(S/E) From the southern end of Hubbard's Hills, turn right and walk along Hallington Road and under the bypass. Ignore the footpath on your right, continuing until you reach a bridleway on your right.
Hubbards's HIlls was given to the people of Louth in 1907 by the trustees of Auguste Alphonse Pahud, a teacher at the Grammar School. Since then the valley has been enjoyed by the town's residents and visitors alike.
(1) Go through the gate, cross the grass field and through another gate to join a track. Follow this track, ignoring any other paths until you reach the A157 road.
(2) This is a busy road so please take care as you cross straight over and turn right to follow the road to the junction of the A631. Here go left, taking care as you cross the road to join the tarmac footway towards South Elkington.
(3) Just past Brickyard Cottages, take the right turn up a tarmac farm track. This section of the walk is permissive, agreed with the kind permission of the landowner and is only available to walkers. Continue through Acthorpe Top staying on the track as it continues to Acthorpe Farm.
There are some fantastic views from up here - look back to the town and the coast
(4) Where the track meets a road, turn right and after approximately 200 metres, turn left along a grassy footpath.
(5) Continue on this route as it passes woodland, arable and crosses a small stream and a farm track to emerge onto North Elkington Lane opposite a wood. Here turn right and follow the road as it bends right then left, toward the A16.
(6) The A16 Fotherby bypass should be crossed with care. Once crossed, continue on the minor road and cross another road to join Little Grimsby Lane. Follow this for a while as it crosses the line of an old railway until a sharp left hand bend.
(7) There, turn right on a track and follow the footpath through the grounds of Brackenborough Hall. Cross the cattle grid and follow the tree-lined avenue before crossing another cattle grid to join Brackenborough Road, Turn right and follow the road, taking care along this busy section.
Look at the lumps and bumps in the ground as you walk through the grounds of Brackenborough Hall. This is where the larger village used to be! Many of these villages disappeared in the 13th-15th centuries due to a complex mix of reasons. These included the Black Death, famine and changes in agricultural practices. The Wolds has one of the highest concentrations of deserted or shrunken medieval villages in the country.
(8) As you enter Louth, turn left at the crossroads, following Keddington Road past Grosvenor Road, until you take the footpath on your right (before Elm Drive). Follow this down crossing another road to reach Louth Canal. Cross the canal by the weir footbridge.
(9) Turn left walk along the canal towpath, until you reach another footbridge on your left. Ignore this and turn right over another footbridge. Go through a gate and cross the field to a stile and the road.
(10) Carefully cross the road to join the tarmac footway and turn left, ignoring the first footpath on your right. Take the second footpath on your right that passes close to the remains of Louth Abbey (no public access) to cross Monk's Dyke and over farmland to Stewton.
Louth Abbey, founded by Cistercian Monks in 1139, exported wool to the Continent from Saltfleet. Henry VIII shut the Abbey and executed the Abbot during the Dissolution in 1536.
(11) At the road go straight ahead, then follow the road to the right. Stay on Stewton Lane, ignoring a footpath on the left to take the third left footpath, over a footbridge. Follow the path round the edge of the fields, with a hedge on your right.
(12) Go over a footbridge and turn left towards some houses. Cross another bridge. Go straight on down the paved road, turn right at Blanchard Road and then take the first left. Cross the road and take the footpath along Bradley Close. Ignore the turning on the right and continue to the end of the cul-de-sac. Take the narrow footpath straight ahead, between two fences. Turn left onto Florence Wright Avenue.
(13) At the main road turn left and cross the road at the island. Turn into Kenwick Road, then turn right over a stile onto a footpath. Follow the edge of the next two fields, then turn right. Turn left just past a house. Follow the edge of the playing fields to the car park.
(14) As you emerge onto London Road, turn right uphill and walk past the cemetery. As the road starts to go downhill, turn left into Meridian View. Turn left into Bluestone Rise. Almost immediately, turn right between two fences. Continue along the road, following it right downhill. Turn left at the Horncastle Road, going uphill, then cross the road.
(15) Follow the road downhill past a house (Wolds End) then turn right on a footpath crossing the golf course. Go down the steps to Hubbards Hills, your starting point.(S/E)
