The place still makes a few boots and shoes, none of them for cycling though. But on Day 1 of my route research around Northampton, the boot was on the other foot: my gravel foot, not my road bike foot.
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Having paused to admire the Guildhall, and come away from the tourist office in the library with exactly the information on cycling I had expected – none, in other words – I headed north up NCN6, which follows an old railway line all the way to Market Harborough.
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It has the advantage of directness if not quite attractiveness, but I did enjoy a circuit en route of Pitsford Reservoir, which has a good, flat or gentle, gravel cycling and walking path all round its southern half. It’s rather reminiscent of Rutland Water, England’s most overlooked ‘lake’, a few miles to the northeast, and even has a branch of Rutland Cycling too.
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Back on the railtrail I got as far north as Kelmarsh Tunnel before deciding that I didn’t want to pick my way through spooky pitch black mud for half a kilometre – I spend enough of my life being kept in the dark, being knee-deep in you-know-what, and looking for light at the end of the tunnel – so I turned west to Maidwell instead.
I’d read that Creaton, beyond, was one of Northamptonshire’s most picturesque villages thanks to its green, though it was now raining torrentially and I saw little of it.
A few villages later the rain eased up, and I rendezvoused with my cycling chum Nigel just by the Althorp Estate. It’s the aristocratic home of the Spencer family, including Diana before her ill-fated marriage to Charles. If you’re wondering how to pronounce ‘Althorp’, ask the nearest earl.
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We trekked through the delightful woods at Harleston and Dallington Heath, and then the less delightful farm track beyond which showcased various fly-tipping techniques, back to Northampton, where more route research – of the sort between table and bar – awaited.