Slehec one

Verified Slow Way

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We walked the 7 mile route on a sunny but showery March weekend day.  The walk was generally pleasant with some field walking, road and lanes.  The first part was along a busy road and a pavement was only available at the start so we had to walk on the road verges which would have been treacherous if there was more traffic.  The path then diverted onto field walking where footpath signs were few and far between and if we didn't have a map with us, we would easily have got lost.

All in all, it was an enjoyable walk but there was a lot of road and lane walking which at this time of year with the fields muddy it wasn't a problem.  Heckington is a lovely village and the windmill has a great cafe just across the road from the station.  The cake was amazing!.

I did this walk from Sleaford to Heckington, catching the train back afterwards. Generally a very good walk with little issues along the way, although care needs to be taken with navigation as the footpath signage isn't always clear.

The route out of Sleaford is good with pavement alongside the road. However once leaving the town the route continues along a fairly busy road without paths, but there is a decent verge and clear views of oncoming traffic. Once on the footpath section the early parts are good on farm tracks, but there were some parts across the middle of fields that could have been very muddy after heavy rain. Mostly the paths were easy to follow but one field, towards a solar panel farm, was not marked out at all.

Past the solar panels and you are back onto quiet roads for most of the rest of the route, with little traffic. There are no facilities at Burton Pedwardine village midway through the walk.

The route into Heckington continued along more quiet roads but one small section of footpath was again unmarked and took some guesswork to find the correct route. The signpost on the far side could be made out however.

Heckington itself has a wealth of facilities, including a Co-op, a couple of pubs, and a tea room at the windmill in the village. The railway station is 0.4 miles away from the SlowWay start/finish point in the village centre.

On the whole a very good walk, let down slightly by the section of busy road and a couple of unmarked footpaths. There were no styles or kissing gates, and only a single small footbridge and a narrow gap at the end of a gate would cause any access issues.

Walked from Heckington to Sleaford. A bit road heavy, but probably as good a route as is possible, as most of the road sections are quiet.

Leaving the meeting point on Heckington High Street, we cross and follow High Street west, then go half left onto the quiet Burton Road, where we cross the railway on a level crossing. Beyond Southview Farm a well cut field path offers a shortcut, after which we continue along the road into Burton Pedwardine, where we turn right twice then left onto Whitecross Lane, which is also quiet. We cross the Lincoln-Peterborough railway on a bridge and continue to Burton Gorse. The path north is signposted, but a large solar farm is being installed in the field around the Burton Gorse plantation, and the farmer expects us to walk on grass strips parallel to the farm road (the signage is a little confusing!). Eventually we reach a more open field, where the path is initially just about visible, then has a well cut section, then crosses a large field as little more than tractor tracks.

We reach an obvious farm lane, where the right of way rather pointlessly crosses a footbridge then returns onto the lane. We turn right to follow the edge of another field - this section looks as if it would be quite muddy when wet, then follow another farm lane out to Mareham Lane, a fairly busy road which has verges but no pavement until the edge of Sleaford is reached. We follow the road into the town, turning right over the level crossing and left to the meeting point outside the station.

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