find it slightly annoying that, despite showing the accurate location of all kinds of stuff, OS maps seem to consistently fail to show the accurate location of pubs! In this case it took an extra 10 minutes of so to find The Cross Tree, located on the Banbury Road (A361) (map 12). Here we enjoyed a very pleasant pub lunch, and an excellent real ale (unfortunately I have forgotten the name, but I am sure Angus will remind me!) – the helpful staff very kindly cooked up a burger for the dogs for only a token charge!! (dogs are welcome in the bar, although we stayed outside as it was quite a nice day, and the sun was shining).

From the pub, follow the Banbury Road though the village. At the roundabout, take the first turn and look for a path between the walls (map 13). This path comes out into a field – turn right and follow the edge of the field. Near the farm buildings, turn right across the bridge, and then almost immediately turn left and follow the track. At the trees, bear to the left, and follow the edge of the tree line, eventually you cut through the strip of trees. Here we came across the amazing sight of a footpath sign in the process of being eaten by a tree – well it amused us!! At this point (map 14), we got slightly confused as to the correct route, looking at Google Maps satellite view post event, it looks like you bear to the right and walk along the field edge until you find the path across the field to the line of bushes running along the edge on the other side. You are ultimately aiming to walk along the ridge of the hill towards the mast.

After cutting through a smaller field, head across the large field aiming for a point slightly to the left of BT’s mast. Only when you get close do you realise the shear size of these huge and quite ugly masts. At the end of the field (map 15), cross the maintenance track, enter the field, and drop down towards the farm. At the end of the field, where the footpaths merge, turn right and head down the farms track. At this point we were “escorted” from the premises by two dogs – they followed us (at a safe distance) all the way down the track to make sure we were not planning to hang around their territory! Bear right onto the road (map 16), and immediately left onto a path through the next two fields. Cross the next road and head into Hellidon (map 17).

At this point I feel I should mention the watershed, as Angus will be very disappointed if I don’t. Hellidon is on an important watershed – three rivers start here, the Leam (which ends up in the Bristol Channel), the Cherwell (goes to the Thames Estuary) and the Nene (which goes to the Wash), so at a specific point you can pee into all three rivers at the same time (this was not attempted, despite the pint at lunchtime!).

[UPDATE] Angus has corrected me (well corrected Wikipedia – the source of these “useful” facts) – apparently the point at which the three watersheads meet is on Arbury Hill near Badby, which isn’t in the parish of Hellidon (which only has two watersheads, the Nene and the Avon). This map proves his case!

After a quick look at the Church – we headed out of the village along the track to the north west (map 18).

Keep following the track – it shortly becomes a byway (green lane). I was pleased to note that unlike other green lanes I have walked down recently, this one was in very good condition. After a lovely coffee break, we continued along the lane, and witnessed an amazing scene – a herd of deer were running across a field to our left, and then cut across the lane in front of us. Now I have only seen deer in parks, so to see wild deer out in the countryside was amazing (I only hope they haven’t escaped from nearby Shuckburgh Park!). Where the track turns to the left (map 19) – keep straight ahead. At this point things went a bit wrong, so don’t listen to me, but look at your map to get yourself to Park Farm (map 20)!

At Park Farm follow the farm track. Take the left hand turn and enter Shuckburgh Park. Head in the direction of the church (keep it your right as you go past) and head back out of the park and through the slight pass between the two hill tops. Here there is a huge beacon (map 21) – one can only fantasise about what the original beacon was used for! Head down the hill into Lower Shuckburgh (map 22). The church in Lower Shuckburgh, built in a Gothic style, is very peculiar, with the spire built in one corner, rather than at one end! Head past the church towards the canal – go over the bridge across the canal, and then squeeze through the end of the railings to get onto the tow-path.

Follow along the tow-path westwards – at this stage, to be honest, all we (and I think the dogs) could think about was the pub we are slowly heading towards. It finally appeared, our very own beacon, out of the gloom of the rain clouds. The pub is called The Bridge at Napton (map 23) – a very lovely traditional English pub. Dogs are allowed inside, so we quickly settled down with our pints – the dogs quickly collapsed, but not before helping with a packet of mini-cheddars. Eventually, despite wishing we could stay for a few more beers, we woke the dogs, and left the pub (just as the heavens opened!).

To return back to Napton-on-the-Hill, continue down the canal until you reach the first bridge. Go onto the road, turn left, and follow the road into Napton.

Overall this was a lovely walk – talking in some beautiful Warwickshire and Northamptonshire villages. Definitely recommended!

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Click here to view the route on the OS Explore website

Although mainly in Northamptonshire, this walk starts in the village of Lavendon (map 1). Start by following the small lane north towards Castle Farm. At the point where the lane forks (map 2) (with a footpath continuing straight ahead), take the right-hand track (marked as a by-way) – traffic will probably be light as the by-way quickly turns into a bridleway. Continue following the bridleway, along a wood, until it joins the Three Shires Way (map 3). Turn right, and follow the well marked path along the edge of Threeshire wood.

