Mill Lane

Thursday 17th March 2016

I have done many fabulous walks around Britain and Ireland, but there is one walk that I have done more than any other and have a lot of affection for, and not because it is the best. It doesn’t go up a great mountain, and it doesn’t have stunning views. It is a very short walk that only takes me about an hour, and basically involves walking along a country lane. The reason I have so much affection for it is that it is local. Whenever the sun is shining, and I have a spare hour (or even when I don’t), I can just nip out of my house and within a couple of minutes I’m walking in the countryside along this quiet country lane. It is ideal for a summer's evening, or a winter's afternoon. It is a walk that I have done many times since moving into my present house, and when the sun is shining I will do the walk many more times. There is nothing better than being outside, enjoying fresh air and countryside in the sunshine, and it is a perfect antidote to the stresses of everyday life.

At the Glen Parva Manor I turned right towards the ford over the River Sence, but after passing an ancient moat behind the fifteenth century manor house, now a gastro pub, last week I turned right into Alison’s Acre. This is a small wildlife area next to the river that was donated to the parish by a local family in memory of their daughter who was killed in a road accident. It is a lovely little field that is sometimes flooded by the river and when I last did this walk, just a week ago, when I should have been writing this blog, there were still several pools of river water dotted around the field from the last time it had flooded. Over the river a clear path between hedgerows heads towards the village of Blaby. In the spring this path is adorned with celandines, however I was a little too early for that last week as there weren’t many flowers between the hedges yet, but the fields on the other side of the hedge were ablaze with these yellow delights.

At the end of this narrow, little path I reached the outskirts of Blaby, so when I reached this point I turned left onto the start of Mill Lane, which is simply a country lane that connects Blaby with South Wigston. It isn’t a through route for cars, but there is a bridlepath. The only cars that go along Mill Lane are those are accessing the stables and farms that come off the road, and that consequently means most of the traffic is either on foot, on cycle, or on horseback. On my walk last week I also passed snowdrops that were past their best and daffodils that were not yet in flower, but it doesn’t matter which wild flowers are in bloom as it is always simply a pleasure to be out walking again even if it only for an hour. I had quickly got away from whatever was troubling me at home and within a short time I was able to serenely stroll down this quiet lane. The turning to the ford soon came up on the left, which I would have come up if I’d not gone through Alison’s Acre.

Beyond Mill Lane Cemetery I passed various stables where several horses are invariably in the fields beside the lane often adding a pungent aroma of manure to the walk. It is not long before I reached Blaby Mill, where the lane gets its name, and which retains the tall mill chimney, but is now Blaby Mill Stables. Soon after the stables the lane turns sharp right while the bridlepath keeps straight on through a gate and continues close to the River Sence past allotments to another farmer's lane. After a narrow zigzag the lane heads between two meadows that are always filled with dandelions and buttercups in the spring to finally swing around an old railway embankment to reach Countesthorpe Road. I usually cannot resist climbing onto a permissive path that follows the side of the embankment through delightful woodland, which usually contains more wild flowers than I would see on Mill Lane and is always a strong draw for me.

Near the top of the path a small hollow is revealed to the right where the material to build the embankment was dug out of the earth, but is now a playground for youths in the summer despite a metal fence that was constructed several years ago. At the top of the path I came out onto the top of the embankment with an awesome view down the length of the embankment that used to contain a railway line. After walking along the embankment I eventually reached a steep descent that led me down to Crow Mills at the end of Mill Lane. Countesthorpe Road snakes over the Grand Union Canal and the River Sence at this point and I usually return to the Manor along the towpath for the canal, however over the winter the towpath is too muddy so for the last couple of months I have been returning through South Wigston. After the dry weather recently I thought I’d try the towpath and I found it to be dry underfoot so I was easily able to follow the canal alongside the houses at the back of South Wigston all the way back to the Glen Parva Manor.

This may not be the most spectacular, or stunning, walk in the world, but it does have several redeeming features in that it is quiet, peaceful and local. It gives me a chance to unwind and to enjoy the sunshine and the countryside. There is nothing better than being able to get out of the house and within a couple of minutes be walking in the countryside in peaceful surroundings. This is my local, my go-to walk when I need to unwind and as such it is second to none.

