Ancestor Walk
Leader: Deborah Martin
The map shows a two possible routes for Deb’s walk. We meet at Fleckney village car park (///loses.always.huts) as usual at 9:30 am. Both walks start from the same place (///breaches.closed.icicles) near the St. Andrew’s Church and The Black Horse in Foxton where there is a small parking area. There is roughly half a mile between the two walks although time-wise there is little difference, proably less than 15 minutes. The short walk is a smidgen under 7 miles and the longer one a smidgen under 7.5 miles.
Both walks head down Main Street and then bear left onto Gallow Field Road. At the junction at the top of the road is a gate directly opposite leading to the first footpath of the day. This footpath wiggles it’s way towards and then past HMP Gartree, over Mill Hill and into Lubenham. There are a lot of red flags indicating stiles on this section of the route but I don’t recall there being that many.
The path takes us past a playground and exits onto The Green. We turn left here and take the right fork of The Green and head towards the main road through the village. This is the A4304 and is labelled Main Street. Almost directly opposite is Rushes Lane and this is where the walk continues. At the bottom of Rushes Lane is an old railway bridge and here the road changes it’s name to Farndon Road. To the right is a large green field with a gateway to the next footpath. On previous walks we have seen a variety of wildlife in this area so keep your eyes open.
When the path reaches a track we turn right onto in and then left off it to continue on our way. Once we are all safely past the stream we come out onto Marston Road and head left. Marston Road is narrow with only grass verges so please take care along here. There is usually very little traffic … but you never know!
As we enter Marston Trussell we pass St. Nicholas Church where some of Deborah’s ancestors are buried. The road has changed it’s name to Lubenham Road along the way but is now Main Street. A little way along Main Street on the right is a red telephone box at a junction. Like many others around the country, the phone box is now a “library”. This is where a decision has to made.
The shorter walk heads right onto the road past the phone box and through a couple of fields. There are stiles along this route but I’ve not yet documented them. The path comes out onto the A4304 by Bramfield Caravan Park. We carefully cross the road and walk past the caravan site, through Papillon Hall Farm, and onto a footpath to begin the long, slow climb to Laughton Road where we join the canal. This the point at which the two walks rejoin each other.
The longer walk goes all the way through Marston Trussell onto Theddington Road and past the magnificent Hall. Along the way is a junction on the right with a blue sign warning that the “road” is unsuitable for motor vehicles. This section of the walk is a permissive route and has no stiles. It is named Scoborough Road and is also a long, slow climb upwards. Firstly to Bunkers Hill Road and continuing up to Bridge 56, Morton’s Bridge, where we get onto the canal towpath. The next bridge is number 57, Lubbenham Wharf Bridge, and this is the point where the two walks meet.
The walk along the canal is pleasant and (usually) peaceful with a variety of bird life. Bridges 58 and 59 are approached and left behind fairly quickly but it takes a while to get to Gumley Road Bridge (60). After that is the downhill section past all the locks and to the infamous Bridge 61, the pub stop. There is usually a choice of ales here or the option of tea or coffee – and their bacon butties aren’t bad either!
After refreshment, the walk heads back up to and over the bridge to the left past the Foxton Locks Inn. No stiles along this short section, just a couple of gates. We head past the car park onto the old road that was just a track when Benjamin Bevan started the design work for the 10 locks in 1810. The track exits onto – you guessed it – Main Street! A left turn and a short walk downhill and we’re back at the cars.
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.
If you fancy leading a walk, there are plenty of ideas for walks here.
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.
You can find The Fleckney Walking Club Group on Facebook. This is a private group but you are welcome to apply to join us.
If you would like to join this walk then please fill out the form below and press the Submit button.
(If you are reading this message in an email, please click on the RSVP Now! button directly below to take you to the form.)
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