This area could be radically changed in the near future due to the proposed development of the Nun Wood Wind Farm – I can see why they have chosen this site as the wind was immense, however I am not sure what effect it will have on the area (not having been up close and personal with a wind turbine before!). I am sure it is some consolation to local people that walkers on the Three Shires Way have been taken into account in the plan for these huge structures:

The locations were amended to introduce variation in set back distances from the Three Shires Way further to advice from LDA Design – landscape architects. LDA advised that this would create a less regimented and more organic turbine arrangement when viewed from the right of way.

You can find a map of the proposed location of the turbines here, and there is lots of detail of the Bedford Borough Council website.

Keep following the Three Shires Way until you reach the trig point (map 4) (at the stunning height of 106m!). From the trig point take the footpath West across the fields towards Bozeat. Bozeat is a historic village, with the remains of a Saxon burial ground. The parish church dates back to 1130 and was probably built on the site of an earlier church. There was a great fire in 1729, which the church survived, apparently caused by Widow Keech, who, rumour has it, left her baking unattended in the hearth to gossip with her neighbours (ref). This website has more information on the architecture of the church, which to be honest I don’t understand much of!

From the church (map 5), take the footpath heading North (the footpath starts at the corner of the road junction). This section of the walk is not particularly well signposted. Follow the footpath along the field edge. At the next footpath junction, turn right and follow along the edge of the field until you reach a tarmacked track (map 6). It would appear that this track has largely replaced the old footpath, which is a shame as it follows along a stream and through a small wooded area – certainly with more character than tarmac! You can still see the remains of the original footpath in places!

Just before Poplars Farm (map 7), go over the stile and follow the footpath around the tennis court – avoiding what smells like a septic tank leak (which Angel walk straight through!). Cross another stile, and enjoy the view down the hill towards Wollaston. Follow the path down into Wollaston, entering via a small industrial estate. Wollaston is named after a Saxon lord called Wulfaf (derived from the Saxon for Wulfaf’s Town), there is also strong evidence of settlement and activity during the late Roman period – including the remains of a large Romano British vineyard (ref).

Make your way to the southern tip of the village, to join the footpath heading towards the cricket ground (map 8 ), I followed the footpath from near the industrial estate past the village allotments. At the cricket ground, keep to the right edge and go through the gate onto the very busy road. Cross carefully, but don’t take the gate immediately in front of you – instead follow the road to the left (there is a huge verge) for 100m to another gate – go through this gate, and follow the path up the slope to Strixton (apparently much of the village is owned by the queen!) (map 9).

From the village, follow the byway across the fields, and onto a track – which you can’t miss. I found this leg quite upsetting really – as you can see from the photo, the track has been pretty much destroyed by off road vehicles. Now my problem is that I own a land rover (a proper off road vehicle) – causing such damage on private land and off-road sites is one thing, but causing this damage on routes shared with other users is terrible and certainly doesn’t help people’s views of “off-roading”.

At the point where the byway heads off to the right (map 10), head straight on. A short distance from the byway, cross the stile on the right, and follow the enclosed footpath – this leg passes through a quarry (which is bizarrely not marked on the map!). As this a bank holiday, there wasn’t much going on, except a huge amount of rabbits!

After the quarry, the footpath cuts across several fields (no obvious marked path though). When the footpath meets a cross roads (map 11), continue in the same direction, heading roughly South West (towards Easton Maudit). You will shortly come across a derelict cottage, barn and out buildings – presumably an old farm. If I have a spare £100k, it would make an ideal barn conversion, with courtyard and outbuilding office space…. sadly I don’t! Continue following the track (my new drive?) up to the village.

Easton Maudit is a small, yet stunning, Northamptonshire village. There used to be a manor house near the church, but it was demolished. There is a bizarre tree, the remains of an oak, in the village green which presumably holds some importance, as it is now artificially supported by metal struts – however I can’t find any information as to the tree’s history.

From Easton Maudit’s church (map 12), follow the lane south. After a few hundred meters (at an amazing thatched cottage – I wish I had taken a picture of it!), turn left and join a bridleway. This bridleway is well marked (and churned up by horses), so it is easy to follow as it cuts across several fields and cuts through Horn Wood. When the path comes out of the wood, cut across the small field, enter the next field (map 13), and then bear left along the edge of the field. At the next large field, the path again isn’t marked, but just keep going in the same direction – roughly South. Keep an eye out for what must be the best (and actually quite scary) scarecrow!

You are aiming to hit the road opposite the water tower (topped with radio masks) (map 14). Cross the road and follow the footpath around the buildings, and then follow the footpath along the field edges. The footpath crosses the Three Shires Way (just imagine all those wind turbines), and eventually joins the top of the lane from Lavendon – follow the lane back into the village!

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