From Fiveways, walk along Back Lane towards Blisworth Road, turn left, then right into Milton Road and continue down to the railway bridge. Turn right onto the footpath marked with a finger post, just before the bridge. The path runs parallel with the railway line until the next road bridge. Climb the steps at the end of the path and turn left onto the railway bridge. Walk along the road, cross the bridge over the Grand Union canal, pass the Old Toll House on your left and Arm Farm on your right.

When you reach the bridge over the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal, take the path to the left of the bridge down to the canal towpath and turn right, walking under the bridge towards Northampton. To your left is the old world tranquillity of Gayton Marina and to your right the constant roar of a thousand combustion engines, speeding along the A43 dual carriageway, which runs almost parallel with the towpath down to the M1. Pass under another bridge, to a former lock keeper’s cottage, opposite which is a sign welcoming you to the Grand Union Canal, Northampton Arm, flight of locks, Top Lock no. 1. Continue under another bridge, (the road to Rothersthorpe) and a broad grassy path takes you down past locks 2 to 10. The canal continues under the M1 and onto Northampton, but at lock 10, there is a footpath which comes through the gate in the hedge behind the picnic area with wire-sculptured figures, and continues on the other side of the canal. Take this path, crossing over the canal by means of the lock gate, turn left again and after a few paces, cross the concrete overflow ditch (you have to jump!) and head along the edge of the spinney until you reach a field. Alternatively it is a little easier to cross the canal at lock 9 and join the path where it enters the field. On the map, the path now crosses cultivated fields and is unmarked. The actual path follows the edge of the field, with the spinney to your right then goes left, following the hedge and stream to the right. Ignore the first gap in the hedge, identified by a plank and two large diameter pipes, and cross the stream at the next gap, over a concrete bridge. The path is still unmarked, so keep to the right side of the field heading in the direction of the houses ahead (Rothersthorpe), then follow the farm track to the road (North Street). The official footpath joins the road about 30 yards down on the left - see finger post - opposite Church Lane.

Crossing the road into Church Lane proceed past Rothersthorpe Manor on your left, towards the church. Just before the church, take the small lane on the left, past a pretty white-walled thatched cottage to a stile. Cross the stile and follow a well-worn grassy path, across a stream, to the right corner of the field. Cross another stile and followed the hedge on the right. At the end of this field, pass through a hedge gap into the next field still keeping the hedge to the right. At the corner of this field, turn half right through a gap into the next field keeping well to the left between the hedge and the newly planted saplings. The path leads to a footbridge over a stream.

Cross the stream, the parish boundary, turn left, and then follow the hedge keeping it to the left. Continue straight ahead, over the canal bridge, then over the railway bridge, and head diagonally half right across the grassy field using the large barn in the distance as a landmark. Cross the stile in the hedge into the next field. Here again the correct route of the path diagonally across the field is not defined and the actual path follows the left hand edge up to a paddock fence. Turn right and follow the fence until you reach a gate into the paddock and across to a stile into another paddock, then right to the gate that leads into Wrights Lane and from there back to Fiveways.