A Walk Not To Be Missed

Firstly, I would like to thank Rita for joining me on the recce for this walk. Her input has been invaluable.

The start of the walk is a layby just outside Elkington ///trapdoor.exactly.rating. I found it easier to turn around a little way up the road and then come back to the layby. It is rather uneven so please take care parking.

From the layby we walked towards Elkington and the first thing we noticed as we went over the canal bridge was that the towpaths either side were green. Unusual for this time of year but a good omen perhaps?!? We continued along Yelvertoft road until we came to the triangle in the road and turned right onto Manor Lane. This lane wiggles past some very nice buildings before turning into Winwick Bridle Road. At the Winwick end the name changes to Elkington Bridle Road.

This Bridle Road goes uphill for a few hundred yards. It is not particularly steep though and the views when you reach the top are well worth the climb. The track then dips down before rising less steeply again. Then, as they say, “it’s all downhill from here”!

The track continues downwards and joins with The Jurassic Way where we took a right and allowed the route to take us into Winwick (whether the second ‘w’ is pronounced or silent I do not know). The village of Winwick is described as “rural England at it’s best” and the community consists of a mere 40 people. We took time out to take a peek inside St. Michael & All Angels Church which, apparently, is generally open. Beware of the vicious dog living in the Old School House though – he’ll lick you to death!

We wandered alongside the brook on Church Lane admiring the snowdrops as we headed towards the manor-looking estate at the far end and spotted our exit through an old iron gate to the left of the brick wall. You will be pleased to know that we are now just under 2.5 miles into the walk and on the level. You may also be pleased to know that his footpath was hard underfoot and fairly mud-free. It led us onto an un-named road that took us past Winwick Grange, the home of Turn Two Classics – I wonder if I’ll get a free ride for the mention?!?

Just after the Grange the road meets the canal. Here again the towpath looked a lot more green than brown. We had to cross the bridge to get onto the canal and so turned right on the towpath and went all the way along it past Yelvertoft Marina to Bridge 17. We left the canal here and had our lunch as we were a little hungry by now.

The track from the bridge runs from Crick to Yelvertoft and at this point is called the Crick Bridleway. We were headed away from Crick and so followed the track into Yelvertoft. The path out of Yelvertoft is almost opposite where we came out onto Main Street but, The Knightly Arms, our pub stop on this walk, was a little way up the street.

So, after the pub it’s back down Main Street and take a left into the cul-de-sac immediately after the white house on the left. This is Ward’s Lane and after a while it peters out onto a grassy track. The footpath heads across a few fields and there are some stiles along the way but they are not too cumbersome to contend with – apart from one perhaps. The views along this section of the walk compare favourably with those from the top of the walk. This footpath terminates at a stile that takes you back to the layby where the cars are parked.