Day 2 - Uppingham - Seaton

With Marta. Walked on Wednesday 8 August 2012.  10 miles in warm dry weather, though the path near Eyebrook Reservoir was muddy. Lunch at Lyddington.



We set off from Uppingham, walking along the Stockerston Road out of the town and taking this footpath to the right.  It starts from a sort of lay-by on a bend in the road.

The sign's a bit hidden, but the map and instructions are clear here.

For the first time in quite a while we saw lots of tortoiseshell butterflies on the thistle flowers.

The path is clearly marked as it goes through the fields and along the ridge, past a building marked on the map as a meteorological station, and along to Kings Hill Lodge farm, where it turns left to join the Stockerston Road again.

Views towards Wardley Wood

At the road we turned left and after a hundred yards or so, opposite some houses, we turned right along a bridleway towards Stoke Dry Wood.  This goes up to the entrance to the wood, and continues just outside, so that we kept the wood edge on our right.

View of Eyebrook from corner of Stoke Wood

The path continues round the wood, with the occasional waymarker.  A footpath crossed our route  and led into the wood - ignore this one.   The track turns left, then in while right keeping to the high ground, eventually coming out by Manor Farm at the top of the hill in Stoke Dry.  Here we turned right and walked downhill to the church.

St Andrews church, Stoke Dry  with the window to the priest's room over the porch

Steps up to the parvise or priest's room -rumours about conspirators of the gunpowder plot using the room seem to be without foundation, and the story that a local witch was imprisoned and starved in here are also unconfirmed. 

Martyrdom of St Edmund. The painting shows men wearing feather headdresses shooting bows and arrows, and has been taken to support the theory that the Vikings discovered North America two centuries before Columbus.

For more discussion of this see this article.  
After the church we walked down the hill and took the footpath to the left just before the entrance to the woodland around Eyebrook reservoir.  The path hugs the fence, and was pretty muddy on this occasion.  

Snack break by the water

After the entrance gate to the Eyebrook area the path heads diagonally up hill through a field. There are great views of the water to the west from the gate in the opposite corner, and Stoke Dry can be seen in the distance to the north west.

Looking back towards Eye Brook Reservoir

Stoke Dry church behind us

The reservoir again

The route now takes us down to the A6003. We managed to miss a slight turn to the left at the top of this section, but our mistake soon became obvious.  At the road we turned right - the verge is fairly wide, and the road walk is only for a couple of hundred yards.  

The path turns left at the tarmac road to a gas pressure control station on the other side of the road.  A stile took us on to the path - mud again just here, and cows who did little more than lazily raise their heads and watch us. 

We followed the yellow-painted post waymarkers over stiles and fields.  There's a footbride into another field, which we crossed diagonally.  After whiles and stiles we headed fro the farm buildings, and followed the waymarks to reach the road and turned left into Lyddington.  Lovely lunch in the Old White Hart's garden before setting off on the final couple of miles.

Art in Lyddington

We crossed the village green and followed the track to a stile. The path goes along the left-hand hedge and leads to a gateway on the left. In this field are the traces of the fishponds which were once used by the bishop's palace (the Bede House).

The medieval fishponds of Lyddington

One of mine

The path goes through the gateway and into a narrow field. We walked along this and over another stile. Then we turned right and followed the path straight up the hill.  We continued to the end of field, then turned right and almost immediately left, walking with a ditch on the left and continuing until we reached the farm track by Grange farm. This leads up the hill and into Seaton, with glimpses of the Welland Valley viaduct to the right.




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