Through Leicester on the Grand Union Canal

Saturday 15th August 2015

Several years ago I thought a good idea for a walk would be to catch a train to the town of Loughborough and then walk home through the centre of the city of Leicester. The first time I did that I took a route through Bradgate Park, but the second time I tried it I walked a large part of the way beside the Grand Union Canal. These had both been during the winter, so last summer I wondered if it would be a good idea to try to do the whole walk again beside the Grand Union Canal which goes through Loughborough and passes close to my house. Excited at the idea I caught an early train and got to Loughborough soon after eight o’clock. While most people were still in bed I was already walking along the towpath for the Grand Union Canal enjoying the warm sunshine and the lush vegetation that grew beside the path. Loughborough was soon left far behind and I was enjoying a peaceful and relaxing walk beside the canal. Before too long a marina appeared on the other side of the canal and on my side the River Soar approached and joined the canal.

I would now follow the River Soar up stream for most of the walk until finally parting company beyond Leicester. After coming up close to the railway, the river and canal briefly parted company with the River Soar heading in a wide loop towards Quorn while the canal takes a direct route along the southern edge of Barrow-upon-Soar. When I first came down here I didn’t know where I was going and followed the river into Quorn, but now I knew how to stay on the towpath as I followed it through to the far side of Barrow. A dull section of the walk now followed whereby the path was barely marked, on fields beside the canal, until I neared Mountsorrel and passed under the striking bridge for the conveyor that takes stone from the nearby quarry to the railway.

The scenery slowly improved I passed several nature reserves, however I unfortunately missed the opportunity to fully enjoy them. I was staying on the west side of the canal where there is a clear towpath, though the OS map indicates there is a right-of-way on the other side of the canal through Cossington Meadows Nature Reserve and once I passed Sileby Locks I was unable to cross the canal until I had reached the far end of the reserve. This is still a picturesque and tranquil section of the walk with many trees growing beside the canal, but it was not the meadow I’d hoped to see. When I finally reached the road I turned left along it and into Cossington Meadows, but soon realised that I was heading away from Leicester and wasting time. Reluctantly, and rueing a missed opportunity, I returned to the canal and followed the towpath onto the River Wreake past groves of the invasive Himalayan balsam.

The Grand Union Canal soon turns off the River Wreake to forge its own course through the delightful scenery of the River Soar floodplains to Watermead Country Park. This is an amazing place that I have visited far too few times and couldn’t resist coming off the canal and standing at the northern end of John Merrick’s Lake to just take in the view along the length of the boating lake. Rather than return to the canal I stayed in the park and wandered south taking in the sights and enjoying the glorious sunshine. Eventually I returned to the canal as the River Soar also rejoined us and I followed its meandering course through the park eventually leaving under the busy Leicester outer ring road. Although I was now entering the city greenery still dominated my surroundings as I made my way beside the canal. At Old Bridge rather than stay on the towpath I walked through the pretty gardens of Belgrave Hall on the other side and finally crossed back over the canal when the scenery became increasingly industrial.

With hindsight I have realised that at this point the towpath actually crosses to the side I had been on as the River Soar and the canal parted company once again. While the canal headed deep into industrial Leicester I followed the river past the imposing structures of the National Space Centre and entered Abbey Park past the remains of the 12th century abbey on my right and the fabulous grounds of the park on both sides of the river. It may not have been my intention to go this way, but it seems fortuitous as it is far better than the dreary industrial scenery that the canal passes through. At the southern end of the park I crossed over to the far side of Frog Island to rejoin the canal’s course through the city. After passing under King Richards Road the river enters a mile straight that is popular with rowers while the original route of the River Soar meanders around Bede Park.

Soon after the rivers combine they pass the stadium for the Premiership leading Leicester City Football Club (and I never thought I’d be saying that when I did the walk!). The scenery was already transformed into a green-filled oasis despite still being deep inside the city as I passed under a railway bridge and entered Aylestone Meadows. The Leicester City Council website describes the diverse landscape of this park as a taste of the countryside in the city, and normally at this point I would take a route through the delightful park, but on this occasion I kept to the towpath as the river and canal goes around the eastern edge of the park until finally, and for the last time, the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal parted company beside an ancient pack horse bridge. With the city of Leicester left firmly behind the canal passes in tandem with the river through the Soar Valley before swinging sharp left to follow the River Sence eastwards. It was amazing to see the varying landscape that I passed through on this walk, and just how much of the sights of Leicester are seen from the canal despite only briefly intruding on the tranquil surroundings.

