Ravensthorpe & Guilsborough Walk

It's a brave, some might say foolhardy walk today with warnings in place as 'Storm Arwen' is due to bring severe disruption. High winds and snow showers are forecast. There is a coating of snow and frost on the surrounding fields and it is a fairly bleak picture if truth be told.

I had seen a footpath sign on a previous bike ride through Ravensthorpe and thought it looked quite interesting. From there I was able to plot a route taking us up to Guilsborough and back via the reservoir.

Starting point was the interestingly named Church of  'St Denys'. The current church building is believed to be around 800 years old, and is constructed largely from local Northamptonshire brown ironstone.

 Inside there is a great chest, which stands in the place which was originally the altar of the lady chapel. The age and origin is uncertain, but it is thought to be 4-500 years old, and is estimated to weigh ¾ of a ton.

I couldn't resist trying to lift the lid to see what treasure was hidden within? Sadly all I could see were a few Christmas baubles , nearly losing a few fingers into the bargain as I struggled to keep the lid from slamming .. Time to move on. 

 

The pictures don't really capture just how grim and awful the weather is. The footpath as if often the case seems to stop and go nowhere. You will see on the map a perfect square on the left where a whole field was navigated. 

Eventually we got back on track after some respite in an 'Old empty barn'. No sign of any Owl pellets though which you sometimes find in these sort of places. 

We are heading roughly in the direction of Guilsborough.

It looks as though our route has been 'scuppered' ...The landowner has deliberately blocked off the footpath in the direction we needed.

Looking closely at the map this path isn't actually showing anyway. Continuing to our left the fields open up and the track becomes obvious. 

The sleet is absolutely horrendous, thankfully it is at our backs so protected a bit. The map is getting drenched too so good to have a straightforward path to follow for a while. 

It might be blowing a gale and freezing cold but I would still rather be outside enjoying, or perhaps enduring the elements. Nothing quite like the feeling of satisfaction of completing a route and bringing to life what is on the map. 

Leaving the fields we walk slightly up hill to the Church of Ethelreda. The Domesday Book does record a church in Guilsborough but it is not possible to give the date of the first church. The church was originally dedicated to St. Wilfrid, but became St. Etheldreda's during the 14th century.In the graveyard opposite there are a couple of commonwealth war graves. 

We take the long and winding Teeton Road that eventually takes us to Ravensthorpe Reservoir. 

It's a nice reservoir to walk around and takes about 45 minutes. Very muddy in places where the water comes off the fields. The 'waves' are particularly choppy today.

Popular with anglers, trout and predator fishing, not surprisingly there are no boats out on the water today. 

The circuit of the reservoir completed and it is time to walk back up the hill to Ravensthorpe. We pass the point where we picked up the initial footpath. 

We take a slightly different route around the village to get back to the church, our starting point.

Even taking into account getting slightly off course the route comes in at a shade under 8 miles. Very enjoyable but looking forward to getting out of the waterproofs!