Long Buckby Walk

The weather forecast for the day was unsettled with at least two belts of rain due to pass over but I decided a walk was required.  To the west of our current mooring is Daventry and I’ve walked much of it.  North is the Watford Gap which I’ve also previously walked.  South is where we are heading; so that left the land to the west.  After comparing the online OS map and the OSM I realised there were a number of footpath around the village of Long Buckby that were not shown on the OSM.  I duly plotted them from the OS map and transferred the data to the gps.

I didn’t bother to measure the length of the actual walk but I was away for approximately four hours.  All the recorded data now needs to be uploaded to the OSM.

We’re now in Northamptonshire. 

Notice how the countryside here is totally different to our photos of Warwickshire and Staffordshire…… Me neither!  Even the mud is the same.

At one point I found myself walking in the village noticing a sight I’ve not seen in NZ or Australia for many years.

The days of home milk delivery in a glass bottle have long passed.

Two of the footpaths ended at the village church.  I’ve noticed this is a rather common occurrence.  My logical assumption is this is a consequence ancient paths leading to the church from outlying dwellings.  The parishioners took the shortest route to the church and these became the public footpaths.

Long Buckby Church

At the most northerly part of the walk I stopped and took a photo south towards the village.

It’s actually a reasonably sized village with a Co-operative and Costcutter.  there were more shops in the centre but I didn’t bother to walk that way.  My route back took me across the fields (very muddy) to the M1.  I actually lost the footpath at one point whilst attempting to identify the route across the M1.  I’d been looking for a tunnel or culvert whereas it was a concrete farm bridge.

The busy M1 motorway.  We’ve now been up and down it a few times since arriving in the UK.  on the west side is the railway.  The rail is also very busy and I didn’t have long to wait for a train to appear.

The canal is another 500 metres to the left of the train.  In the distance is the Watford Gap where the canal, rail and motorway all squeeze together to head north.

Back at Waiouru I peeled off all the cold and wet clothing before having a nice hot shower to warm up.  Jan had baked some artisan bread during my absence.  This recipe doesn’t include any sugar.  Delicious slice with a topping of butter.  The muddy boots and gaiters are on the back waiting for me to whip up enough enthusiasm to give them a scrub.  But at the moment I’m too tired to be bothered!