{"id":1430,"date":"2013-03-30T21:57:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T21:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2014-11-22T15:28:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T15:28:35","slug":"hit-the-north-stage-6-stamford-to-oakham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2013\/03\/hit-the-north-stage-6-stamford-to-oakham\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit the North! \u2013 Stage 6: Stamford to Oakham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is stage six of the <a title=\"Hit the North!\" href=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/2012\/09\/hit-the-north\/\">Hit The North expedition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1449\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1449\" style=\"width: 479px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1449 \" title=\"Stamford to Oakham via Rutland Water\" src=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Screenshot-2013-03-30-at-21.47.52.png\" alt=\"Stamford to Oakham via Rutland Water\" width=\"479\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Screenshot-2013-03-30-at-21.47.52.png 532w, https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Screenshot-2013-03-30-at-21.47.52-300x139.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1449\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stamford to Oakham via Rutland Water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I arrived in snowy Stamford just after midday, a friendly gent on the bridge agreed to take my photo.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Me, in Stamford\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-JU7b_AzNsps\/UVGbyfhTAmI\/AAAAAAAAAc4\/5lbn-pOq124\/s512\/SAM_0255-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Me, in Stamford\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Me, in Stamford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The river Welland was running swiftly under the bridge. \u00a0I followed the river westwards out of of town&#8230;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"The river Welland at Stamford\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" title=\"The river Welland at Stamford\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-BseGM0nECiY\/UVGbyY9IqZI\/AAAAAAAAAbA\/Vv5evdCcfVI\/s640\/SAM_0256-edit.jpg\" alt=\"The river Welland at Stamford\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The river Welland at Stamford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8230;and soon found myself on the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jurassic_Way\">Jurassic Way<\/a>\u00a0an 88 mile walk starting in Stamford and ending in Banbury in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" title=\"Trail signs...\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-m-z50N5rTxg\/UVGhTPkwNKI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/FnzC6iQHKMA\/s640\/SAM_0260-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Trail signs...\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trail signs&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Four miles later I found myself in the pretty village of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eastononthehill.com\/eastononthehill\/Home.html\">Easton on the Hill<\/a>\u00a0where I stopped for a snickers bar and some water.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" title=\"The church at Easton on the Hill\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-7AK-dvjSXnU\/UVGhTMVltwI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/vIJKjzJrgic\/s640\/SAM_0262-edit.jpg\" alt=\"The church at Easton on the Hill\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The church and churchyard at Easton on the Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I then struck out over gently rolling hills and fields. \u00a0The snow was quite deep in parts, I could have done with the snowshoes I enjoyed using so much earlier in the year during my\u00a0<a title=\"Some winter hiking in the Pyrennian snow and ice\" href=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/2013\/02\/some-winter-hiking-in-the-pyrennian-snow-and-ice\/\">Pyrenees\u00a0hike<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Winter tree near Easton on the Hill\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-9hLB1WqiNvs\/UVGhUUdnSGI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/bvQG1XDP0rQ\/s512\/SAM_0264-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Winter tree near Easton on the Hill\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winter tree near Easton on the Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I crossed the river Welland once more just outside the village of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ketton\">Ketton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The river Welland at Ketton\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-WQWtym8aUi0\/UVGhVOPrxWI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/9ExIz8Lz-ZU\/s512\/SAM_0265-edit.jpg\" alt=\"The river Welland at Ketton\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The river Welland at Ketton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At Ketton I crossed the county border between Northamptonshire and Rutland.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rutland!\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-g9GN4H0J92s\/UVGhWdtVmQI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/4bJJMNPFquw\/s512\/SAM_0268-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Rutland!\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rutland!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This was the first time I&#8217;ve walked in Rutland and I\u00a0immediately\u00a0thought of\u00a0Eric Idle&#8217;s Monty Python follow-up,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rutland_Weekend_Television\">Rutland Weekend Television<\/a>, that I enjoyed as a child in the 70s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1040\" height=\"780\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b5b1RVXi1wQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In Ketton I was met with a welcoming sign, only 10 miles to go!<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"10 miles to Oakham\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-rsyQVTBtmI0\/UVGhXDDKdDI\/AAAAAAAAAco\/PXD14JD-k7E\/s512\/SAM_0270-edit.jpg\" alt=\"10 miles to Oakham\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">10 miles to Oakham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, that 10 miles turned into 14 or so as I managed to get terribly lost just north of Ketton. \u00a0It took me an hour of walking around in\u00a0circles\u00a0before I managed to rejoin the path to Oakham, via Rutland Water.<\/p>\n<p>The last six miles of the walk were spent following a track around <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rutlandwater.org.uk\/\">Rutland Water<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" \" title=\"Rutland Water\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-KPr7wlmRp-Q\/UVGhYN__92I\/AAAAAAAAAdE\/VVrj9yJi4_Y\/s640\/SAM_0284-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Rutland Water\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rutland Water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And what a joy the walk was! \u00a0The cold had kept other walkers away and I had the route to myself for almost the whole way to Oakham.<\/p>\n<p>I arrived in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oakham\">Oakham<\/a> as the sun was setting and caught the train back to Ely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is stage six of the Hit The North expedition. I arrived in snowy Stamford just after midday, a friendly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,26],"tags":[32,66,80,65,43,79,76,54,50],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}