Day 7 - Whissendine to Braunston

With Marta. Started grey and drizzly, but after Langham (11 am) it cleared up for the rest of the day. Still some mud underfoot, views good. 11.7 miles approx. A few hilly bits.

We set off from Whissendine around 9 30, and walked up past the church,  turning right on to Foxhills, and following the road round as far as Number 21.  The footpath runs alongside this house to a field, where we turned left.  There's a gateway on to the the road, but the path turns right and follows the hedge for a short distance before joining the road at a stile. We turned right along the road as far as a left hand bend.  At this point we continued straight ahead, on a bridleway leading to Langham.

By now we were both wearing waterproofs as the drizzle persisted. The hedge was on our left for a while, but at the summit of the track it changed to being on our right.  The views here are said to be excellent, but the mizzle made them a little hazy today.  We used John Williams' book and the OS map and found the path without problem. At one or two points along the way the waymarks have faded or become overgrown.

There is a junction of bridleways at the end of the field, and here we turned right, with the hedge on our left.  In the next field the path goes over a stile after a gap in the hedge on the lef. We followed the path alongside a deep ditch on our left.  We crossed a plank bridge and then turned right when a hedge blocked the way, turning left over a briidge in a short while cutting off the corner of a field before following the hedge and waymarkers to reach Manor Lane in Langham, via a stile.

We turned right then left into Orchard Road, then at the end of Orchard Road, right then left into Bridge Street.  Just after the bridge we turned right before the Noel Arms. 

5 stars for the welcome coffee!

Well, to be truthful we were delighted to be able to buy an early coffee in the pub - the landlord took pity on our drowned rat appearance.

The rain gods smiled on us and by the time we left twenty minutes later the rain had stopped. 

At the end of Church Street we crossed the main road, turned right for a short distance before taking the bridleway towards Braunston, which leads off to the left.  The path climbs up hill following the left hand hedge and turning right to walk around the small wood near  Mill Hill.

At the end of the wood we turned slightly right and continued up to Manor Lane, a small road which leads into Barleythorpe.

Rutland Water in the distance

We walked down into Barleythorpe, and to the road, then turned right, along a pavement until a stile led into a playing field on our right. After this we walked along the edge of Catmose College, and through Rutland Care Village, before coming out close to the level crossing near Oakham Station.

We had our lunch stop at the Castle Café in Oakham - a very good broccoli and stilton soup.  It was still a little cool and damp for sitting out.

Outside the Castle Café, Oakham

We left Oakham on the road towards Uppingham and Kettering.

Floral peacock

Swooning Bridge, from where you could see the gallows at the top of the hill.

Shortly after the bridge our path turned off to the left towards Egleton, crossing muddy fields which could have been a lot worse!  Of course, since the 2000 edition of the booklet, and the publication of my OS map, the bypass has been built.  It's on the newer maps, and doesn't complicate the route.

Through Egleton, we turned right along the road to the A 6003.  We crossed over the road and then the railway line to a path which leads up hill with a hedge on the left.

 At the second gateway we cut across the field slightly, joining a track past Brooke Covert East.  Soon after this the track bears right, but we took the route through a gate to the left.  The path goes downhill over a small bridge and past Bridge Farm into Brooke. 

Brooke Church

We walked through Brooke, turning right at the junction.  We passed some earthworks on our right, and a dovecote in the grounds of Brooke Priory - a house on the site of a 12th century priory.

Earthworks at Brooke

The dovecote

We took a footpath in the field opposite the priory, and walked alongside the stream, the Gwash.   After a few hundred yards the path crosses a footbridge to a bridleway.  We went across the bridleway through a gateway and over a field diagonally to the left hand hedge. The path is clearly marked into Braunston. 

The last few steps of the Rutland Round

with a little more decorum

and a feeling of achievement.

And here is Braunston Church again 

65 miles of very enjoyable walking, done on seven separate days.  

Map and details

Day 1 - Braunston-in-Rutland to Uppingham

Walked on Wednesday 1 August 2012, with Marta.  8.5 miles. Dry, warm - cloudy. Muddy in the woods. Quite hilly.

The CPRE's book on the Rutland Round is easy to follow, though we made sure we had a map as well.

We started from Braunston church, with its large clock and the sheela-na-gig.

We walked along Wood Lane opposite the church and followed the road out of the village.  At a left hand bend in the road, our path carried on into a lane.  Just past the farm buildings the footpath turns to the left crossing straight over the field and down to the hedge.  It crosses a small stream, then goes across another field to the corner of Prior's Coppice.  It follows the western edge of the coppice, going south.  As we reached the road at the south western end of the wood, we looked back to a stretch of water.

Looking back from the end of Prior's Coppice

We crossed the track and went south along the left of the hedge.  At the field boundary there are a few trees, then the path goes diagonally downhill towards Leigh Lodge. 

Marta. The way marks point to the way we have come.

We walked past the magnificent Leigh Lodge, keeping it on our right, as we followed the tarmac track downhill to the right.

An orchard of fruit trees in training - look at the wall at the back

The track climbs uphill for about a mile until it meets a stony track by some farm buildings. Here we turned left, and in about 50 yards turned right down a rough bridleway. This was quite uneven and muddy,  but eventually turned into a tarmac road leading into Belton-in-Rutland.  We had to climb a short section before arriving in the village.

The bridleway 

Belton church.

 We came out of Belton, past the village green with its lime tree, and took the footpath soon afterwards. This goes to the left, through a gate, then right through another one immediately after it.  it crosses the field to the far right hand corner, where there is a stile.  
Then you walk along by the hedge on your left, and cross the stream by a small  bridge. Walk parallel to the hedge on the right to the next stile.  Keep the hedge on your right when you cross the bridleway.  There is a short step downhill section, and a bridge, then the path goes up to a stile. Through the hedge you join the old A47, the Leicester Road.  Turn left then right to walk to the present road. Cross with care - there is a traffic island in the middle of the road opposite the bus stop. Across the A47 is the road into Wardley, a small village with a tiny church and a few houses.

Wardley church

At the bend in the road near the church we turned right along a track which goes behind a big house, then south through the hedge, turns left (west for a short distance before heading south east towards Wardley Wood. The path turns right, left, right left (marked and clear) before entering the wood at its south western point.  From there the path goes uphill through the wood - very muddy at the moment, but it would be a great place to walk on a hot sunny day, with plenty of shade.  We carried on in this direction, following way marks through the main wood and between two smaller sections of trees until the path crosses a couple of fields and a stream.  The way marks are not always obvious, but the path climbs up hill to the old Leicester Road,  slightly south of its junction with the A47.  From here it's about a mile along this road into Uppingham.  We had a jacket potato lunch at the Crown pub.



Map and details