18th & 19th May Trips (Grand Union & Granite Way)

 18th & 19th May Trips

18th May – A walk along the Oxford & Grand Union Canal

The Grand Union Canal is on my wish list to finish walking this year (other than the Leicester Arm which will take some research in suitable breaking points which will probably be a job for next year).  I decided today to focus on the more rural section of the canal in Warwickshire, changing my plans a few times before deciding to make use of the slightly infrequent bus route from Leamington Spa to the village of Napton on the Hill where the Grand Union canal meets up with the Oxford Canal for a section of ‘shared’ canal.  Although even on Friday I was in two minds at which way to walk, either towards Leamington Spa (and probably towards Warwick Parkway) or towards Northamptonshire towards Weedon Bec.

In the end I decided to head east, with the trip starting with the 05:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke on a very quiet 159101 & 158890, followed by an equally quiet 221124 to Banbury, only getting slightly busy after Oxford.  At Banbury it was a short wait before 168327 & 168005 rolled in on a Birmingham Moor Street service with 68014 heading south on a Silver Set.  At Leamington Spa I jumped off the 168s, transferring to winner 196006 for the short journey to Kenilworth for a short revisit and to waste some time.  196004 returned me to Leamington Spa where I set off towards the town centre to the north of the station, going via the Pump Room Gardens and Tesco to grab some supplies for lunch (plus Boots for a cheap bottle of water as the temperature was rising and I didn’t want to run out of water again).

Pump Room Gardens Bandstand, Leamington Spa

The Stagecoach operated route 664 towards Napton on the Hill only runs 4 times a day on a Saturday (plus a couple of short workings to Southam), the bus (36942, an Enviro 200) arrived quite busy but departed with just me and one other passenger on board.  That other passenger alighted in the settlement of Lillington on the outskirts of Leamington Spa, another couple of passengers boarded in Offchurch alighting in Long Itchington with another passenger boarding in that village to alight in Southam, so overall a quiet bus.  Quite a scenic route featuring some steep hills, from memory there is a disused railway line path in the Offchurch & Long Itchington area which might be closed off at the moment due to HS2 construction works.  After Southam the bus went via a modern housing estate and I alighted at Napton on the Hill outside the Kings Head pub, a place bringing back some memories from the time my family had a narrowboat based in this area (bringing back a memory of a meal with my former other half when she was over from Spain when we stayed on the boat one trip).

Anyhow it was time to start the walk, with a short section along a road leading to the Oxford Canal dropping onto the canal near Napton marina onto a section of towpath which was a bit rubbish.  Quite narrow with some weeds growing alongside a hedge with the extra hazard of bank erosion (caused most likely by boats going too fast and creating a wash).  I reached Napton Junction where the Grand Union canal joins with the Oxford Canal and carried on.  I was thankful of the sections where the bank has been secured with sheet piling (to protect against erosion).  In the Lower Shuckburgh area the towpath did get better as someone had been round with a cutter to cut back some of the tall grass & weeds, as my walk continued in very rural Warwickshire passing a few boats (both moored & moving) and the towpath did thankfully improve so I could look at the scenery more rather than keeping focused on the ground watching out for holes (didn’t want to make a big splash now!)

Boats at Napton Junction on Oxford & Grand Union Canal

I crossed into Northamptonshire on the outskirts of the village of Braunston reaching Braunston junction where the Oxford canal turns left (towards Rugby) and the Grand Union canal turns right.  The towpath in this area was more solid (and also busier).  I paused on a bench near Braunston marina to have my lunch (and to remove some stones from my boots) before continuing climbing the lock flight and into some more rural countryside reaching the western portal of Braunton Tunnel which like many of the canal tunnels lacks a towpath forcing a detour up a rather steep path skirting to the northern parts of the town of Daventry (where there is a modern cycle path from the town to the canal towpath).

