Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

This morning the Three Amigos met up early and thus avoided the heat of the day. The recent heatwave is due to break tomorrow which will come as a welcome relief. Our 7-mile walk today was along the redundant ironstone railway near Woolsthorpe. We would see many lovely brick bridges along the way.

A number of quarries were worked in the area by Stanton Ironworks Ltd. These are long gone but digging into the history is very interesting. I highly recommend a book by Eric Tonks ‘The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands -part 9, Leicestershire’

We parked by ‘The Duck’ pub at Woolsthorpe-by-belvoir and set off along the Grantham Canal towards Longmoor bridge where we crossed over the canal and joined the Viking Way.

We were heading up towards Brewers Grave. We passed the remains of a railway bridge where the brick embankments still stand proud.

A steady walk uphill on a narrow stony path brought us to Brewers Grave.

At the top we passed by wrought iron gates – a minor entrance to Belvoir Castle. We then joined Sewestern Lane and followed this wide, straight track to reach an old railway bridge.

One of the reasons for choosing this particular walk today was that it was shaded by trees for much of the route.

It is would be quite bizarre after walking through woodland to find such a bridge if you weren’t aware of the history.

We had not met a soul so far – not even a dog walker! We continued along the straight wide track where the railway had run.

Just past Denton Manor Farm we crossed a metal bridge built to allow the farmer access to his land.

The path narrowed and we pressed onward.

We arrived at a lovely three- arch road bridge across the old railway.

As per usual we were enjoying putting the world to rights as the miles slid by.

Leaving the railway track we passed through a field containing the purple Phacelia – used to improve soil health. Its beautiful to see the vibrant purple flowers.

We arrived at the Grantham Canal once more and walked back along the towpath before re-joining the old railway line.

We walked along this track to reach lock 15 where fish were viewed swimming in the lock – a sign of a healthy canal. A walk back along the towpath brought us to our cars. The temperature was rising and we were glad we had made the effort to get out early.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