Botlon three

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Botlon here.

Walked from Bottesford to Long Bennington on a sunny but windy spring morning, after some rain the previous day. A good enjoyable route, easy to follow and unlike both BOTLON 1 and BOTLON 2, it does not use any paths whose right of way status is not clearly defined. There are muddy sections and since the soil is clay, the mud is very sticky.

Having walked BOTLON 2 last year and flagged it due to concerns over non-rights of way, I felt I ought to come up with an easier route, and this is it. This one is a little longer, but is entirely on bridleways and roads.

Leaving the meeting point at Bottesford station (which I think is fine, as it is far easier to get there by train than bus from Nottingham and further east), we follow Station Road west then take the level crossing onto the old lane that leads up to the beacon. We take the diagonal bridleway right which crosses a large open field - this is usually well marked and trodden but can be quite muddy. Rather than crossing into the wood, we stay on the bridleway as it trends south. At one point we cross another large muddy clayfield on a diagonal line. Further on the path goes through a tree lined lane (more mud) before heading uphill to the crossroads where we turn left onto Sewstern Lane. This is part of Sewstern Drift, a long and fairly straight old drove road that connects Long Bennington with Rutland and forms part of the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire border, and will be familiar to anyone who has walked the Viking Way.

The lane has a rough gravel surface until Thackson's Well farm, and beyond that it is a quiet surfaced road as far as the A1 junction. This is not usually busy enough to feel dangerous, and the slip roads are wide. We stay on the Viking Way, bearing right beyond the bridge to find Church Lane, a quieter but slightly longer route into Long Bennington than the old main road. This leads easily past the church, circling back onto the Great North Road and on to the open space where the meeting point is, just beyond Sparrow Lane opposite the Co-Op.

Note that I also spotted a private sign at the end of the track that is used on BOTLON 1 to reach Sewstern Lane, which confirmed my suspicion that this is not a right of way.

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