[1] From the parking spot walk a few metres towards the bridge to find a bridleway signpost on the opposite side of the road. Go through a gate on the right with a Jurassic Way waymark and head diagonally left across the field. Take a good look round as you cross the field. To your left is the site of Charwelton station on the Great Central railway. A two mile long mineral railway, with its own locomotives, once ran west from the goods yard alongside the Hellidon road to ironstone quarries. As you top a slight rise you will see the private drive to Charwelton Hall ahead of you. Aim for the point where the drive enters the trees on your left. (You will also see a footpath gate to your right, but this is on a different route.) Some of the 'lumps and bumps' in the southern part of the field are thought to indicate that the medieval settlement of Upper Charwelton extended into this area. Go through a gate and follow the drive to the left to reach the A361 road. Cross the road with care.
(A) Scarcely noticed by motorists, the A361 crosses the Cherwell at this point. To the east of the modern road an old packhorse bridge has survived. It is thought to date from the fifteenth century. You have reached your first river, and can imagine its water flowing through London to the sea.
Go over a stile behind the war memorial and walk across a field, following a line of telegraph poles. Cross a footbridge over a small tributary of the Cherwell and climb a bank to reach another stile. Head along the field edge to the right. Go through a gate then turn left and walk along a lane and over a railway bridge. You arrive at a gate with a stile beside it. From this point the tarmac lane (which is a right of way) takes a slightly indirect route to waypoint 2 but a shorter option is to follow a bridleway across the meadows directly towards the tower of Charwelton church. Go through a gate into the churchyard and follow the path that runs to the west of the church. Charwelton church dates from the fourteenth century and was restored and extended in 1904. The area around the church was once the more populous of the two Charwelton settlements but the historian John Rous recorded that the whole parish was depopulated by 1491.
[2] Next to a gate in the southern wall of the churchyard a signpost indicates the line of the footpath ahead, following a line of telegraph poles across open grassland. By the buildings of Church Farm a second signpost indicates that the track to the left is a bridleway. Follow this track to reach a road.
The bridleway continues on the far side of the road, through a gap into a field and then through a metal gate. Initially you follow the hedge on your right, but as the hedge starts a gentle right hand curve you should look for a couple of buildings in the next valley and walk towards them. This course will bring you to a gate in the far right corner of the field. Follow a track from the gate down towards the buildings (which are those of the Granary Hotel). Keep straight on as you approach the buildings, even though the main track diverts to the left. You join a tarmac lane and follow it to a junction. Turn right onto the minor road through Fawsley, passing Fawsley Hall (also an hotel) and then Fawsley Church. The 13th century church is noted for its memorials to members of the Knightley family. It now stands isolated in parkland, but there is evidence that a village once existed to the north and east of it, in part now under the lake. The brook running through Fawsley is a tributary of the Nene, so you are already in the catchment area of your second river. You will see the river itself at Badby.
[3] After the church the road bends left and runs down to a small stream. Just over the stream go through a gate on the left signposted as the Knightley Way footpath. Follow the Knightley Way through mature parkland belonging to the Fawsley Estate and up to a tree covered hilltop. The route is well waymarked, principally with a series of white discs. At the far side of the parkland go through a gate and turn right along a path to the edge of Badby Wood. Badby Wood is well known for its bluebells in spring. It is ancient woodland where trees have grown for hundreds of years and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Documents record a deer park here in 1245. The wood is private but public access is permitted by the Fawsley Estate and you may choose to venture into the wood on the alternative route. Navigation is more difficult on the alternative route as the tracks are not waymarked. The direct route continues on the Knightley Way around the western edge of the wood. When you reach a gate at the end of the woodland go diagonally across a field to a stile beside a gate. Continue along the left hand edge of the next field to reach a gate initially hidden behind a projection in the hedgerow.
To follow the alternative route turn right at a path junction shortly after entering the woodland. This path runs close to the southern edge of the wood. After 500 metres you cross a track coming down from a gate at the woodland edge. Turn left onto this track and turn left again at the next path junction. Follow a clear path heading north or north-west and keeping to the right hand side of a small valley. Eventually you cross a stream and climb a slope to reach the woodland edge. Go over a low fence and walk diagonally left across the next field to reach a waymarked gate. (There are two other gates initially more prominent along the far hedgerow. The gate you want is further to the left.)
