Rutland Round Section 1a - Oakham to Prior's Coppice

Because I joined the group 'doing the round' late, I'd already done sections 2 & 3. So with my ever patient walking partner, we started at Oakham to do the first part of section 1.

Because of the lock-down and not car sharing we have to do each section in  two parts.

So this was a planned 14 mile round walk out from Oakham, the first 7 miles on the Rutland Round then a different route back to Oakham

 It started fine, although I had a nag of something happening in my right foot.

Egleton was lovely.

 The fast London line that still has a walk over crossing (no signs or clues about when the trains might be coming through) in this day an age, given the speed the trains run, it's madness but there we go, bridges cost money.

 Up a steep incline to get a view of Rutland water behind us.

 And on toward Brooke.

 The Macmillan way and the Rutland Round share this path.

 The Lime (or Linden) trees smelt incredible, so strong

 Brooke is a little village but very select and well kept.

  There's no affordable housing going to be built here anytime soon!

 The land around holds its medieval past in plain sight.

 And the footpaths are maintained as well as the houses around here!

 And so to Braunston-in-Rutland - never forget the 'in-Rutland' part, it adds a million onto the house price!

 And out past Prior's Coppice - a last remaining part of the medieval Royal Forest

 By this point the nag in my foot had become an unbearable pain and we stopped for lunch and painkillers but it was clear I could not walk another 7 miles.

Forever patient walking partner picked off a much shorter route back to Oakham, a fair amount of it on road.

 So we turned around and headed back towards Braunston(in-Rutland!)

But it was becoming a pain that was bringing tears to my eyes and a pathetic hobble

A problem of being out in the fields is no one else can walk you out of there.

Finally we finished through Brooke Hill Wood and the Leighfield Way.

A round walk of 10 miles.





Ice on the foot and a wonder about what on earth this injury is and is it going to prevent me finishing this Round anytime soon.

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Rutland Round Section 3b - Ketton to Empingham

 Picking up at Ketton which was our half way point on the last walk  we headed out for the last part of the 3rd section of the Rutland Round.

 Many of the main routes mix, some parts of the Rutland Round are also the Macmillan Way and the Hereward Way.

 This route heads out through Ketton Quarry towards Rutland Water.

There were plenty of red kites up in the sky.  There have been even more of them around this year, they really are breeding well around this area.

Rutland Water was very busy at Normanton. The car park was close to full, I assume it was ok as long as everyone was staying alert (which is all we need to be now)

To be honest on some of those paths the full 2m social distance is not going to happen but it was very blowy - you'd have to be unlucky to 'share air'

 I pushed my luck a bit further with an ice-cream.

So I guess I'm on a 14 day health watch again.

 The sailing club was running, the small boats were out and we watched some 'sailors' trying to right an up-tipped catamarang for a while.

 We left the crowds on the dam and headed off towards Empingham village.

 With a meadowy stop along the way for lunch.

 Empingham is another village straight out of the Cotswolds that the tourists have never discovered.

 I assume the locals like it that way.

 Lots of the houses had this on them

 Having got to Empingham, we circled back towards Ketton.

We thought this would be an interesting paddle.

 Until we saw the bridge a bit further down.

 The last few miles were on the same path we came out on.

 Back through the quarry

But at the end we found some stepping stones to finally have a go at crossing a stream!


It was a lovely 12 miles in perfect weather.

And with that Section 3 was complete.

Of course each section is having to be done in two parts as a circular or an out and back because at the moment we cannot share cars.

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Rutland Round Section 3a - Barrowden to Ketton

We started the Rutland Round on Section 2  in March and were immediately scuppered by Covid-19 lockdown.

So it was with trepidation that we ventured out again in June as the rules started to relax.

Not wanting to car-share obviously 4 of us drove independently to Barrowden and walked at a socially distanced pace.

Because we couldn't leave cars to share at either end of the section we walked half a section and turned around and walked back to our cars.

It was wet which kept away the crowds and we pretty much had this part of Rutland to ourselves.

 We skirted Wakerley

 The cygnets were quite big and there was also seeded rape seed in some fields which shows how long I'd been inside, I never saw a single yellow field this year!

 We went along a dismantled railway line for a while.

 Into Geeston

 Over the main railway line

And onto Ketton

Lunch sat socially distanced on the church wall watching the local publican delivering Sunday lunch time takeaway flagons of beer to local residents.

And then back we went the way we came.

 But took the time this time to have a wander around Tixover Church grounds.

 The village is no longer near the church but it seems to be well used all the same and I would like to go back to look around inside.




















So we did a 14 mile walk to cover 7 miles of the Rutland Round but it is a truly lovely part of the country even on a wet day.  It's like someone placed Cotswolds villages in the area and forgot to tell the tourists!

It was good to be 'back on it'

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Blockey

The March hill walk (which turned out to be the last for sometimes as they have since been cancelled) started in Blockey.  I was pleased to have my walking friend back from a long stay away in foreign climes so whilst the Cotswolds hides its hills fairly well and is not my favourite walking place, it was a chance to have a good catch up.

 On the Monarch Way to Broad Campden and then Chipping Campden

There was a lot of lying water around,

 But Spring was in the air and everything was starting to feel a little greener.

 There is plenty of interesting architecture in the villages.

 All with the Little Lord Fauntleroy air that brings in the American tourist thick and fast.

 The grade 2 listed  Quaker
meeting house in Broad Campden with 'friends of the' looking out as we walked past.

One of the problems of walking in large groups is you can't just stop as you feel like it as you would alone, I would have stopped here to have a chat and find out more.

 Lady Juliana's Gateway outside Chipping Campden

 And on towards Broadway

 Through quite a lot of mud!

 On the Cotswold way

 Broadway Tower stood proud in the distance

 It's an 18th century folly (Things built by people with too much time and money on their hands!)

We didn't go in obviously but actually it looks like it is worth a visit and there is a nuclear bunker there too.

 Great views over the Malverns.

 We carried on through privileged living lanes

 And lovely woods.

 "truffula trees"

 With good signage

and followed the rainbow back to Blockey.

14.5 miles, 1700ft

An easy day out and good company.

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