Saints with Heart
Where & When to Start Walking
General Instructions - You must be ready to depart at the times indicated on the following pages from the locations shown! Please read the directions before you set out, some starting places are easier to find than others.
Departure times – please ensure you are at the right venue AT LEAST 15 minutes before the walk is due to depart. Check in with the walk leader to make sure they know you‟re there. Wolverton: 7.00am (fast and slow), Blisworth: 10.30am, Rothersthorpe: 12.00 noon
Unless you get dropped off at your starting point, you will need to make your own arrangements to return to pick up your cars after the Saints game has finished. Please remember this might be in the dark, so please park your cars safely, where road signs and local conditions permit.
Remember to clear out any valuables before you leave your car unattended for several hours. Also, when parking on residential streets, please consider the access needs of local people.
Toilets – there are no toilets en route, except at the Stoke Bruerne stop for the long walkers. Be prepared, you were warned!
Children – please ensure you supervise your children at all times when close to water or roadways. Also, see our special conditions for the Wolverton route.
Your health & fitness – If you think you need to check before you walk – please discuss your health & limitations with your doctor, and please choose a walk which matches your general fitness level. It‟s not soft, it‟s sensible.
Your feet – May we please remind all walkers to arrive properly shod to undertake their chosen route? Wellies and sandals may not be the best choice!
Refreshments – there are no shops en route, and on the Wolverton route, no pubs after Stoke Bruerne (more detail on Wolverton page). Bring whatever you require for your needs. Bottled water will be available at the Blisworth stop.
Sat Navs – please use the following postcodes to locate our starting points (but also refer to the detail on the following pages):
Wolverton – MK13 0DY Blisworth – NN7 3RZ Rothersthorpe - NN4 9QZ
Route Maps – please have a copy of the route map with you in case you get lost, or left behind. The last page contains details of how you can be picked up in such difficulties.
Arrival at Franklin‟s Gardens – this year‟s walks finish inside the ground in the Tented Village. Make sure you bring your matchday ticket with you on the walk so you can get to the finish!
Sponsorship Forms – please bring your Sponsorship Form on the Walk, you‟ll need to get it stamped when you finish.
Wolverton Wolverton Station, Stratford Road, Wolverton, MK13 0DY
Please assemble in Wolverton Station car park, ready to depart promptly. Cars can be left in the station car park. Note that if using Sat-Nav to reach this starting point, the postcode given is an approximation. Use the local road signs and our picture to complete your journey. We‟ll be walking from Wolverton in two groups. The first group is for the ultra-competitive and will be going fast, while the second group will go at a more leisurely pace.
There will be an opportunity for walkers to swap groups when the two groups meet up en- route, if you want to speed up, or slow down.
Wolverton Station is located at the junction of Grafton Street (north to Haversham, & south to „new‟ Milton Keynes), Newport Road (east to New Bradwell & Newport Pagnell) and Stratford Road (west to Stony Stratford).
Trains from Northampton, Bletchley & Milton Keynes Central stop at Wolverton. Please note – our opinion is that this route is not really suitable for younger people, unless they are experienced walkers. All walkers under 14 must be accompanied by an adult responsible for their safety.
Don‟t forget – there are no toilets on this route, you need to provide your own refreshments, and the Walk Leaders will not wait for latecomers!
Refreshment break at Stoke Bruerne - The leader of the „plodders‟ group asks that participants in this group arrive at Wolverton as soon as possible so that a decent refreshment break can be taken at Stoke Bruerne. However participants in the „speeding‟ group can expect their leader to breeze through Stoke Bruerne with only a very brief halt. Make sure you choose the group that suits your needs!
Walkers meet and park here
Blisworth
High Street, Blisworth, NN7 3RZ
Take the Blisworth turn off from A43 between Northampton and Towcester, around three miles south of the M1 junction. Around a mile along the road, you will arrive in the village of Blisworth.
Once in the village, there is a T-junction on the bridge itself. The best choice for on street parking is to turn left and park along the side of Gayton Road, ensuring you park sensibly and don‟t block access to any of the properties.
