Route extension starting from Lapworth station: Turn right at the station entrance and walk down Station Lane to its junction with Old Warwick Road. Turn right and walk under the railway bridge. A gate on the left gives access to a path running to the left of the canal reservoir. Follow this path round two sides of the reservoir to reach canal bridge 35A. Turn right and walk a short distance along the towpath to find a path through the trees on your left into the car park where you start the main route.
[1] From the car park, walk away from the canal into Brome Hall Lane and turn left. At the end of the tarmac road the route continues as a bridleway along a farm track. Brome Hall has a long documented history. In the sixteenth century it was the centre of an independent manor. Pass just to the right of the buildings of Brome Hall Farm. Then go through a metal gate and continue along the bridleway, now rather narrower. This section can be muddy.
Another track joins from the left. This is Dick's Lane, an unclassified county road. Traffic noise will already have warned you that you are approaching the motorway but you do not see anything until you are almost upon it. Go through the bridge under the motorway and continue along the lane. Watch out for the point where a waymarker points you right, away from the main track. After another possibly muddy section you reach a minor road.
[2] Turn left and walk along the road, then turn right at the first junction into Bushwood Lane. Follow this lane as it turns right and then left. You pass Bushwood Hall, site of a medieval moated house. Robert Catesby, organiser of the Gunpowder Plot was born here in 1573. In a woodland strip you cross the Tapster Brook, which you will meet again later. At a crossroads turn right into Tapster Lane. After 500 metres go over a stile in the hedge on the left which has a Millennium Way waymarker. Walk along the edge of the field with a hedge on your right. Look for the stile in the hedge ahead which is about 10 metres left of the field corner. Go over the stile and turn right, following the field edge.
A prominent marker post indicates where you turn right through a gap in the hedge and emerge at a kissing gate. Walk around the edge of the next field with a hedge on your right. Keep going to the far left hand corner where there a kissing gate and stile lead to a footbridge over the Tapster Brook.
The brook runs alongside the road at this point and you can see a ford to your right. If you explore to your left you will soon find a ford in that direction as well. After any significant rainfall the road is under water at both points.
[3] From the footbridge go straight ahead up an unsurfaced lane. After 100 metres go through a kissing gate on the left, still following the Millennium Way. Follow a poorly defined path through rough grassland, keeping close to the hedge on your right. Approaching a field corner go through a gap in the hedge to emerge at a kissing gate. Continue through grassy fields, aiming for field gates in the fences. Go over a footbridge into waste ground alongside the M40. Climb rough steps on an embankment and cross the motorway on a footbridge.
Go straight ahead over a stile and enter the well cared for grounds of a private estate. This land has an interesting history. Formerly known as Claycrofte and extending south to the Tapster Brook it was controlled by the Lapworth Charities and managed under the Open Field system well into the 19th century. Follow a series of waymark posts to walk through a gap in the hedge on the right and on to a point where a driveway disappears round the right side of some outbuildings. Now walk up the driveway to a set of gates where you go over a stile to the right. Go up to the road, turn right and walk towards Lapworth church. The core of the church building dates from the early 12th century but the whole structure was remodelled in the 15th century, so the first impression is now of a building in the perpendicular style. Notable features are the West Chantry Chapel on the first floor above an archway and the Tower on the north side detached from the main church building. It is thought that the chantry chapel once held holy relics. The two external staircases would have enabled the orderly passage of devotees.
Turn right onto a path immediately in front of the church and continue straight ahead past the primary school to reach a minor road.
[4] Go straight across the road to a stile beside a gate. Walk along the left hand edge of a grassy field to a gate in the hedge, then diagonally right across rough grassland. Pass a pond on your right and go over a footbridge to reach a kissing gate. Continue across a large grassy field, keeping parallel to the hedge on the right. Go through a gap in the short hedge line ahead and then aim for a metal kissing gate. This lets you into a corner of the grounds of the Lapworth Cricket Club. The right of way actually runs across the outfield, to a wooden gate just right of the pavilion, although you would naturally walk round the boundary if there was a match in progress.
Continue along the right hand edge of the next field, then head for a kissing gate at the far corner of a triangular field. Do not go out to the road but turn left onto a path leading down to the canal towpath where you turn right. You now only need to follow the canal back to the start. Between bridges 32 and 33 the towpath switches to the left of the canal and then back again. Notice one of the peculiarities of the Stratford canal - the bridges have a gap in the middle to allow the towrope to pass through. Bridge 35 is your final bridge. Just after this bridge turn right into woodland to find the car park.
Route extension returning to Lapworth station: Leave the canal at bridge 34 and walk north along Mill Lane. After 400 metres turn right through a wooden kissing gate onto a waymarked footpath. Follow this path along the edge of two grassy fields. As you approach the railway turn left onto a path leading to a footbridge over the tracks.