We set of from Braunston just before 1100h with another overcast sky keeping the temperature down. From the Admiral Nelson, the route follows the Grand Union canal to the bottom lock, where it crosses it and up into the village.
There was plenty of activity on the locks this morning, seemingly the holiday season for narrow boats is in full swing.
The way leaves Braunston along a bridle path and across fields to the little picturesque village of Ashby St. Ledger.
The path leads past the church following a cattle farm track. Either side there are electric fences. We lost sight of the markers and too busy chatting forgetting to check the map, resulting in us unknowingly deviating from the route.
As I carefully unhooked an electric wired gate, the farmer came over and kindly pointed us in the right direction.
Back on the path, we went under the railway line and over the A5 briefly rejoining the Grand Union canal. Spying a picnic bench, we stopped for our lunches.
From here you follow a quick succession of locks before cutting across a field and under the M1 motorway.
Eventually you pass through the little village of Watford, over more fields, under another railway line and through a freshly harvested field with towering wind turbines whirring overhead.
The route then follows a corn field (we have now passed through all the common crop fields on this journey) and up into West Haddon, our halfway point of the day.
We stopped at the ‘Pytchley Inn’ for a cold drink giving our legs a little rest. I checked over the map to see we would be shortly ascending the first, fairly steep hill of the day, ‘Honey Hill’.
There is an alternative route that bypasses it, so I gave Hannah the option, but she thought it would be cheating. We downed our drinks and continued on.
The route from West Haddon crosses fields behind the church into the little hamlet of Winwick. As we left, we caught our first glimpse of Honey Hill, which looked daunting to Hannah, prompting the response “are those, those f@£#ing hills?!” (This had me giggling)
As we got closer and began climbing, taking it one step at a time, we found it really wasn’t that bad. Before we knew it, we were on top. Here there is a stone with a plaque commemorating the opening of Honey Hill on the Jurassic Way.
Descending the hill was causing Hannah’s knees to bother her. It was now I taught her the technique of using walking poles. She soon got the hang of the coordination, easing her discomfort.
We descended into Elkington rejoining the Grand Union canal once again. The route follows this for a couple of kilometres before the last hill of the day, ‘Hamplow Hill’
This hill is wooded which thankfully gave shade from the sun as we ascended. Hannah’s energy was running low now, we had already done the distance covered in our last stage; this now is the furtherest she has walked in one session!
Once over the top, we passed through a field of sheep, with one brave enough to approach us to have its head scratched! The route then joins a single track road for 2km into Welford, our stage end.
Much to Hannah’s delight we reached the car and popped to the ‘Wharf Inn’ for a much needed and well deserved pint; After all we did cover over 30km!
It will now be a few weeks before we can tackle the next stage (I think Hannah would be thankful). Likely September will be the next date, due to holidays and myself walking the Camino Portuguese.
Stu's Camino 