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Walk 1440 - printer friendly version

Lincoln Edge Walk

Author - North Kesteven Council

Length - 5.0 miles / 8.1 km

Ascent - 25 feet / 8 metres

Grade - easy

Start - OS grid reference SK980676
Lat 53.196461 + Long -0.534507
Postcode LN4 2JZ (approx. location only)

For nearly 1,500 years between the Roman Occupation and the dissolution of the monasteries, Lincoln owed its strategic and political importance to its situation in a gap in the Lincoln Edge at the meeting of two rivers, the Till and the Witham. These rivers met in a natural lake at Brayford Pool and in about 120AD Roman engineers took advantage of this harbour to connect the colony to the River Trent via Britain's first canal, the Fossdyke Navigation. In the marshes to the south of the city lay a patchwork of watermeadows known as 'holmes'. To the northeast, recent aerial photography has revealed that Lincoln once lay close to another estuary and it is possible that Brayford Pool was directly connected to the sea. East of Brayford the Witham flowed in a wide southeasterly curve to The Wash.

1 - Start your walk from the Bracebridge Heath Village Hall car park and walk down, through the houses, following the public bridleway signs until you emerge into open countryside.

2 - Turn left, following the Viking Way along the Lincoln Edge enjoying the views over the Witham and Trent Valleys. The walk passes along a small section of the Viking Way, a route which is identified by a logo of a Viking helmet. The entire Viking Way travels for 147 miles between Barton-on-Humber and Oakham. The route was chosen to reflect the influence of Scandinavian settlers in eastern England from the 9th Century onwards.

3 - After leaving the houses of Bracebridge Heath to your left, leave the Viking Way and take the permissive footpath off to your right for approximately 230 metres before continuing in the same direction along the restricted by-way for approximately 1 km, eventually going through the residential area, until you reach Brant Road.

4 - Turn left along Brant Road until the houses on your right end and you see a restricted by-way on the opposite side of the road.

5 - Turn right along this restricted by-way until you reach the River Witham.

6 - Turn right along the river bank and follow this for 3 km to Newark Road.

7 - Before Newark Road bridge, turn right and follow the footpath through trees and alongside Bracebridge Hall fish ponds until you exit onto a large area of grass.

8 - Turn left here, through the houses until you emerge back onto Brant Road. You will see All Saints Church in front of you.

9 - With care, cross Brant Road and follow Manse Avenue, past the church until you reach a footpath at the end of the road. Follow the public footpath for approximately 370 metres straight up the hill, before continuing in the same direction for approximately 170 metres on a permissive path into the open countryside. Near to the top, you will see the Viking Way footpath heading off to your right.

10 - Turn right along this path until you reach the point at which you first met the Viking Way and then turn left and return, through the houses, to the car park.

This route is from the Stepping Out series of walks produced by North Kesteven Council.

Walk 1440 Route Map

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