Bluebells in the Charnwood Forest

Monday 1st May and Saturday 13th May 2017

I love to see bluebells in the spring when these lovely blue flowers carpet the floor of ancient woodland in Britain. Although not nationally known for its bluebells, the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire has many splendid displays so I don’t have to go far to see these fabulous flowers and one of the best walks for seeing them is one that I do many times during the year. My Charnwood Forest Round has many ups and downs designed to keep me hill-fit, but it also passes through many woods that around May Day always put on a great display. That was why on the May Day Bank Holiday this year I made my way to Swithland Woods for my regular walk. Starting from the north car park I headed through the wood and was immediately greeted by some clumps of bluebells, but not carpets of them, although there were also quite a few wood anemones. The main reason for a lack of bluebells in this wood, and many others, is a build-up of scrub, predominantly bramble. These rob the bluebells of sunlight and prevent them achieving the carpet coverage that I love. Managed woods where the scrub has been kept under control produce better displays of bluebells.

After this taster of things to come I passed over Old John hill in Bradgate Park, which is not known for its bluebells however there were a few isolated examples peeking through the old bracken. After Bradgate Park, my walk passes through areas of new woodland created for the National Forest where bluebells are rare, however there are some small, private areas of ancient woodland where fantastic displays of bluebells can be seen. I could only look from the fence into these woods, but I think this is to its advantage as then no one is able to trample over the bluebells and ruin them, thereby ensuring a great coverage. I passed many examples of these private woods as I made my way along my round until eventually I reached the Ulverscroft nature reserve, which has restricted access although I am able to enter as a member of the local Wildlife Trust. Once again bluebells were not as abundant as I would have liked due to the scrub, but if you looked in the right places then there were large clumps of them in many places.

The weather was not great on this walk and at this point it was raining, however as I passed through the Ulverscroft marshes the sun finally came out lighting the wood anemones and bluebells that littered the woodland floor. After making my way up to Beacon Hill I joined a permissive path that passes some tremendous displays of bluebells as it makes its way down to the Wood Brook valley. I could now see some quite expensive carpets of bluebells and more was to come when I finally reached the Outwoods. I was beginning to suspect that this was not a great year for bluebells as I had not been seeing as extensive a display of bluebells as in past years. Many bluebells were still in bud, but some were already going to seed so maybe the weather conditions had not suited them. Nevertheless the best bluebells on this walk were, as always, in the Outwoods and with the sun coming out at just the right moment the bluebells were being displayed at their best.

There are many more bluebell woods in the Charnwood Forest and almost two weeks later I started another walk to take in some of them. This time, I parked at Burroughs Wood and set off out of the wood along the National Forest Way through new woodland devoid of wild flowers, however soon I entered the more established Martinshaw Wood where immediately I saw bluebells growing in isolated clumps. After crossing the M1 motorway that cuts straight through the wood I took a winding route around the edge of the wood seeking out every little sign of the flowers, but I did not find huge amounts until I came across a large group of bluebells near the north-eastern corner. Returning to the National Forest Way I crossed over the A50 dual-carriageway into Lady Hay Wood where I found a revelation. Unexpectedly this small wood was full of bluebells and although the map doesn’t indicate public access through the wood, except on the footpath around the edge, there were narrow paths through the bluebells that I took advantage of to ensure a thorough exploration of the bluebells.

The rain that was falling briefly at this point did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm and it was with reluctance that I eventually returned to the National Forest Way and continued heading to Newton Linford and up Old John. I have been to Bradgate Park many times in my life, most recently on May Day, and now although I had entered the park in a different place I retraced my steps of then into Swithland Woods and along the road into the village of Woodhouse Eaves. At that point I branched off my Charnwood Forest Round route and headed straight towards Beacon Hill via Broombriggs Farm Country Park. It was great to renew my acquaintance with old routes up Beacon Hill and when I reached the summit I was rewarded with a bit of sunshine for the first time on this walk. At this point I decided I would try to walk the Three Peaks of Leicestershire and I had already bagged two of those peaks in Old John and Beacon Hill, so now I headed west passing underneath the M1 motorway and into the Charley Woods.

There was quite a satisfying selection of bluebells in Charley Woods and I enjoined taking a circuit through Burrow Wood where there were extensive displays either side of the path. Eventually I left the Charley Woods behind and made my way towards Bardon Hill where there has been a lot of encroachment recently onto the paths from the nearby quarry. Many diversions were necessary before and after Bardon Hill due to these extensions, particularly after, but before then when I reached the established woodland that lies immediately east of the quarry I took a slender path through this woodland not really knowing where it was going to take me until eventually I emerged on the heathland within sight of the summit of Bardon Hill, my third and final peak of the day. Previously when I have done the Three Peaks I have headed back to Bradgate Park through Markfield, but this walk was quite a bit longer having started in Burroughs Wood, so instead of heading east I now followed the Ivanhoe Way south past Stanton under Bardon until eventually I reached Thornton Reservoir.

