The second walk in our series of Thrapston walks to try during your daily exercise time.
The terrain of this walk is ‘challenging’ with some small hill scrambles/climbs. It is NOT suitable for pushchairs and small children.
The walk is 1.35 miles long.
My walk today begins at The Woolpack Inn, just over the bridge in Islip.

The Woolpack Inn
Cross over the road and past a five-bar gate taking you to the River Nene, where you can sit by the EA moorings in summer weather. If you carry on walking in the same direction as when you crossed the road, you will see an archway in the hedgerow to walk through.

Looking back towards Nine Arches Bridge
You will appear at the top of a bund, put there to protect local houses from flooding. In 2012 the water from the rains saw the River Nene burst its banks, filling these fishing lakes with excess water, and see the water reach the very top of the bunds.
Continuing on, with the fishing lakes on your left. Follow the shorter grass ‘path’. Ahead of you, you will see many cut trees and also some newly planted ones. We’re not sure on what’s going on, whether the trees are being cut for wood or are diseased and need to come down. Great to see lots being planted though.
The large black/grey bridge ahead is the old railway bridge. Another walk on another day will take you under the bridge and further round, but for today, don’t go through the bridge…
Look upwards and you will see a way to scramble up the side of the old railway and onto where the railway line would be – we are going to go over the black bridge. The scramble up the bank is short but quite steep, you need to be sure on your feet and wear trainers or similar.
After you’ve scrambled to the top, turn left along the old railway track.

Along the old railway track
You are now walking quite high up and if you can see over the walls of the bridge, the views are lovely. Look over the right-hand side and see the A14 snaking its way across the river and flood plains.
Continue to walk along this path – but what goes up must come down…. Another scramble back down and onto Midland Road. You are now opposite The Sidings Estate entrance.
Turn left and walk down Midland Road until you get to the roundabout with The Plaza Centre on it, take the first exit, walking past The Bridge Hotel, over Nine Arches Bridge and back to the Woolpack.
A fairly short walk but with some exciting scrambling for older kids.
We hope you enjoyed the walk and have maybe seen parts of Thrapston you are unfamiliar with? Pop a note in the comments below and tell us if you enjoyed it and if you saw any wildlife along the way. Post your walk photos to Welcome to Thrapston too!
Our first walk can be found here – A Covid Constitutional – An April Walk to the Sailing Club