Great Casterton - Christmas trees, lake towers and troll bars

Both myself and BAM (Best Aussie Mate) were very excited at the prospect of visiting Rutland - England's smallest (mainland) county.  The fact that Rutland has managed to survive until the 21st century is pretty amazing, as it has less than 40,000 people and the next biggest county, Herefordshire is almost six times bigger than Rutland and has almost five times the number of people than Rutland has!

Indeed, Rutland was merged into neighbouring Leicestershire in 1974, but became a county in its own right again in 1997 and I'm kind of glad that it did! There's something different about Rutland and it felt a little bit like a world unto itself, keeping its distance from the noise and bustle of nearby Leicester and Peterborough.

We managed to walk almost the entire length of the county, which has to be a first, although we did end our walk in Stamford, which is in Lincolnshire.

Lodgings and Victuals

The best accommodation options in Rutland were in Oakham, the county town, so we decided to stay there and walk from Oakham to Great Casterton. We were lucky enough to find a lovely BnB in a traditional thatched cottage on Northgate with a friendly and informative host, Dane Gould.  We had a lovely meal in a 17th century pub called the Wheatsheaf, also on Northgate.

As we're currently planning a trip to Tbilisi/Georgia, the Wheatsheaf was a good location to go through the maps and guidebooks and talk about far-off destinations such as Borjomi, Mtshketa and Akhaltsikhe.  I think Georgia will be a little bit more exotic than Rutland, but only marginally so!

Whilst we were expanding our horizons beyond the EU borders, we were joined, in our corner of the pub, by a table full of men who seemed to be celebrating the local UKIP Christmas party.  Not that we were listening, but we couldn't help overhearing talk of UKIP leadership, Romanians and how cheap Ryanair flights might help to rid the country of undesirables!

Whilst these Chester walks have deepened my understanding and love of England - I find myself despairing at some of the things that are happening in English politics right now!  I have a real fear that England will become isolationist and an economic and cultural backwater.  Whilst I love ye olde worlde of the English countryside, it's good to balance that with an outward world view and cosmopolitanism - you can have the best of both worlds, believe it or not!

Oakham to Barnsdale Wood (3 miles/4.9 kilometres)

Despite the fact that it's December and rather cold outside, I managed to get sunburnt on our walk from Oakham to Stamford! It was a fantastic feeling walking around Oakham on a busy Saturday morning in the run up to Christmas, the bustling market and High Street, the beautiful remains of Oakham castle and the Butter Cross, blue skies and an energising chill in the air!

Oakham Saturday market

Bizarrely, Oakham is twinned with a town called Dodgeville, which is Wisconsin, a place I've blogged about in my other blog, Learning about the World. Or perhaps not that bizarre, as Dodgeville is the global headquarters of the US clothing retailer, Land's End and Oakham is the Land's End UK headquarters.

We didn't notice any Land's End retailers in Oakham, however, we did stop at a shop on the High Street to buy some water, which involved a lot of comedy as BAM tried to wrestle my wallet from a tight pocket in my backpack and then I knocked over a cardboard Christmas tree on the way out - I'm sure the residents of Oakham were wondering who these mad people were, with their funny sticks, boots and layers of winter clothing.

Oakham castle with All Saints Church

Frost on the ground at the remains of Oakham castle

Perhaps we were experiencing an episode of bad luck, due to the horseshoe, which is a symbol of Rutland (it's upside down). To this day, any royals or peers of the realm who pass through Rutland, must stop at Oakham castle and present their horseshoe to the local people.  We didn't bring our horseshoes with us, unfortunately, so I hope we didn't breach protocol!

Horseshoe on the gate of Oakham Castle

I was really impressed by the Butter Cross in Oakham's Market Place, as I've never seen a butter cross before, although there are others in England and in two other 'chesters', Chichester and Winchester, which we haven't yet visited.

Oakham Butter Cross

From the Butter Cross, we followed the Market Place lane around to All Saints Church, walking along the back of the church and through the park until we reached Burley Road. Crossing Vicarage Lane, we continued along Burley Road before turning right onto Woodland View, a cul-de-sac for drivers, but a handy escape route for walkers, as it takes you out of Oakham in the direction of Dog Kennel cottage and a small stream that leads to Rutland Water.

Rutland Water

Rutland Water looks pretty impressive on the map and takes up a substantial part of Rutland county. It's a man-made lake, being completed in the mid-70's and it's one of the biggest artificial lakes in Europe. It looks pretty impressive in real life too and I'm still trying to get my head around the engineering that's involved in creating an artificial lake.

In the case of Rutland Water, it was created by damming the River Gwash, so it flooded the Gwash Valley, submerging the villages of Nether and Middle Hambleton, but leaving Upper Hambleton intact, on top of a low ridge, which is now a peninsula. As we followed the main road out of Oakham, along the lake side, the only evidence of the lake's artificiality was the draw-off tower, in the middle of the water, visible from the beginning of Barnsdale Wood.

Winter canopy in Barnsdale Wood

Sailing boat on Rutland Water

Barnsdale Wood to Sykes Spinney (2.3 miles/3.7 kilometres)

It was a very pleasant walk along the north side of Rutland Water through Barnsdale Wood and around by Whitwell Creek.  It was surprisingly peaceful as well, although Rutland has a reputation for outdoor sports and I'd imagine that, in summer, Rutland Water and the surrounding paths must be teeming with people.

Whitwell Creek

The path we were following for this stage of the walk forms part of both the Hereward and Viking ways. Hereward sounded like an obscure English county to me, but I've since discovered that Hereward was a person, Hereward the Wake, who fought against William the Conqueror and was based on the Isle of Ely in nearby Cambridgeshire.

