[1] Start the walk from the bend in Main Street at the junction of Blacksmith End. Heading off along Main Street towards Eastwell take Red Lion Street on your left. Follow this road bending right then enter St. Guthlac's churchyard. Follow the path passing the church porch and bend right along a path to a narrow road. Turn left along the road passing the village school on your right. At the end of this road, Water Lane, turn right, ignore the first footpath (dead end path) on the left. As the road bends right take the footpath along the track to the left.
Follow the track until a stile allows access to a field, bear right across the centre of the field heading towards the buildings in the distance. At the time of writing water from a blocked culvert had scoured a hole in the ground near the stile. The problem has been reported to Leicestershire County Council. Enter the next field and follow the hedge on your right. Continue in the same direction heading for the left of the buildings, crossing a stile hidden in the dip. A wall now prevents access to the old Harby and Stathern station site but it also clearly defines the route across the site. Follow the wall on your right then a well walked path to a stile and enter a field.
[2] Continue in the same general direction along a raised ridge to a hunt jump and stile.
(A) This is an excellent example of ridge and furrow cultivation which came to an abrupt end with the Enclosure of land at the end of the 18th century.
Cross the stile and turn right along the lane. Continue until arriving at a cross track, turn left along this bridleway and follow the line of poles and wires. At the next junction a footpath enters the field on the left, ignore this and turn right along another green lane towards houses. This track is named Green Lane and meets another road. Turn left a short distance along the road then right into Greggs Lane, really just a footpath. Follow this path to its end then turn left along an enclosed village path. Cross a road and continue until the path opens out to serve cottages and emerges at a road. You have walked along The Red Causeway.
Cross the road and take Watsons Lane. When the road bends sharp right continue along the enclosed footpath past one building on the left then turn left and follow the path which again opens out before meeting a road.
[3] At the road there is a footpath opposite which would take you to Hose should you wish to extend the walk and you have a map. This walk turns right along the road in front of the former chapel, now the Valley Christian Fellowship. Continue along the road passing the Nags Head Inn until you reach the garage which also offers The Tea Junction cafe, shop and post office. Turn right here along School Lane passing first the village hall. At the war memorial in front of the school take the footpath left towards the church along the drive of Harby Hall Farmhouse.
At the end of the drive there is a seat if you have your own refreshments. Take the hand gate on the left into a field and follow the well walked path along the hedge side to another gate. The path then bears slightly left diagonally across the field towards the broken hedge where a yellow topped post indicates the correct gap to pass through. Bear a little more to the left down the hill to the bottom right corner of the field.
[4] There is now a bridge which crosses the Grantham canal, no boats here as the navigation has been closed since the 1930s. You could take the towing path but as an alternative pass through the handgate and drop down the slope. A track ends at a gate on your left, this is a field road or "Public Access Route" as the Leicestershire County Council waymarks call it. Do not go through the gate but turn right at this point and cross the humps and hollows across the field to a gate which exits the field and leads to a hedged green lane. Follow this green lane to pass Dove Hospice Tea Room. From the tea room join the canal towpath and walk away from the bridge with the canal on your right.
[5] Leave the towpath at the next bridge (46). Cross the bridge and follow the path up the slope among the trees. The path crosses an old rail bridge, continue along a field edge with the hedge on your right. After the next stile the path splits. I suggest the right hand path, over another disused bridge. The paths rejoin at the bottom of the slope by a gate and stile. Pass through the gate and bear right to walk along the field edge with the hedge on your right towards buildings.
The path passes to the left of these houses, dips to cross a stream then climbs into another field. With the hedge now on your left continue along the path to join the road on the edge of Plungar.
[6] Continue along the road towards the village then take Frog Lane the first turn on your left. Follow round the first to the right but at the next turn left along The Gas which becomes a footpath and leads to Post Office Lane. At the cross roads by The Anchor Inn take Church Lane opposite. As the road bends left take a footpath right by the gate to Manor Farm House. Follow the enclosed path to a road and turn right, pass the junction with Granby Lane. At the cross road by the war memorial the other end of Frog Lane is to the right but turn left here with the houses of Highgate Close to your right. Follow the road a short distance to a footpath on the right and take this into the field.
[7] Walk diagonally across the field to the far corner where a gate provides easy access to a large arable field. Continue in much the same direction heading for the end of a hedge some distance away. Here our path crosses a track, continues diagonally across another large field to another gate. One more field, this time grass, leads to the road. The next path is offset to the right so take care crossing this fast straight road. Cross two more fields to meet a quiet lane. Cross the lane and continue in the same direction to a kissing gate near the field corner. The next field is rough grass but with a well trodden path. At the corner of a hedge turn right and follow the hedge to another kissing gate where a track leads to the village road. Turn left along the road passing The Plough Inn back to the centre of Stathern.