Hecbos two

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(3.5 stars rounded up to 4). Walked from Boston to Heckington. Mostly enjoyable, but there is a two mile section along the A17, parts of which have no pavement, but there is a verge available and in two places, the old road can be used. One other minor problem is that one of the gates on the South Forty Foot Drain path east of Swineshead was padlocked, and I had to climb over the gate.

From the meeting point in the market place in Boston, we cross the square and head down the alleyway that leads to the pedestrian bridge over the river Witham. We continue past the bus station and turn south onto Bond Street and George Street. There is a pelican crossing over the A52 just right of George Street, and we continue onto Broadfield Street, crossing the railway on a level crossing. We follow Broadfield Lane around a few bends into a little park, where a path continues over the railway to the bank of the South Forty Foot drain, where we turn right onto a good but unsurfaced footpath, which might get a bit muddy when wet. We continue to the A52 bridge on Swineshead Road, where we cross the road and move to the south bank of the Drain. Here a surfaced cycle path goes as far as Hubberts Bridge, where there is a pub.

Beyond this the path is almost unmarked as it follows the flood barriers through pastures grazed by cows. The problematic locked gate I mentioned in the first paragraph is just beyond Rodrest, beyond which there are more pastures. Just before Swineshead the path becomes clearer and narrower, and the exit onto the A17 involves stepping over a crash barrier.

We follow the road back to the north side of the bridge, then there is no alternative to continuing along the verge for most of the next two miles - there are short pavement sections and there are two places where it is possible to escape onto the old road, but this is by far the least enjoyable part of the walk. Having studied the map, the only ways to avoid this section would be much longer, either to the south using Donington High Bridge or to the north via South Kyme, Holland Fen, Langrick Bridge and the Witham. There are a couple of garages on the south side of the main road,, but I didn't investigate what refreshment options they might have offered because I didn't want to cross the busy road twice.

Eventually we reach the very straight B1395, which is much quieter, and has verges though it is not really necessary to use them. After about a mile we turn right onto Littleworth Drove, and follow it for some distance before turning right onto Sandlees Lane, a compacted gravel track. We then follow a drainage ditch to the A17 Heckington bypass, where we follow the road right towards Littleworth Drove, where a fenced off wood prevents direct access to the bridge, and we turn right to reach the road about 100 metres further north. We cross the bridge and head into Heckington, using a couple of paths to relieve the road walking. There is a small grocery shop beyond the churchyard. Between Church Street and High Street there is a surfaced diagonal path, which ends just left of the meeting point where there are two benches.

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