The Hereward Way links the Viking Way to the Peddars Way and the Peddars Way follows an old Roman road to join the Norfolk coast, continuing to Brancaster, one of our previous Chesters.  It's funny how all these ancient ways link up and I feel as though we could just keep walking around England following paths that have been in use for many centuries!

Hereward and Viking Ways

We hardly saw anyone, until we got to Whitwell Creek, which is near Whitwell village, therefore more accessible by road.  From Whitwell Creek, we could see another tower in the middle of the lake and this was the Limnological Tower, limnology or freshwater science being the study of lakes and inland waters.  There was also a very interesting sculpture on the shoreline, which was ablaze with light in the late afternoon sun.

Limnological Tower in Rutland Water

The Great Tower at Sykes Spinney

A spinney is a small wood or copse and Sykes Spinney had a lovely picnic area and some benches, which came in quite handy for our well-needed chocolate break!

Cow at Sykes Spinney

Sykes Spinney to Empingham (1.3 miles/2.1 kilometres)

Just after Sykes Spinney we came to the dam, then continued on a footpath called the Rutland Round, which took us through a small wood and into the village of Empingham. Whilst we were in Oakham, we'd heard that there had been a tragic car accident in Empingham the previous evening, involving two schoolgirls and it really struck me how these local tragedies happen all the time, but you wouldn't really be aware of them, if you live in London or other parts of England.

Stone marker near Empingham

Dam at Rutland Water

View of Empingham in the distance

Empingham was a pretty village, with lots of thatched cottages along the High Street, which looked magnificent in the waning light. We always have to plan very carefully around this time of the year, as we have the minimum amount of light. By the time we got to Empingham, around 3 in the afternoon, the sun was already making its descent towards the horizon behind us.

Empingham High Street

Empingham to Great Casterton (2.9 miles/4.6 kilometres)

From Empingham we followed the Rutland Round out of the village and up Chapel Hill, where we walked along a ridge at the top of some fields in a relatively logical direction with the village of Great Casterton barely visible in the distance.  We got slightly lost once, missing out turn off near the Tickencote Lodge farm, but we quickly figured out what we'd done wrong and caught up with our path again, crossing a field of very fat-looking, black sheep, before reaching the village of Tickencote.

Country lane near Tickencote

Fat, black sheep near Tickencote

Although they're barely a mile apart, Tickencote and Great Casterton are separated by the Great North road which, for centuries, was the main coaching road between London, York and Edinburgh and was frequented by Dick Turpin and many other highwaymen and women throughout its illustrious history!

The Great North road, in turn, follows the route of the ancient Roman Ermine Street which linked Londinium (London) with Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York).

Welcome to Great Casterton/Great North road/Ermine Street

Roadside building in Great Casterton

I must say that Great Casterford was a very congested place and, unfortunately, what had been quite a pleasant walk turned into a precarious adventure with racing cars, exhaust fumes and frantic 'drive slowly' signs!  Needless to say, we didn't hang around, but made our way through the village as quickly as possible in the direction of Stamford.

Great Casterton to Little Casterton (1 mile/1.6 kilometres)

Although the sun was setting fast, we decided to risk it and take a detour via Little Casterton, so we could tick another 'chester' off our list.  I was fascinated by the Toll Bar sign that we encountered on our way out of Great Casterton.  Obviously, this was once an actual bar, that blocked entry to the coaching inns of Great Casterton, until you paid a toll, for anyone travelling to the north of England.

Perhaps more interesting, in a way, was the fact that someone had scribbled a small letter 'r' on the sign, so it became Troll Bar - an amusing concept, as I'm not sure how many trolls make the long journey from London to Edinburgh these days.  Most modern trolls seem to spend most of their time on Twitter!

The Troll Bar

Little Casterton

After the toll bar we turned left onto a very busy country lane that hurtles towards Ryhall and Greatford. Walking on the verge of a busy road has never been our favourite thing, so we picked up our pace until we made it to Little Casterton and could turn off onto a much quieter road, the Little Casterton Road, which took us straight into Stamford.

Sundown, road to Stamford

Little Casterton to Stamford (2 miles/3.3 kilometres)

By the time we reached Little Casterton the sun had set already (around 4pm) and we suddenly found ourselves on an obscure country lane in that magical winter twilight that is both exciting and a little bit frightening.  Although a few cars passed us on the road to Stamford, it was a relatively peaceful walk and the distant lights of Stamford kept our spirits up, until we'd made it back to civilisation just before the light completely disappeared from the sky.

Stamford Scotgate, early evening

The Little Casterton Road very carefully guided us into Stamford, until we met with the curiously-named Scotgate.  I must admit, I was quite impressed with Stamford.  It seemed like a busy little town, with lots of Christmas cheer, shoppers, cosy pubs and a good choice of restaurants.

We had a fantastic meal at the Mad Turk on St Paul's Street, then we starting planning a future Chester walk over a much-appreciated pint of Czech beer (and glass of wine, in BAM's case) in the King's Head on Maiden Lane.

Stamford High Street

Access for Wheelchair users

Path along Rutland Water

The first part of this walk from Oakham to the dam near Empingham was very accessible for wheelchair users.  The Rutland Round mostly follows tracks through fields, so wouldn't be accessible.  We wouldn't recommend the country lanes between Great Casterton and Stamford, as they're quite busy with traffic. Stamford is a nice place to visit and I'd imagine there are some accessible footpaths around the town.  

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