Away from our usual Cotswold haunts, seventeen GOC members, (including the Group Co-ordinators from South, West and East midlands groups) attended an 8½ mile walk in glorious sunshine starting in the pretty village of Badby in south Northamptonshire.  Across open fields with fantastic views we passed a meadow full of orchids just coming into bloom, before briefly visiting the attractive village of Staverton for a pit-stop..

Onward through fields of oats and barley we made our way to the majestic Catesby Viaduct to explore this famous remenant of the Great Central Railway, the last mainline to open, but sadly the only one closed by Dr Beeching in the 1960s.

The lunch stop was at the tiny hamlet of Lower Catesby once the site of a priory (until Henry VIII had it destroyed) it nonetheless has an interesting clock tower and small church which several members went off to explore.

In the afternoon we walked through the charming hamlet of upper Catesby before skirting round Arbury hill, the highest point of Northamptonshire with yet more stunning views, before returning to Badby.   Many members chose to finish the walk with a drink in the beer garden of the Maltsters inn, a fitting way to end an enjoyable day.