Leamington to Warwick. With one of the finest views in England!

Leave the car park and turn right, pass the leisure centre on the left and pick up a shared walkway and cycle path going parallel to the road. If you wish to minimise walking on tarmac there are other alternative paths closer to the river. Reach a cross roads controlled by traffic lights. Cross over and turn left down Willes Road. Just before a bridge, turn right through gates by a lodge into Jephson Gardens [A]. Feel free to explore these beautiful gardens as you wish, but either directly or indirectly, make your way to the opposite end and leave via iron gates opposite the pump rooms. The splendid Georgian facades of Royal Leamington Spa appear in the middle distance during the first stages of this walk. The town's rapid expansion began in the years around 1800 when it became fashionable for the gentry to visit mineral water spas for their supposed medicinal benefits. The first developments took place south of the river in the Old Town.[A] The Jephson Gardens were laid out in 1834 as a place for the wealthy to 'Take The Air' and be seen. They were well patronised by visitors to the Spa. The gardens are named after Dr Henry Jephson, who did much to promote the healing qualities of the town's spa waters. He also did a lot of work to help the poor in the area. You will find a statue of him in a Corinthian temple half way along the park. Today the park is a popular and vibrant place with a cafe, toilets and a boating lake.[B] As you leave Jephson Gardens, the Royal Pump Rooms opposite are a grand sight. In 1811 a well containing the spa water was found here. It was the 6th in the town and the first north of the river. This grade II listed building was completed by 1814 and extended in 1816. It once contained 17 hot baths and three cold baths. As the spa craze declined it became a public swimming pool in the 1890s and remained so until 1989, when it was replaced by the modern leisure centre you passed at the start of the walk. After standing empty for a few years the building now has a new life as a Tourist Information Centre, Art Gallery and Museum, where you can learn much more about the town.To the left end of the building there is a tap where you can taste the water. Although a bit sulphurous, it is not too bad! The official route of the Centenary Way avoids the gardens, probably because there is no right of way through them. If you are unlucky enough to find the gates into the gardens locked, go back to the crossroads and turn left along Newbold Terrace, along the edge of the gardens. Turn left at the far end to reach the Pump Rooms.

Cross the road via the pedestrian crossing and pass right of the Pump Rooms into a grassy area. Keep left of the bandstand and keep ahead to a steel lattice footbridge beyond. Cross the river on this bridge, then immediately turn right up steps and continue alongside the river. With a road bridge ahead, fork right and go through a tunnel built into the bridge abutment. On the other side, keep straight on alongside the river, with Victoria Park [C] over to your left. Go under a railway viaduct and reach a road. [C] Victoria Park opened in 1899 as part of the celebrations for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is best known now for hosting the National Bowls Championship.The river you are following is the Leam. It runs for about 19 miles, rising just out of Warwickshire in the village of Hellidon in Northamptonshire. It forms the county boundary for a while before heading west to Leamington, which it gives its name to, eventually joining the Avon near to waypoint [4] on this walk.The railway viaduct carries trains from Coventry, on a line built by the London and North Western Railway. This line was the first to reach the area, in 1844, but it originally terminated at Milverton. The viaduct is on an extension built in 1854, just after the rival Great Western Railway opened its line from Oxford to Birmingham. You will almost certainly see trains on the GWR line in the next section of the walk.

Cross the road at the lights and take the path just to the right on the opposite side. It goes between ugly security fences at first, passes a weir in the river, then goes straight ahead across a grassy area. It then runs between fences, with the railway down to your left, to reach the canal. Turn right and continue to cross a huge aqueduct over the river Avon [D]. [D] The river is one of five in England called the River Avon. This one is often referred to as the Warwickshire Avon, or Shakespeare's Avon, to distinguish it from the others. The name actually derives from the ancient Celtic word Abona, which means river. So technically this is the River River! Although it mainly runs through Warwickshire, the 85 mile river starts near Naseby in Northamptonshire and runs into the Severn near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. Warwick and Leamington have started to merge into a single urban area as a result of their expansion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Jephson's Farm, which you pass through on the walk, is a cherished survival of the countryside that once separated the two towns. The riverside path from the aqueduct into Warwick may be flooded after days of heavy rain. For a shorter walk from Leamington, turn left along the canal, cross the aqueduct over the railway and continue with the instructions from waypoint [9].

