From Silverstone
I ‘live-posted’ a walk on Bluesky today, another leg of my long project to walk the Northamptonshire border, in early spring sunshine and unseasonal warmth. I thought I would replicate the thread here for posterity, and for people who aren’t on Bluesky and might be interested in following the route.
10.36am
I’m at Silverstone in south Northamptonshire for the latest leg of my walk round the Northants border. Apparently there’s a racetrack near here. This will be the first walk I’ve live-posted on Bluesky, and the actual sky is getting in on the act.
10.38am
I’m going to head west through Bucknells Wood, down past the source of the Great Ouse through Syresham into Bucks, and then south-east down to Dadford. From there I’ll turn north and go round the Silverstone circuit - which is crossed by the county border - and across the A43 back to here.
11.03am
1.5 miles. In Bucknell’s Wood, once part of a medieval hunting forest. The trees waved cheerily at me as I approached.
11.22am
2.4 miles. My good progress has been somewhat slowed by a wide, tyretracked, muddy path. The insect hum of the distant racing cars is a constant background.
11.43am
3.3 miles. Somewhere in there is the source of the Great Ouse, at 75 miles the fifth longest river in the UK. I grew up a stone’s throw from it in Bedford. Ahead of me a lemon yellow butterfly dances showoffingly.
12.04pm
4.3 miles. A simple but effective stile (I’m sitting on it now). Some Canada geese barked angrily at me earlier as I had the temerity to walk past their pond. And some cows tried to intimidate me from behind a gate.
12.20pm
5.0 miles. Syresham church which currently has some complicated steeple-scaffolding. Earlier I shut a gate on some sheep and one of them scolded me with a noise I can only describe as an angry growl-burp.
12.50pm
6.3 miles. I’ve just crossed into Buckinghamshire at Biddlesden - here the Ouse is the county boundary. A gaggle of cyclists passed me a few minutes ago: ‘pedestrian!’ shouted one and I moved hastily onto the verge.
1.19pm
7.4 miles. I’m sitting by the stump of an old gallows tree at a junction south of Biddlesden. This was once part of a drovers’ route that went from Wales to London. A plane overhead takes off from nearby Turweston Aerodrome.
1.51pm
9.0 miles. I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere now, just south of Three Parks Wood. I missed a footpath so went further south than planned, and have now come north-east and am about to turn east towards Dadford.
2.14pm
10.1 miles. First big climb of the walk to Dadford, but no I’m not tyred…
2.40pm
11.2 miles. I have seen wondrous things: a great obelisk on a hill, and the place where telegraph poles go when they retire.
3.08pm
12.4 miles. I’m on a footpath round the perimeter of Silverstone circuit. I have precisely zero interest in motorsport but even I’ve heard of this. A former RAF airfield, it has hosted the British Grand Prix since 1948. The track is 3.6 miles long so I’ve done the equivalent of nearly 3½ laps.
3.26pm
13.1 miles. The back of another grandstand. I am about to cross the River Leck - which appears to go under the circuit - back into Northants. If the counties ever enforced border controls it would slow the races down no end.
3.54pm
14.5 miles. After a bit of a diversion I am now north of the racetrack and on the home straight back to Silverstone village. Here’s a serious-looking postbox I saw earlier for #PostboxSaturday.
4.19pm
Finished! Back to Silverstone having walked 15.6 miles at an average of 16.21 minutes/mile, and climbed 713 feet. Quite happy with that. Thanks to those who followed along…
Another very informative and enjoyable post.