A walk through bluebells

Saturday 17th May 2015

One of the joys of a British wood in spring is the thick carpet of bluebells that covers the woodland floor producing a wondrous display that is simply spectacular. I love to see this short-lived sight every year and make a point of doing my Charnwood Forest round on the first weekend in May when bluebells are almost guaranteed to be in flower, somewhere in their brief three week display. Last year was no different as I completed my familiar walk, but under overcast skies and with many of the bluebells still in bud. The prospect of bluebells being on display for most of May prompted me to do a search for other areas where I could see bluebells and found that there is another wood in the Charnwood Forest that is renowned for having a good display of bluebells in season: Burroughs Wood. This wood is not on my Charnwood Forest round and I had visited the wood only once before, while on the National Forest Way in 2014. It was only a week after this bluebell walk that I actually completed that trail and I was already looking back at places that I’d previously visited and demanded a return, and Burroughs Wood was high on that list.

I parked at the wood and was immediately struck by the display of wildflowers near the car park. There were only a few bluebells but it was the red campion that caught my eye, growing tall amongst the nettles. As I moved into the parkland I found many woodland flowers including some spotted-orchids that proved mesmerising but no extensive carpets of bluebells. As I wandered around with no idea where I was going I suddenly stumbled upon exactly what I was looking for in a quiet corner of the wood. There I found a large number of bluebells covering the floor of the woodland, but also many other plants diluting the scene. There wasn’t an extensive covering of bluebells and most seemed to be near the path that led away from the wood, so eventually I headed back to the car park and decided that I would stop being aimless and follow the route of the National Forest Way.

The year before, on the second stage of this trail I had walked from Bradgate Park through Martinshaw Wood and Burroughs Wood to Thornton Reservoir and had noted many bluebell seed heads. On that occasion, I expressed a wish to return earlier in the season and now I was fulfilling that by walking along the trail through new woodland that lacked woodland flowers into the more established woodland of Martinshaw Wood. Almost immediately I came across bluebells, but they were still not as extensive as I’d hoped. The leaf cover was already fairly extensive by this time of the year which was smothering the sunlight and leaving the undergrowth increasingly dull. Bluebells deliberately grow before the leaves in order to take advantage of this early window of sunlight. By the time they are in flower the woodland canopy has often already blocked out much of the light, which is annoying when taking pictures.

As I wandered around Martinshaw Wood I did find many clumps of bluebells even though there were no extensive carpets. My disappointment was softened by many stitchworts mixed in amongst the bluebells and encouraged me to revisit Martinshaw Wood more often in the future. After completing a circuit of the wood I returned to the course of the National Forest Way and headed back to Burroughs Wood where I had been promised extensive carpets of bluebells. I had no idea where in the wood they were to be found so I just wandered around the edge of the wood hoping to see something until I eventually reached the northern tip. When I had walked through Burroughs Wood previously I had actually taken a wrong turning and now as I looked at the bridlepath that runs along the western edge of the wood I realised that this was the route I should have taken out the year before. I was now back on the National Forest Way, even though I had never been on this part before, following the bridlepath to where a footpath branches off and passes through a kissing gate into the wood.

Soon after re-entering the wood I found exactly what I had been looking for: bluebells stretching as far as the eye could see deep into the wood. It may have been gloomy under the thick woodland cover, but my heart was shining as I spread my hands with delight at the awesome sight surrounding me. Bluebells covered every square inch of the woodland floor in a display that is special wherever it is found in the British Isles. I had found the carpet of bluebells in Burroughs Wood and it was indeed a particularly good display. Satisfied, and now happy to wait another year before I saw bluebells again, I made my way through the wood along the route of the National Forest Way all the way back to the car park.