At the far end of the aqueduct go down some steep metal steps on the right. Turn right at the bottom, back under the aqueduct, and continue with the river on your left. Between the canal and the railway you pass through the site of the Avon Power Station and you can still see the intakes for its cooling water. The power station closed in 1973 and, apart from a large electrical substation, the site remained unused for years until Tesco built a supermarket. Beyond the railway bridge the riverside path crosses an area of rough ground and this section can be muddy. The path eventually reaches a grassy area between the river and houses. Keep on with the river on your left and enter Saint Nicholas' Park, which was laid out in the 1930s, on former meadow land purchased by Warwick Borough Council. Cross over the cycieway on the approach to Charter Bridge and join a path to the left of the scout boat house. Keep following a tarmac path alongside the river all the way through the park. At the far end, keep right of a green wooden building and go up concrete steps to the road. Turn left and cross the road in the middle of the bridge [E] to take in the view of Warwick Castle [F].

Turn back from the bridge and walk up the left hand side of the road to reach a roundabout. If you have time, you could divert left here to explore the beautiful Mill Street, once a through route leading to the old bridge. If the huge wooden doors in the gatehouse to the castle are open, go through them and follow a remarkable sunken driveway. You can see evidence of the cellars of houses that had to be demolished when the castle grounds were extended. Go up steps to the car park at the castle entrance, then out into Castle Lane and turn left. If the gates are shut, continue up the road to the right of them and shortly turn left along Castle Lane.At the end of Castle Lane turn right up Castle Street. As you turn the corner look to your left to see a cobbled surface on the line of the old road leading down to the bridge, now cut off by the castle grounds. Cross over into Church Street [G] with Saint Mary's Church [H] ahead of you. [G] Less than 30 years after a better known catastrophe in London, the Great Fire of Warwick destroyed much of the town centre on 5th September 1694. Afterwards the town was rebuilt according to the provisions of an act of parliament which regulated the width of streets and the height of buildings. Houses of brick and stone replaced the former timber structures and roofs had to be tiled, not thatched. Many of these buildings have survived to the present day. The junction of Castle Street, Jury Street, Church Street and High Street was regarded as the centre of the town and here a special effort was made to construct ornate buildings. If you look upwards you will see columns of three different orders on the three storey buildings. The fourth building on this cross roads is the Court House, built in 1725. It contains the Tourist Information Centre and is the home of Warwick Town Council, now sadly reduced to the status of a parish.[H] Saint Mary's Church could easily be taken for a cathedral. It's history is outlined, in Latin, above the balustrade on the tower. It is a magnificent building, full of interest, and it is well worth going in. In the Pevsner guide to the Buildings of England it is described as the most important church of the Early Gothic Revival outside the City of London. We are fortunate that the amazingly beautiful Beauchamp Chapel was saved from the Great Fire. Many of the Earls of Warwick lie in this chapel beneath splendid effigies. Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, lies in here with his wife.You should also summon up the courage to go down the steps into the Norman crypt, the oldest surviving structure in Warwick. Down here you will find the remains of the town's ducking stool, which has been left down here since it was taken out of use about 200 years ago. It is good to read that as well as its infamous use for drenching scolding women, it was also patronised by corrupt brewers and landlords who watered down their beer!If you have the energy to climb the tower (there are 134 steps) you will be rewarded with a panoramic view over much of South Warwickshire.

