Northampton Arm of The Grand Union Canal Walk

Keeping it local once again today. The temperature is a balmy 15 degrees, tropical compared to how it was last week!
We park up in the Hunsbury area and cut through onto the canal, we are walking in a clockwise direction towards Gayton Marina. In the Summer of 2020 I did a canal boat trip from Gayton to Beckett's Park in the town centre of Northampton.This took in the seventeen locks on the 'Rothersthorpe Arm' of the Grand Union. There is a separate blog entry giving all the details if anyone is interested? 

Quite a few walkers out and about, lured by the good weather no doubt. What isn't so nice to see though is on the other side of the canal . The amount of rubbish dumped is horrendous. Lots of black bags, rubble, garden waste and a mixture of all sorts of other stuff. Apparently the field was occupied by travelers for some time and this is how the often tend to repay the landowner. The clean-up operation is going to be at least £10,000 I would imagine as specialists would be needed. I just think it is extremely sad that people can have such little respect for their surroundings.   

The Northampton Arm was opened in 1815 and links The Grand Union Canal at Gayton Junction - via the River Nene to Peterborough and The Wash.The River Nene is fully navigable and at Peterborough the river becomes tidal.

Lots of early Spring flowers starting to show, wild Crocus, Aconites and lots of Snowdrops too. We head up towards Gayton Marina where due the Covid outbreak there are many boats moored up. 

We leave the Grand Union temporarily at Gayton Marina and cross over the bridge. Underneath the bridge there is a group of men 'magnet fishing'. It seems to be more about treasure hunting rather than any environmental aims. A bit like metal detecting but underwater I suppose? The magnets used are powerful enough to recover old bikes, guns, safes, bombs and grenades. The aim being to find rare and historical items dumped into the water. It is thought magnet fishing was initially started by boaters using magnets to recover fallen keys from the water.Sadly, unwanted items seem to be discarded canal side.....

We pick up the footpath that goes across fields towards the village of Rothersthorpe. 

There is a lovely old derelict barn which is easily accessible. I always enjoy checking out these old buildings in case there is a Barn Owl perched up in the roof timbers. On this occasion there were a few birds , unfortunately just startled Pigeons who were flying around like crazy.   

It was a good area for bird spotting as a Great Spotted Woodpecker came past and settled on a nearby tree. This was then followed by a Green Woodpecker who decided he wasn't going to stop. 

Leaving Rothersthorpe we head towards Swan Valley, crossing back over the M1.Once again picking up the Grand Union canal footpath. We pass through the new development of Upton Fields arriving by Sixfields stadium or PTS as it is now known

At Duston Mill we start to circle back on ourselves, still following the canal back to where we started from. The canal tunnels seem to lend themselves to graffiti, some better than others. No doubt some is very colourful and cheery, whereby some is just tagging. I think if done well it can certainly provide interest and brighten up a dreary dark tunnel. I've seen several of these chicken images on my travels over the years. They are known as 'BintyBints' I believe and produced by a local lady. I suppose the problem is if you allow it for one, then it gives license to others to do their thing.

We make our way back to the starting point having completed about 8.3 miles. 

This walk has gone very quickly and there is still a lot of daylight left. It has been so much easier walking on a flat firm surface, compared to all the rain sodden muddy fields of late.  

Perhaps Spring is indeed on the way?