The National Forest Way, stage three revisited

Saturday 18th July 2015

Thornton to Sence Valley Forest Park

Last year I reached the end of the newly opened National Forest Way after walking the whole route in small stages over the course of ten months. About a year after I had started the trail I had an idea to retrace my steps over certain parts of the route that hadn’t gone according to plan the first time. One stage that I had not gone well was the third stage where I ran out of time and ended up ignoring the proper route as I rushed back to the start by the most direct route possible. Another peculiarity with my walk on stage three was that it was walked in an easterly direction whereas every other stage of the National Forest Way had been done in a westerly direction. Since this stage clearly called for a re-walk I headed back to Thornton Reservoir and set off on stage three of the National Forest Way along the western edge of the reservoir. At different times of the year different wild flowers accompany a walk, and at this time of the year purple-flowered willowherbs were the dominant flower.

Tall rosebay-willowherb lined the edge of the reservoir as I made my way to the north-western tip and there climbed past the primary school and into the village of Thornton. The trail heads along Main Street for a while before turning off the road into Thornton Plantation, which was such a delightful woodland walk that I completely missed the narrow gap in the hedge and blissfully kept wandering around the wood. Eventually I realised that I had gone wrong and retraced my steps until I found the easy-to-miss gap in the overgrown hedge that took me into a field near Bagworth Park. A tree-lined lane with abundant displays of wild flowers provided me with ongoing delights as I walked near a railway line until just after entering Bagworth Wood the lane turns over the line and onto the road in the village of Bagworth. At first I assumed that the trail would follow the Ivanhoe Way south along the road, but a quick check of the directions showed me that this was not actually the case as it follows a pretty little path between the houses and Bagworth New Wood.

On reaching a sports ground I turned right to climb up to the Millennium Beacon at the top of Bagworth New Wood. I had passed through here the year before, but my headlong rush had prompted me to ignore the directions and head south towards Thornton. Now I had plenty of time to linger and admire the gorgeous display of wild meadow flowers that I found in a clearing in the middle of wood. In the spring the best wild flowers are to be found in woods, but by the time of this walk these had all died off as the dense leaf canopy blocked out all daylight. In the summer it is the turn of meadows to draw the attention as a multitude of colours cover the ground. I lingered for ages hoping for some sunlight, but the clouds refused to move so eventually I sulkily made my way back down the small hill and continued along the trail crossing Wood Road to reach Battram Road.

I was now entering an extensive wood that is typical of the National Forest and full of immature trees with nothing of interest for me to see as I made my way north blindly following the direction markers for the trail through a maze of paths. Eventually I emerged from the wood and followed dreary paths through fields to Ellistown where memories of my previous attempt of this stage came to mind, but they weren’t encouraging. The trail continued north to Donington le Heath where after walking along a road for a while I turned west and headed towards Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve. On my previous visit I had not stayed faithful to the footpath, but on attempting to do so this time I found my way blocked by overgrown thistles and willowherb so I still had to come off the right-of-way in order to find a way around. The path overlooks Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve but frustratingly never enters it as it passes through fields of wheat and rapeseed until eventually reaching the main road just outside Sence Valley Forest Park.

On turning into the forest park I had completed stage three of the National Forest Way so I could now enjoy myself in this beautiful place. I turned off the main path onto the steep, narrow paths that crisscross the park as I explored this tree-filled delight. I had first come to Sence Valley Park on my aborted attempt of stage three and I had returned when I did stage four, each time enjoying the wonders. Now, after a blissful time spent wandering through the park I made my way to the southern end where a wild flower meadow was showing wondrous delights that I hadn’t seen on my previous visits. Eventually I emerged from the park and entered Mill Hill Wood only to find a construction site at the far end. After negotiating my way through the site I entered the village of Ibstock where I stocked up plentifully on food from various stores.

With my re-walk along stage three of the National Forest Way complete I had no reason to linger and did not want to make the same mistake I’d made the first time when I’d taken a wide, time-consuming detour around Cliffe Hill Quarry. This time I headed straight back towards Thornton re-entering the extensive wood that I had passed through just a couple of hours earlier. With a bit of luck I found my way through the wood and back onto the National Forest Way on the outskirts of Battram. I retraced my steps along the trail to Bagworth New Wood and on entering the village of Bagworth I copied my previous year’s route by turning right onto the main street through the village. At a church I followed the route of the Leicestershire Round through Bagworth Heath Woods which led me back into the village of Thornton where a celebratory lap of Thornton Reservoir eventually brought me back to my car. Most of this stage of the National Forest Way had not been worth revisiting, but I was struck by the abundance of wild flower meadows early in the walk that made the whole enterprise worthwhile.