Go straight on past the church along Northgate Street. The civic buildings [I] make this one of the most imposing streets in Warwick and remind us of its status as the county town. [I] The Shire Hall was built in 1754 to a design by local architect Sanderson Miller. The facade was entirely refaced in 1948 as the original stonework had deteriorated and was becoming dangerous. Crown Courts were held here until 2011 when they transferred to a more comfortable building in Leamington. On the right of the Shire Hall is another grand building, now providing offices for Warwickshire County Council. Rather surprisingly it was originally the County Gaol. This building dates from 1780 and, after the prison closed around 1860, it was converted to become the barracks of the Warwickshire Militia. If you turn the corner into Barrack Street you can see one of the cells from the original prison.

Cross over the roundabout at the end of Northgate Street and continue ahead along Cape Road, slightly to the right on the opposite side. When the road bends left, go straight on down a wide tarmac path along the right edge of a car park. To your right, through trees, you may glimpse the buildings of Warwickshire Public Records Office. They are on the site of the 12th century priory of St Sepulchre. After the dissolution of the priory in 1536 a mansion was built here by the Earl of Warwick. When this building was in turn demolished the stones were shipped to America and reconstructed in Richmond, Virginia. The surrounding area, Priory Park, was purchased by Warwickshire County Council in 1940.

Follow the path down and under the railway at the bottom. Turn right alongside the railway to reach the back entrance to Warwick Station.From the Station entrance, keep right along a tarmac drive between the railway and the backs of houses. Reach a road junction and turn left along the busy Coventry Road. Keep on the left hand side. Continue to the top of a hill past the Guy of Warwick Statue [J] then start descending to reach a bridge over the canal, where you leave the Centenary Way to begin your return route. [J] Set back among trees at a road junction is the sculpture of Guy and the Boar by Keith Godwin. Guy of Warwick was a heroic figure from local folklore. In order to prove himself worthy to marry the Earl's daughter he had to rid the country of ferocious beasts, such as the Dun Cow and, as seen here, a wild boar. He ended his life as a hermit at Guy's Cliffe, not far from this spot. When a small housing estate was built in the 1960s its main road was named Guy's Cross Park Road. This sculpture has always been controversial and it is not difficult to see why.

On the far side of the canal bridge turn left onto a tarmac path sloping down to the canal [K]. Turn left onto the towpath and back under the bridge you have just crossed. There is now a long stretch of towpath walking. On the right there is a commercial suburb dating from the time when the canal provided the most efficient means of transport. You pass a boat hire company and then a boatyard where canal boats are repaired. There may even be a new boat under construction. Pressing on you pass a group of warehouses since converted to non canal related uses.A particularly low canal bridge takes you under the main road from Warwick to Leamington. Then you reach the Avon aqueduct again. Those wishing to do a shorter circuit from Warwick can pick up the instructions from Waypoint [4] here. Others should keep going, to cross the railway by another interesting aqueduct. After a while the canal runs alongside busy roads to the left. Those who arrived by train at Leamington should look out for the steps on the left where they joined the route. (If you reach bridge 41 you have just missed them!) [K] The canal is part of the Grand Union Canal, the main line from London to Birmingham. This stretch opened in 1799 and was widened, deepened and improved in the 1930s.

Continue under bridge 41 and keep following the canal. At bridge 38a you pass under the busy Leamington to Oxford railway. Just beyond you will see the abutments of the old Leamington to Rugby railway which closed in the 1960s. Pass under bridge 37, by the Fusilier pub. Carry on for another couple of hundred metres to a right bend, where steps on the left go down to the road.

Go down the steps. You are now back on the Centenary Way, which comes along the canal from the opposite direction. Cross the road and go left for a couple of hundred metres, then turn right into a car park, which has a 'Riverside Walk' sign at the entrance. Cross a wooden footbridge over the Leam just beyond the car park and immediately turn left on a grassy path along the river bank. At the end, take the left most of two kissing gates and follow the path up until there is a playground ahead of you. Turn left, then when the riverside path signs point left again, go right past some skateboarding ramps to a road and turn left back to the start. When there are floods on the Leam the path across to Newbold Comyn may be under water. In this eventuality you should follow roads back towards Leamington.