New Inn Gannaway Wood 5 Mile Walk 1

Leave the New Inn pub car park using the pedestrian path. Turn left on to Snitterfield Lane before turning left into Church Road.   Go into the churchyard and exit via the kissing gate at the bottom left corner of the churchyard.  However, stop and admire the view from the cemetery which extends to Warwick (due west) and Edge Hill (south west).

Continue down the edge of the field to its corner. Do not follow the footpath to the left, but turn right onto the permissive path towards the field’s entrance.  At the road turn left, and continue on the tarmac road through a sharp bend to the right and pass the sign marked “Private No Through Road”.

After about 600m the road enters a farmyard. Go and bear slightly left passing between the barns. Just beyond the left hand barn look for a metal gate to the left with a footpath sign. Pass through the gate into a field and head uphill keeping the field boundary on your right. At the top of the field admire the view before carrying straight on and down to a walkers' gate. Go through and cross the bridge into a second field.  Follow the bridleway signs to the left. Continue along the edge of the field until it meets a rough grass vehicle track on the right. Turn right onto this track towards the houses.

Pass through a gate marked with a yellow footpath sign and continue on the driveway to the right. Stay on the driveway for just over 1 km until emerging onto a road.

Turn right (uphill) onto the road, after about 0.5 km turn left onto a gravel track marked Blacon Farm.  Go up the track passing a lone pine tree about halfway up on the right. Beyond the pine, glance back for good views of Leamington and Coventry.  Follow the track as it bends right around the corner of the barn.   Proceed along the track for about 1km after which it emerges onto a road. Look back shortly before reaching the road to get good views across South Warwickshire with Ilmington to the south south-east.

At wet times of the year the next part of the walk can be muddy.  If this is the case the walk can be shortened by turning right onto the road and heading back into Norton Lindsey on the footpath.

Cross the road bearing slightly left to a marked bridleway immediately to the left of a gated farm track. (Do not take the marked footpath to the right of the gate.) The bridleway continues between a hedge to the left and wire fence to the right. Follow the path, after 300m the footpath bends sharp right.  Continue on it  for another 600m.  

The ditch on the right can be crossed using a twin sleeper bridge. Cross the bridge and pass into a field. Go straight across the field to the corner where the wood meets it.  Enter the wood.  After 200m the track emerges at a stile into a field. Continue straight on ensuring the field boundary is to your left. Exit by the stile, and follow the track past a second stile to emerge at a road.

Turn left onto the road, and after 100m right onto a walking track marked with a public footpath sign through a spinney. This track emerges at the corner of Norton Lindsey sports field. Follow the boundary clockwise around the sports field to the diagonally opposite corner.  Exit onto the tarmac footpath and turn left.  Go along the footpath until it ends at a point where a Victorian signpost sits at the junction of the road.   Cross the road into Main Street and continue to The New Inn pub. Retire to The New Inn for a well-earned refreshment.