Great Cransley & Thorpe Malsor Walk

 

A short mid week walk with the promise of a pint at the end! How good does that sound? An incentive if ever I should need one.

Starting point was outside the Three Cranes Public House in Great Cransley near to Kettering. The walk itself would be following the route outlined on the Northamptonshire Walks webpage(Number 40) . It states the distance as being 4.5 miles , however I suspect we will do more than that with the odd detour. 

Weather is ideal for walking dry, slightly overcast ahead of what is forecast to be a tropical heatwave over the next few days.

Without further ado we are off, just like that as Tommy Cooper famously once said. We soon pick up the bridleway and we stick to it like something or other to a blanket, I don't know who coined that phrase?

Just keep heading straight  and we won't go far wrong. Several fields later we exit not stage left but under a disused Railway Bridge. 

 

 

We are now heading towards the busy A14, it always gets referred to as 'busy' whenever you see it mentioned in a route. A few very disinterested sheep are loitering around.

This is here it all get a bit confusing. One field looks very much like another. It becomes apparent that we have gone too far after climbing two fiver bar gates that are not mentioned in the route... 

Thankfully after a bit of backtracking and then spotting a young dog walker who seemed to know where she was going we are back on track.!

The stile in the corner of the field is virtually non existent. We are now parallel to the 'busy' A14. Just a couple more stiles now and we can veer away towards the village of Thorpe Malsor.  I can't resist a little wander under the 'busy' A14 where a little stream winds it's way through unconcerned.

Under the busy A14

 

We follow the stream to the left through a really lovely meadow, such a contrast from the noise previously. A brave Old Oak tree stands impassive. 'Been here way before all this was here Son' I can almost hear it saying. In the next field is a very friendly sheep. I give it some of my apple which it seems to appreciate. So much in fact that it follows all the way to the field exit. 

                   

We take the road towards Thorpe Malsor after saying farewell to the sheep. On the left hand side after about a quarter of a mile there is a footpath right through the field to the village.    

The impressive looking gate to Thorpe Malsor Hall is straight ahead. a large Jacobean house. A Renaissance style that followed the Elizabethan period. Unfortunately you can't see the house from here. The two large Eagles on the gateposts are very impressive though. Not surprising that this is called 'Eagle Lane'. 

As you walk through the village towards All Saints Church there is a large stone seat.

 There is some sort of Greek inscription on it. It  reads tw theo proskunason, which means "bow before God" or "worship God".      Beneath that there is a Latin abbreviation which reads "ann:dmi" which is short for anno domini which means "in the year of our Lord", in other words, "AD".  

The footpath is right next to the church and leads back into the countryside. 

Keeping to the right of the hedge line we are heading towards the 'Jewell in the Crown' of today's walk 'Cransley Reservoir'. 

Known locally as Three Chimneys is a lowland lake is situated in Cransley, near Kettering, Northamptonshire. It is also the place where I did my Paddle Boarding (Sup) last Summer. 

constructed in the 1880’s to provide water for Kettering and Cransley furnaces.  It has been providing clean water for Kettering and Desborough for over 125 years. The reservoir is now privately owned and used by Cransley Sailing Club and covers approximately 75 acres.

In  2019 the Reservoir and Filter House went on sale for 1.7 million pounds.  

 

 

 

 

 Not much human life on the water today though. Just one Angler trying to land a prize catch. You can only walk around a small part of the Reservoir which is a shame really. The visit is all too brief as we make our way uphill through the fields to the road. We are now going back towards Great Cransley and that much anticipate pint of Beer. 

One last footpath sign to find on the left of the road. The last field is a bit of a mess with paths running all over the place. 

It is easy to spot the gate in the distance though and we are soon emerging just a little bit further up from the pub where we started from. 

A very enjoyable shortish walk at around 5 miles. The pint afterwards wasn't bad either.The  Kelchner Brewery based in Ampthill, Beds took on the lease of the pub in May of this year. I had the IPA at 4.5% which went down very well!