Sywell Country Park

I've lived in Northamptonshire most of my life and Sywell Country Park is now almost on my doorstep yet I only went during the October half term a couple of weeks ago, for the first time. And I'm so pleased I finally did.

There are 2 car parks, both with disabled spaces (parking charges apply at the time of writing). We parked in the upper car park which takes you straight to the reservoir, the lower car park is by the cafe although everything is accessible a couple of minutes walk from either car park.

The walk around the reservoir took an hour, at a leisurely pace. Once we got out of the shade it was lovely and bright and quickly very warm! It was very peaceful with just sounds of the diverse bird life on the water to listen to. There is a hide on the waters edge to watch the birds, although we didn't go in.

A lot of the path is not paved and as there had been some heavy rain during the previous couple of days a couple of areas were quite muddy. Even the hard packed path is quite uneven and you travel over grass as well so I was glad, yet again, that we had the 3-wheeler. If it had been dry then we could have used the wheelchair but it would have been a lot more effort. They were doing work improving paths so it may become more accessible in the near future.

The walk doesn't hug the reservoir but takes you through trees and then over grassland and it's the variety that I enjoyed, with lots of benches and a picnic area to stop and enjoy the view. It's also not a flat route so with the addition of pushing a wheelchair/buggy it's a really good hour's walk.

After walking the circular route, just past the car park entrance there is another path down through the trees where there is a small arboretum, a play area (which we didn't investigate) and a visitor centre. The centre has hot drinks and snack machines and a small sitting area. There is also a food van with outdoor seating.

I'll definitely be going back. Seth completely chilled out, giggling every so often, for the whole hour. He actually got pretty upset when we stopped so I think our next walk needs to be longer again.

Brafield-on-the-Green to Cogenhoe via Whiston

This walk was approx 5.5 miles and followed the footpaths and bridleways between Brafield on the Green, Whiston and Cogenhoe. I used 'OS Landranger 152 Northampton and Milton Keynes area' map to navigate.

I used the 3-wheel buggy, rather than the wheelchair, but I can tell you that it is not accessible even then.

The first part of the walk was fine. It started at the end of Church Lane, to the right of the farmhouse and beyond the pond. Follow the footpath sign through the gate and around the field beyond, keeping to the left edge of the field. The view as we followed this path was quite pretty: the field had just been harvested so you could see for miles around of the Northamptonshire countryside. It was peaceful and warm and the path was pretty flat and so was easy with the buggy. I could have done this part with the wheelchair but it would have been tougher and I think the ground would not have felt so flat!

You come to a choice of signposted options. The route to Whiston takes you left through the gap in the hedge and then immediately right. That signpost is difficult to see as it is buried in the tree.

I hadn't walked far when I came to another opening in the field with a bridleway sign pointing through it. With no other signs I was unsure whether to continue on the path or go back through the hedge. This is why I'm always getting lost because I usually seem to make the wrong decision! Today was no exception I think because on the other side of the hedge there was another harvested field with no obvious path, yet alone bridleway. Undaunted, I kept to the edge of the field which was possible as it was harvested and, once crossed, I came across a track which I was then able to follow. This track continued round the edge of the field, passed a derelict farm building. It seemed more a tractor route rather than a footpath but it eventually gained another footpath sign at a crossroads shortly after the derelict farm building. This sign reassured me to keep following this track.

Then it began to get a bit wet and muddy. At first it wasn't too bad, although by this point I was in no doubt that a wheelchair wouldn't make it on this route. And then I came to more route options. I could keep on this track, go left up through the field or right through a little wood to little footbridge that I could spy through the trees. I decided to keep going on the track but once around the bend found my way blocked by a flooded stream that completely covered the path.

So I retraced my steps to take the footbridge. There were a couple of small steps cut into the earth and then one small step up on the bridge. Pretty easy work with the buggy. Only then could I see the steps that I had to climb at the other end of the bridge!

With no other option I carried Seth up separately, left him sitting on the path and then dragged the buggy up. Suddenly the walk didn't seem quite as charming!

I could see a church spire in the distance and guessed that I had almost reached Whiston and so reuniting Seth with his buggy hurried along the path, which joined the track just the other side of the enormous puddle.

The track eventually ended at a country lane. Turning left I quickly had to leave the dwindling grass verge and rather nervously walked on the road. But we made it safely to Whiston about an hour and a half after starting and paused in a triangle of grass in the village for Seth to have a quick snack and drink. Then it was on to Cogenhoe.

Keeping to the left we continued to follow the road quickly out of Whiston and as the houses came to an end found our footpath sign on the left directing us right across a field. This basically gave a short cut from having to follow the road all the way round so it is possible to miss this bit out because once I crossed the field I found the exit completely overgrown and I had to fight my way through, dragging Seth's buggy backwards so that he wouldn't get scratched.

Turning left onto the road, I found my next footpath shortly after on the right. The path began following parallel to the road and then as the road veered off continued straight  past an industrial unit. Once again I briefly got confused about which way to go. I had walked the length of the field: to the left of me was the entrance to the business, and a track went off to the right. In front of me the hedge had a large gap in it but with no signpost. However, I could see Cogenhoe on the horizon in front of me so I continued forward through the gap and only then saw the footpath sign. The path went up the hill right through the middle of the field and after several minutes of a pretty steep climb found myself in Cogenhoe.

And that's when it all went horribly downhill. Firstly I came to a stile. So again, I carried Seth and the buggy over separately. Then the footpath continued along the back of some gardens. It was very narrow and very overgrown and it was difficult to get through over the piles of twigs and growing nettles.

 The nettles got thicker, and higher. I cautiously progressed forward and then realised that the path ended in a kissing gate that was completely covered in nettles. I was stuck.

Luckily, I could see the road below and a family was walking past. They were rather bewildered hearing this voice calling out to them but they helped me flatten the nettles and then carry Seth and then the buggy over. I'm not sure what I would have done if they hadn't been walking past as I was surrounded by nettles by that point. As it was I was covered in stings and I couldn't avoid Seth getting a few stings on his arm. Luckily his bare feet and legs were untouched!

By now I was pretty hacked off with this walk and had been going for about 3 hours. The family directed me through the village to the playing field where I knew the footpath back to Brafield was signposted and I, rather relieved, made my way back.

I still had two more stiles to get over but by then I didn't care as long as this walk was over. I crossed another couple of fields to another farm building, this one very much in use. Crossing the yard the signs directed me up to the Brafield church where my walk finally ended about 3 and a half hours from when I started.

How did Seth get on? Well other than what I think was a delayed reaction to the nettles sting, after the walk was over, he fared very well despite the length of the walk. He laughed for the first half and dozed for most of the second. So I am encouraged and know that I can now tackle walks up to 3 hours long in the future.