The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 5.25 miles (8.5 km)
Time to walk: Roughly 2.5 hours but, as it’s flat you could walk a lot quicker, or visit one of the many pubs en-route & take longer!
Difficulty: Along canal paths & across fields
Parking: On the road outside The Wharf
Public toilets: Pub at the start, middle & end
Map of the route:
This is another of those walks which really shows off what our beautiful county has to offer – the stunning countryside & our canal network
There isn’t much more to be said so why don’t we just go & explore…
Let’s Walk!
1. The Wharf at Bugbrooke’s become a bit of an enigma at the time of writing this walk in April 2015 – is it open or not? One thing’s for sure is it can’t be closed in summer as it’s such a popular pub. Anyway park up here
2. With the pub behind us turn right & head back up to the junction…
…turning right & over the canal bridge…
A nice place to sit with a cool beer on a summer’s evening
3. Cross over the road & turn left down onto the canal path…
…heading in a direction away from the bridge
4. It’s not long until we arrive at our first bridge & there’s an ‘interesting’ bird box on the side…
It’s always so peaceful walking along our canal paths & the stretch between Bugbrooke & Nether Heyford is a particularly pretty section…
5. Shortly we arrive at Heyford Fields Marina, a fairly new 100 berth non residential yard, where plenty of boats were moored up…
On the right there’s views across to the monstrosities of Swan Valley Industrial Park…
6. Moving on under the next bridge (34)…
Great reflections
…where there’s another lengthy straight section…
That’s not good!
7. Immediately ahead’s the West Coast Mainline & the trains certainly move quickly along here…
Pass under the next bridge – who’s that coming towards us?
Thirsty boy!
8. We’re now coming into the outskirts of Nether Heyford & there’s a variety of boats moored up on the left…
The village’s coming into view
There’s some interesting names too…
9. Pass round the bend & under the next bridge…
There’s an advert for the local pub which we’ll pass in Nether Heyford shortly…
10. Under the bridge on the left are some local workshop industries – this one fires up the imagination…
…carrying on, there’s some magnificent reed beds along this stretch…
…& just past these look for a signpost indicating a short footpath leading from the canal to the road…
11. Turn right & in about 60 yards we arrive at the lovely village of Nether Heyford…
Just follow the road down to the village green…
A good place to live?
12. We did this walk in early April on a gorgeous day when spring was arriving…
Nether Heyford has some really good individual small shops & it’s good to see somewhere that the supermarkets haven’t infiltrated…
13. At the crossroads head straight over keeping the green on the right
Nice sign
The village green is one of the largest in the country. Nether Heyford isn’t particularly known for anything of note, although the comedian Alan Carr played football for the village junior team
14. Pass, unless you fancy a stop, The Forresters Arms &, at the next junction with the school on the corner, keep straight on – if you fancy visiting The Olde Sun it’s just down the road on the left…
It’s fab that the pub’s got its own bus stop!!
15. If you haven’t seen it before you really will be surprised how big the green is…
Take the next left turn down Watery Lane – what a fabulous name for a street!
16. After 50 yards look out for a signpost on the right showing a path between the houses…
17. The footpath passes the various sports clubs…
…before passing over the bridge, through the gate & following the field edge…
This was massive!
18. At the end of the field pass through the gate…
…& it’s at this point that we get our first glimpse of Heygates Flour Mill which we’ll head towards for the next half mile…
19. There’s another two fields to pass through, but the path’s all a straight line…
…& then some more…
…before passing through one final gate into the woods…
20. It’s only a short stroll in the woods…
…& we’re right outside the mill…
21. After exiting the wood head up the track…
…& we’re right near the Mill now…
22. Follow the track to the gate…
…where we turn right to head back up the hill to Bugbrooke…
23. The path passes through a couple of fields & it’s a steady climb…
Looking across we see Campion School on the left…
24. The path turns left & heads directly towards the village now…
…& descends to the road…
25. Turn right to head back into the village centre…
…& turning right at the green towards the church…
26. On the other side of the road’s another famous Bugbrooke ‘watering hole’…the Five Bells
27. Continue round the left bend & then the right to arrive back at the bridge over the canal where we started the walk…
…& on turning left to the car park there was an ‘interesting’ van parked nearby…
So there we are another super little walk taking in one of our best features. We’ve done walks from Bugbrooke before heading in the other direction towards Gayton & it is a great village to start/end walks from
Plus with pubs at the start/middle/end there’s plenty of opportunity to turn this walk into a Sunday lunch or summer evening dinner event
It’s great so…
Go Walk!