The walkers will congregate on the curved area of footpath on the canal bridge itself.
When the group set off, they will walk down the path that turns off the bridge and joins the canal towpath.
Rothersthorpe /
Swan Valley Banbury Lane,
Rothersthorpe, NN4 9QZ.
From the A45/A43 junction at Hunsbury (the large roundabout that has recently had traffic lights installed) take the Upton Valley Way – signposted to Pineham and Rothersthorpe.
After 100 yards or so, take a left at the traffic lights into Banbury Lane. Continue along this road, passing streets (on the left) called Riverstone Way, Quarterstone and Keystone Road. The Sat Nav postcode is for Keystone Road, but continue on Banbury Lane. 200 yards after Keystone Road there is a turn in that goes nowhere – just a few yards of tarmac but marked out as a junction, with a metal gate at the end.
This is where you will meet up with the walk leader. Pull in here to be dropped off, there is no parking directly near the start point so it is better to be dropped off rather than anger local residents by parking in the streets nearby.
When the walk begins, you will follow the footpath down the left hand side of the road towards the bridge. This footpath goes down the side of the bridge and joins with the canal towpath.
Wolverton
The Route
Make sure you are assembled in the station car park in plenty of time for the departure. Both groups will set off once they are ready – make sure you‟re in the right one! If you are catching a train from Northampton or Milton Keynes, please contact the walk leader if the train is running late. If you arrive late you may find they‟ve set off without you.
Fast walkers: We will be walking the first eight to nine miles starting at Bradwell through the Ouse Valley and then the Grand Union Canal. Slow walkers: The route will begin on the canal near Wolverton Station.
There will be break stops where appropriate along the way, try to keep together with other walkers for your safety. After going through Cosgrove and Yardley Wharf we head on up to Stoke Bruerne to the picnic area by the museum. *** Make sure you cross the canal at the small bridge at the first lock then back over once you are in the village *** - this is where there will be a longer break for around twenty minutes for the “slow” group – toilets are available!
Shortly before the tunnel entrance, the towpath leads to a small incline that takes us up to overhill road. Being a road, obviously keep in single file, be aware of traffic but also of the many horses that are walked on this stretch, always give them right of way. See and be seen. Warn others of oncoming traffic. Acknowledge drivers. Be safe!
Once over the brow of the hill keep an eye out for a painted house sign '89' - cross the road, through the gate, then follow the path downwards to your right that leads back to the canal towpath. This is where the walkers from Blisworth will begin.
Blisworth
Once back on the towpath continue heading north (it‟s the only option). After a mile or so you will come to Bridge 48 (they are all numbered).
This is where you leave the canal for two hundred yards to rejoin the Northampton arm of the canal – travel as a group for safety (see map below). A right turn at the bridge takes you along a small village road for two hundred yards till the humpback bridge which you go under to your right again to rejoin the towpath heading into town as the map below shows. Again although only a short distance, be aware it is a road, keep kids on a leash.
After we are back on the canal there are no more scheduled stops but people can take the rest of the route at their leisure stopping as and when they feel like it. For this reason I've given more detail here so none of you get lost. Take it easy and enjoy the day, you should have plenty of time to get to the Gardens - don't push yourself if you don't need too.
Rothersthorpe
As you continue along the route, you will pass under the motorway and approach Swan Valley. This is where the Rothersthorpe walkers join in. After a couple more miles as the town and especially the lift tower gets nearer keep an eye out for Lock 15, like the bridges they are numbered.
Two hundred yards after this is an un-numbered bridge (yes the exception) which is where we leave the canal. Leave the canal and take a left over it.
After a further two small flat bridges you will see a car park for the adjoining lake. Take a right into this car park and continue through the car park, onto the footpath which goes alongside the lake. Nearly there now...
After half a mile or so, there is a bridge over the river to your left. Go over this bridge and take the footpath to the right of the car park. Take care when crossing Edgar Mobbs Way, use the pedestrian crossings where appropriate.
Continue along the side of the Saints car parks and into the village behind the South Stand, to collect medals, get sponsorship forms stamped and a well earned rest. Well done!
