Rotary Walk from The White Hart, Great Houghton

Rotary Walk

THURSDAY 19 JANUARY 2017

From “The White Hart”, 39 High St Great Houghton

NN4 7AF

Phone: 01604 762940

We will be walk from the White Hart in Great Houghton along the old railway line to Brackmills Country Park and Lakes.  At about 2.5 miles it’s a shortish walk with NO stiles, although there are some gradual but long hills.  Half the walk is on good paths, but the rest is on grass and through woodland and in January the weather could be wet, freezing or snowy. This could make one or two sections a little muddy, depending on the temperature.  I would therefore recommend stout, waterproof boots.

The car park is past the pub as you go up hill, in Little Lane.  10.30 for a 10.45 start

As we have missed the last two walks, including the usual tipple-fueled Christmas one, there may just be something along those lines this time to make up for it.

John Evitt

Rotary Walk from the White Hart, Great Houghton

Thursday morning dawned bright but cold and a little misty as our merry band assembled in the White Hart car park. This was to be our first outing since October and attracted 15 hardy souls and three canine members; a surprisingly good turnout considering the time of year, although the fact that it was only 2 miles and the promise of a belated Christmas tipple pit-stop may have swayed one or two.

Having paired up to make the most of the two mains for £12 offer and listened intently to the elf and safety briefing we set off for the hitherto unheard of Brackmills Country park. The first part of the walk involved negotiating some slippery steps, which we had been warned of in the earlier briefing, leading down to the old railway line. We soon came across a strange looking cast monolith bearing the number 6 and informing us that our current direction of travel would take us to Northampton in 3miles or we could about turn and be in Milton Keynes in 21miles. It also bore a strange crest of hieroglyphics, possibly Egyptian or masonic, a close up photo was taken for further analysis.  

We eventually arrived at the entrance to the park and after a short discussion it was decided to take the circular walk in an anticlockwise direction. It soon became apparent that this was a popular spot for dog walkers as we met a group of ladies with several unruly mutts, with the most unlikely canine names, causing mayhem with our three well behaved Rotarian thoroughbreds. Fortunately our party escaped without injury only to find ourselves in a rematch as we met them again on the way back.

The high point of the walk both metaphorically and vertically was the stop for a tipple of sloe gin and shortbreads while we admired the view of a very misty Northampton skyline. The tradition of a group photo on a bridge was impossible due to the lack of any bridges, so we had to make do with the slippery steps, made all the more exciting by the aforementioned gin. With appetites sharpened we settled down to our previously ordered lunches, which allowed Margaret Jones to hand on the walker of the month trophy, which she has been dusting for the past 3 months, to our walkmeister John Evitt for providing the lubrication and an interesting walk.

David Allitt.