Walk up a path to emerge opposite Badby church. It is difficult to resist the charm of Badby village, with cottages clustered around the greens, many of them thatched, and all in the local ironstone, like the 14th century church. Turn right along Church Hill and carry on into Brookside Lane, which you follow to its junction with Chapel Lane. Turn left and find a gateway on the right after 50 metres. Go over a stile to the right of the gate and walk diagonally across the field, passing to the right of a clump of trees.
(B) At the far side of the field you reach a stile and a footbridge over the River Nene. Should you be tempted to follow the river downstream the Nene Way is a waymarked trail, 110 miles long, ending in Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire.
Turn round from the footbridge and walk straight across the same field to reach a gate in the opposite fence. Continue in the same direction on a path alongside a hedge. Pass to the left of a house and then take a path on the left that runs along the edge of one of Badby's greens.
[4] Cross over the green and walk up Main Street, past the telephone box. Turn right into Bunkers Hill and walk out of the village, past the nursery where there is a tea shop. Cross the A361 with care. Continue straight across along a lane which crosses a small valley and then climbs towards Arbury Hill. To your right you have a view of the upper Nene valley and Big Hill, near Staverton, beyond it. Turn left at a bridleway signpost onto a track that crosses the saddle between Arbury and Haycock Hills. As you approach you can see the motocross track on the hillside. The highest point in Northamptonshire is found on Arbury Hill, but there is no public access to the summit. After several gates the track, now with the status of a byway, becomes a lane between hedges. In passing Arbury Hill you have left the catchment of the Nene, but you have not yet entered the Leam catchment since a small tributary of the Cherwell runs north as far as Highfield Farm ahead of you. You are close to the point where the three catchments come together, about two fields to your right.
[5] The byway turns right after a gate but your route continues straight ahead on a bridleway keeping a hedge on your left. You cross a field, go through a small wooded area and cross a second field. You are approaching the earthworks created during the construction of the Catesby tunnel, with one of the ventilation shafts visible to your right. Past the earthworks the track swings right to a gate. Go through, turn left and follow a track to the left of farm buildings. Continue until you reach a road, noting that the bridleway diverts to the left of the final metal gate.
Turn right and walk down the road for 100 metres, then turn left at a footpath signpost. Walk straight out over the ploughed field, which is on the side of a hill. For a few minutes, as you reach the top of the hill, you are in contact with a wider world. Birmingham tower blocks can be seen on the skyline ahead, while Shuckburgh Hill is prominent in the middle distance. To the north you should see Rugby cement works and it may be possible to pick out Bardon Hill, the highest point in Leicestershire. Carrying on you aim for a conspicuous gap in the next hedge and then for a stile in the bottom of a dip. Continue down hill, with a fence on your right, to reach a footbridge.
(C) You have reached the valley of the Leam, a tiny stream made more impressive by being dammed to form a lake. Go over the bridge, left along the edge of a field and down a flight of steps to reach the dam. As you cross the dam you hear the Leam on its way to the Bristol Channel. If the vegetation is not too high you will be able to see the stream as well.
Once over the dam head diagonally left to pick up a hedge line on your right. Look for a stile in this hedge. Cross the stile and turn left to follow a track passing to the right of farm buildings. Turn left into Stockwell Lane. Hellidon avoided wholesale conversion to pasture, the open fields surviving to 1774. Presumably Stockwell Lane derives its name from the well and pump you pass on the left hand side. Up on the right is the village church, of medieval origin but largely rebuilt in 1847.
[6] The final section of the walk follows the Jurassic Way long distance path. Walk along Stockwell Lane through the village to reach a junction by the Red Lion pub. Take your next direction from a footpath signpost on the right and cross a grassy field. In the next field aim for a stile in the far left corner. As you cross the shoulder of Windmill Hill you can check your route by looking back to Hellidon church. You should be walking directly away from its tower. To your left you can see Arbury Hill and Sharman's Hill and to your right you have a view of the upper Cherwell valley, dominated by the microwave tower on Blackdown Hill. Go through a gap in the next hedge and then aim for the left end of a projecting hedge. Continue to a footbridge and stile at the far right corner of the field. The path now turns slightly to the right through an irregularly shaped field, crossing two stiles, then runs along the right hand hedge of the next field. Cross another stile then head slightly left to a stile in the far hedge. You now enter a large ploughed field. The path heads diagonally across the field to emerge on Hellidon Road just west of waypoint 1.