Yesterday’s cricket match went to “the Fellows”, and our son took two catches and two wickets. It would have been good to watch.

Today, Mick and I decided we’d not use any buses, but rather go for a walk and explore the local area further.

What better ‘carrot’ or goal for our walk than lunch in an English country pub.

The Red House is located in Longstowe ……

…… and was a 40 minute walk from where we are staying.……

…… according to Maps.

The animals were left at home guarding the house from a poor fellow who has been engaged by the owner to paint the outside of the windows. Whenever he walks near the dogs they won’t stop barking at him.

It was a glorious day here as we set off, passing more cute houses in the village.

We’d not been in this direction before, so everything was new and exciting to us.

We had to walk along Fox Road, which became quite busy.

And the side of the road, called verges over here, soon disappeared.

We had tried to find some ordinance maps online before we left, in the hope we’d find a designated walking path, but had no luck.

We spotted a few possibilities on our outward journey that looked promising, but we know from experience these can lead you in the wrong direction, so we decided to stick with Maps.

We passed some farms where the farmers were busy bailing hay – as I said it was a beaut day and they were “making hay while the sun shone”.

We passed an arts centre advertising a cafe after about 2km,

… but the promise of a pub lunch was too much to pass up. So, on we pushed until we reached what Mick was sure was an old Roman Road, because of its straightness, the Old North Road. The traffic became pretty scary and there was no footpath on either side. It was becoming too dangerous, but Maps indicated we only had 250m to go, and then…

… the app lost us altogether.

We’d walked almost 3.5km by then and made the decision to turn around back towards an old railway station we’d seen about 500m back.

This time we walked along a field and climbed through a break in the fence to arrive at The Old North Road Railway Station, now used as a wedding centre.

But, there was no sign of life, and no sign of a pub.

So, we made the decision to retrace our steps and head for home. We’d passed heaps of blackberry bushes on our ramblings.

Thank heavens, as I was getting hungry.

I was really pleased Mick did not get too upset with me or Maps.

We came upon the cafe we’d passed early in our walk and decided we’d stop in for lunch.

No cider or beer here, but we both enjoyed a great (cheap) lunch and a cuppa.

Feeling refreshed, and spotting the church spire not too far off, we followed this sign.

I don’t think we kept to the designated footpath, but Mick led the way assuring me he was following old footprints.

The arrow is showing the church spire, which is next door to where we’re staying.

The last segment of our walk was halved. And because lunch was so good, we may go back, but not to The Red House.

Mick was right – when we got home I researched the Old North Road and it was originally a major Roman Road that linked London and Lincoln.

The day ended well. The only real casualties were our shins which had taken a beating from the stinging nettles.

We shouted ourselves a treat at The Willow Tree to end the day.