It was interesting retracing my steps along the Ivanhoe Way that I had previously walked just a year earlier and as I walked beside Thornton Reservoir the weather cleared once more revealing gorgeous evening sunshine that accompanied me as I joined the National Forest Way once again following the trail all the way into Burroughs Wood. There were fabulous displays of bluebells in this wood, but many of them were going to seed possibly as a result of the unseasonably hot weather that we had enjoyed in early May. This stressed the bluebells forcing many to bolt, going over to seed, however the bluebells in Burroughs Wood still looked great in the sunshine. I saw many bluebells on these two walks, at times seemingly everywhere and more than satisfied my love of bluebells for another year. This second walk took me over eight hours whereas my familiar round doesn’t take me more than six. I loved the chance to stretch my legs on this walk and it did wonders to lift my spirit. I love to see the bluebells in the Charnwood Forest.

The High Peak Trail and Gratton Dale

Saturday 8th April 2017

At the start of my walk through Lathkill Dale, described last week, I walked along a section of the High Peak Trail which caught my interest such that just two weeks later I returned to the Peak District during another fabulous weekend of weather. This time, I caught the train to the station of Cromford and after walking along the road for a spell I came to the Cromford Wharf where the Cromford Canal has its northern terminus. As I made my way along the canal early morning mist lay in the Derwent Valley and it was gorgeous to be out walking again at this early hour through the peaceful tree-filled landscape. Soon the railway and the River Derwent came alongside as I continued this pleasant walk beside the canal until I reached High Peak Junction where the old Cromford and High Peak Railway started beside the Cromford Canal before climbing into the Peak District. Therefore it was at this point that I came off the canal and joined the start of the High Peak Trail as it sets off up the first of several steep inclines.

The Cromford and High Peak Railway was one of the first railways to be built, in 1831, and has many characteristics that were not repeated in later lines. The gradients on the line, required to get over the plateau of the High Peak, are exceptionally steep for a railway with this initial gradient at one in eight, and also since the line was built on the canal principle of following contours, it has many tight curves that were later to create problems for train operations. The railway has long since been abandoned, but it now makes for a great walk as I toiled up the steep gradients under leafless trees and onto the open plateau of the High Peak with cloudless skies overhead. The High Peak Trail takes a route just outside the southern edge of the Peak District past terrain that is largely unexplored by me, which I felt was a shame, especially when passing Black Rocks, a popular picnic location and prominent hill that overlooks Cromford.

The views into the Derwent Valley were great, though hazy, however some of the views from this section of the trail is of quarrying, past and present, but the view at my feet was fabulous with celandines and dandelions lining the trail with many other wild flowers and the promise that many other wonderous flowers would appear later in the spring and bring further delight. Eventually I passed into the Peak District and the scenery became the usual High Peak rolling hill and drystone wall which became rather repetitive after many hours of walking, so it was a relief when I eventually reached the car park at Friden that I had used two weeks previously and finally left the High Peak Trail venturing down Long Dale. This valley seemed to be full to overflowing with celandines that covered the grassy floor making for a pleasurable walk as I passed by the bare grassy sides of the valley. Upon turning into Gratton Dale trees now filled the valley and many more wild flowers decorated the scene and while the path through the valley had clearly recently been very muddy, fortunately the warm weather had almost solidified the ground sufficiently to ease walking.

This valley was a fabulous place to walk and I was disappointed when I reached Dale End where I took a track that took me through celandine covered fields to the village of Elton. After passing through the village I joined the Limestone Way where celandines continued to accompany me as I made my way around the village of Winster and over a hill to Upper Town and Bonsall where I left the Limestone Way and took a track around Ball Eye Quarry. This track also teemed with celandines especially on the steep descent into the village of Cromford. I seemed to have been overloaded with celandines on this walk and lining this path above Cromford there must have been more than anywhere else. Unfortunately by this time I was getting concerned about getting to the station in time to catch the train, so I almost ran down the hill barely noticing all the celandines as I rushed past and through the village of Cromford, but I actually got to the station in plenty of time to catch the packed train.

I must have covered a long distance on this walk, at least twenty miles, and through maintaining a brisk pace for much of its duration I completed the whole walk in eight hours. There were some great sections of this walk, but there were also other moments like the second half of my time on the High Peak Trail where the time seemed to drag. I love walking at this time of the year if only because of the wild flowers that can be seen, and this walk was especially spectacular for wild flowers. I must have seen millions of celandines and is the defining characteristic of the walk and what I remember most about it.