The towpath reached the A361 road where due to housing construction it is blocked off with some poor signage to the detour route via the Lang Farm Northern Valley Park before picking up a route back to the canal rejoining the water at the eastern portal of the tunnel on a tree lined section of canal (quite beautiful)

Western Portal of Braunston Tunnel on Grand Union Canal

I carried on heading east, exiting the Daventry area and heading back into rural Northamptonshire countryside with the sound of trains in the background.  I reached Norton junction where the Leicester arm joins the main Grand Union and reached the Buckby lock flight near Long Buckby wharf (the station itself is a mile away along a road which lacks a pavement, hence why I decided to carry on towards Weedon Bec).  I crossed underneath the WCML, pausing for a photograph of a train crossing the canal (turned out to be a 350/2 rather than a Pendo) and continued along a section where the canal is between the M1, and the railway so was quite noisy (as the motorway was very busy).  The solid towpath turned rural once more after Whiton Marina and the bottom lock of the lock flight and I was thankful that a mile or so later the canal moved away from the M1 (although the traffic noise remained but it was less heavy).

350241 crossing the Grand Union Canal in the Long Buckby area

The canal returned to woods and being peaceful as it made its way south towards the village of Weedon Bec with a bit of a rush at the end as I was aiming for the route D3 bus route, arriving at the bus stop with seconds to spare (as the bus was just coming round a roundabout).  My walk was over and where that canal did have some beautiful sections, it also had not so nice sections.  Either due to the sound of road traffic or due to a poor towpath, but I was glad to have finished the walk with the weather being mostly overcast turning sunny nearer the end.  

Anyhow it was onto a lightly loaded Stagecoach Gold branded Enviro400 (15844) on the D3 towards Daventry as it did a little trip via Weedon Bec itself before following the A45 & B4038 to reach Daventry town centre where there was a handy Tesco located alongside the small bus station (which had seen better days with the shelters being a bit smashed up).  As I had 20-odd minutes before my next bus I popped to the Tesco to grab something for dinner for later plus a couple of bits for now (including a carton of cold juice which was consumed before I got back to the bus station).

Daventry Bus Station

My next bus service was the Stagecoach route 200 (with bus 36766) on this busy service heading via some nice countryside and villages towards Banbury (Badby, Woodford Halse, Byfield & Chipping Warden) with some evidence of the former Grand Central route near Woodford Halse.  Also passing the HS2 construction works to the north of Chipping Warden.  At Banbury it was a short walk from the bus stop on Bridge Street to the railway station to await the next southbound voyager, I wasn't expecting much considering the service before was cancelled (and also the one an hour later, so it was lucky I made that bus in Weedon Bec).  221124 rolled in and I went straight for coach F at the front and even got lucky to get a seat, changing at Oxford with the usual turnover of passengers to grab a window seat to make use of the socket.  At Reading the train near enough emptied out and coach F became quiet, which is when something started brewing as departure was delayed due to awaiting a member of staff from the next northbound service.

As that northbound service wasn’t due to arrive until 19:05 I decided to jump onto the 3 coach 165 on the stopper with the assumption that would depart on time.  19:05 came and went with no departure of the Turbo keeping one eye on the signalling diagram, making a leap back towards the voyager when they got given the signal around 19:08.   Onwards to Basingstoke (which in a few weeks’ time won’t be possible due to XC deciding that they are carrying far too many passengers for Basingstoke on a lightly loaded train and to skip the interchange station to ease ‘overcrowding’ when doing nothing to stop the severe overcrowding on the West Midlands corridor).  Anyhow I was glad to have jumped back to the voyager as it was a same platform change onto 159001 & 159006 on the next Salisbury stopper (as the stopper from Reading arrived 5 minutes late so would have missed the +6 connection).

221124 at Basingstoke Station

I took a seat in the front coach of 159001 which was near enough empty (one other passenger at the very front) and relaxed with the trip back to Grateley, followed by a gentle walk home.  I was thankful I picked up dinner in Daventry although I was planning to pop out to the Sainsburys in Basingstoke to grab something for the morning.  A mostly enjoyable day, some beautiful countryside, I knew the towpath quality wasn’t the greatest in that area, but it was another section of the Grand Union walked.  With any luck I will be returning to Weedon Bec next Monday to walk the next section towards Northampton, weather permitting.

