Rushden to Thrapston - my walk 2004

NOTE: The old railway bridges over the river are being rebuilt. It will soon be possible to walk all the way along the dismantled railway from near Thrapston to Stanwick Lakes.

From the northern part of Rushden I crossed the main road (A45). A path crossed an old disused railway line. This was the line from Wellingborough to Higham Ferrers passing through Rushden. Rushden was not on the Northampton to Peterborough line. The path curved round and joined Ditchford Road.

I went north along the road; first there was a modern bridge and then an old stone bridge. On the north side of the river I went into the field on the right. The Northampton/Peterborough line track bed has been made into a road leading from Ditchford Road to the sewage farm. I walked parallel to it, along the Nene Way, and I noticed a digger excavating a long rectangular hole. After some consideration, I thought it must be the beginnings of a new channel for the river. NOTE: April 2004, it is a long narrow pond with narrow islands down the middle.

As I got closer to the sewage farm the smell got worse. There was a weir, and a branch of the river going to the left, but it was dry. I left the Nene Way and followed a path going to the left. I was met by the sight and sound of beautiful poplar trees. After pushing through undergrowth I found myself in what seemed to be a railway cutting. It had willows and nettles growing in it, which together with the soggy ground made progress difficult.

map

However, it seems that this is not the track bed, but what can only be described as a very wide ditch. I scrambled up the bank and through brambles to a path that follows the track bed north and east for miles. (From looking at the map, it looks as if there is an easier and quicker way to get to this point from Rushden.) To begin with it passes lakes to the left and right. There is a bridge with a sign suggesting that people should not cross, but I did.

map

The next section of track bed is long and straight, except at one point where the track is like an embankment with flooded gravel pits on either side. Here, with water on each side, there are a couple of curves before the track bed continues dead straight.

I remember that up till recently there were lorries carrying gravel along here, and there had been gravel pits before they had been flooded. Now all this work seems to have ceased. A bridge crosses the river, just before the road bridge that crosses the valley (A6) at right-angles to the track. The track goes under the road bridge and stops at a road (the lower-level crossing of the river and valley).

On the other side of the road the track continues, but here work continued and access was denied. There had been big piles of gravel and sand here next to works, now they are gone and all this activity seems to be winding down. I went as far as I could. A deep channel had been cut across the track bed, to allow water to flow from one pit to another. Earth had been piled up along the route above the drop to create a barrier. After watching the workmen with their vehicles for a while hidden behind the barrier, I clambered down the slope to the left out of site of anyone. There was no vegetation here, just thick heavy brown and grey clay. Water was flowing down through the channel, which was about 15 feet high with steeply sloping sides. It was a strange sight.

NOTE: I think this bit is now part of the Stanwick Lakes project and so should be or is open to the public

I thought about trying to jump the channel, and then climbing up the other side and continuing on my way, but that had its dangers. Instead I retraced my steps to a path that crosses the river at a footbridge where there is also a ford. This leads to Marsh Lane, where I rejoined the Nene Way. It goes along the north side of the river, and then, beside a large ploughed field, a footbridge crosses the river. Once across the river, I was on familiar territory, and I could walk along the old railway track almost as far as Woodford Mill.

From Woodford Mill, I walked along the river to Ringstead, then over the hill on the footpath to Denford, as I have done many times before. Finally, I walked along the road from Denford to Thrapston.