A Walk NOT To Be Missed!
Leader: Phil Williams
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. It may be 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 walk towards Elkington and the first thing to notice as we go over the canal bridge is that the towpaths either side are green. We continue along Yelvertoft Road until we come to the triangle in the road and turn 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 take a right and allow 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 can take time out to have 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 now wander alongside the brook on Church Lane and head towards the manor-looking estate at the far end. Our exit is a little hard to spot initially and leads 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 this footpath was hard underfoot and fairly mud-free when we tested the walk. It leads us onto an un-named road that takes 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 when we recce’d it. We have to cross the bridge to get onto the canal and then turn right on the towpath and head all the way along it past Yelvertoft Marina to Bridge 17. We leave the canal here at a nice location to have our lunch as we watch the activities on the canal.
The track from the bridge runs from Crick to Yelvertoft and at this point is called the Crick Bridleway. We are headed away from Crick and so follow the track into Yelvertoft. The path out of Yelvertoft is almost opposite where we come 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 us back to the layby where the cars are parked.
General information:
The Fleckney Walking Club meet every other Sunday for a walk of about 7 to 9 miles with a pub stop somewhere along the route.
We leave the village car park at 9:30 a.m. (///loses.always.huts).
For these walks you are advised to wear good quality walking boots and carry weatherproof clothing.
We suggest you also bring refreshments as a coffee stop is also usually on the cards.
For those who are car-sharing to walks outside of Fleckney, passengers are requested to subsidise their driver by the amount of 20p per mile (one way). For example, if the start of the walk was 10 miles from Fleckney the fee would be 10 x 20p = £2.
During the summer months we also have Thursday evening walks of about 4 to 5 miles in length.
These generally start and end at a pub!
We meet at the village car park, by 7 p.m. (///loses.always.huts).
In the event of a walk being cancelled due to inclement weather (or any other reason) the walk leader will communicate the cancellation by email in the first instance and also be at the start meeting point to advise any members who miss the email.
The annual cost to join the Fleckney Walking Club is £10 (Sundays and Thursdays) or £5 (Thursdays only) payable on your first walk.
If you would like to join this walk then please fill out the form below and press the Submit button.