19th May – Walking the Granite Way

The Granite Way is the name given to the mixed used path which runs alongside the mothballed (?) route from Okehampton to Meldon Quarry then onto the former Southern railway route over Meldon viaduct towards the village of Lydford on the old route towards Tavistock.  Something which had been on my radar for a while with a couple of failed attempts due to forecasted poor weather.  With the slightly more limited Sunday bus services between Okehampton & Tavistock it was an early start with a drive to Salisbury to catch the 06:54 service towards Exeter St Davids, a very quiet 159007 & 159005 for the trip to Exeter Central via the countryside.  At Exeter I made my way towards the bus station (and the little Sainsburys Local to grab lunch items) noticing the former bus station had been knocked down.

Due to connections to Okehampton trains from Salisbury not being the best I decided on a little time-wasting bus move with the Stagecoach operated route 6A service to Okehampton.  Departure was a few minutes late due to a late arrival of bus 15255 (a former Stagecoach Gold Enviro400) as it made its way out of Exeter towards Okehampton via Tedburn St Mary, Cheriton Cross, Whiddon Down & Sticklepath and this is one bus route I would recommend for the scenic views, certainly a lot more beautiful than the train route.  The bus only got busy in Okehampton itself as it formed a bus to Bude (and that was only down to a group of youngsters who had decided they wanted to broadcast to the entire bus the sort of noise they enjoyed listening to).

View from bus (Exeter - Okehampton) near Crockernwell

Anyhow once at Okehampton station I started my walk, picking up the signposts to the Granite Way The first section was alongside the heavily overgrown mothballed line beyond Okehampton towards Meldon Quarry, not the most scenic and quite busy with other path users & noisy with the A30 running close by.  Thankfully the path moved away from the dual carriageway towards Meldon Viaduct where I followed a path towards the valley below for a couple of photographs before climbing back up to the route of the old railway line, crossing the viaduct and into the countryside.

Meldon Viaduct

The path was reasonably busy with other users (good to see it being used, although some of the cyclists didn't understand the concept of other users as they attempted to set a new land speed record getting annoyed at having to slow down to pass horses.  The path continued towards Sourton Down where the A30 moved away and towards Sourton with some excellent views of Dartmoor. There was a short viaduct at Lake with the path carrying on going underneath the A386 near Southerly and into a peaceful section as I took my time owing to the more limited nature of the bus service from Lydford on Sundays (I gave myself 4 and a half hours to walk the 9-mile path).

All good things must come to an end as I reached the end of the path at Lydford following the road into the village centre to explore the remains of the castle before making my way to the bus stop near the war memorial as there was a nice bench in the sunshine.  Certainly, a path I would recommend once away from that A30 (unless you like listening to endless traffic), some beautiful views and mostly a decent quality path other than a short section to the south of Sourton which was quite narrow and rough.  A path to do on a good day where you can see the scenery and take in the hills.

Lydford Castle

Anyhow, the next Dartline operated route 118 “Rail Link” service arrived at Lydford with a little Solo (fleet 1828), a perfect bus for this route as it only had 3 other passengers all which alighted in the small villages between Lydford & Okehampton (although as the connection at Gunnislake from the train to this bus is crap it doesn’t surprise me).  The bus took me to Okehampton station, climbing the steep hill away from the town centre and onto 150261 working the next service for Exeter Central, which took me to Exeter Central giving me time to pop to the little Co-Op near the station to grab a bottle of lemonade and some reduced to clear doughnuts as a little snack.  A busy 159107 & 159108 took me back towards Salisbury, slowly emptying out on the way out of Devon only to refill on the way towards Wiltshire.  At Salisbury I headed back to my car to have a relaxing drive home, relaxing for the rest of the evening after having some food.

A good little day trip to Devon, even with an early start (early bird catches the bus).  Another old railway line path covered when the £2 bus fare scheme is on.  Lydford is a pleasant village with a nice old castle which I wouldn’t have explored had I walked from Lydford towards Okehampton, some beautiful weather as well always helps.  Anymore more photos can be found on my Flickr, thanks for reading.  Next week (the bank holiday weekend) sees a couple more Branch line society tours (Kings Lynn & Weymouth) followed by hopefully a canal walk on the Monday, all depending on the weather.