Croft Hill

Saturday 15th September 2012

To conclude this short series looking at the hills of Leicestershire I turn to a hill not far from where I live that although of a low height commands wide-sweeping views across large parts of Leicestershire. Although I seem to recall my Father taking me up Croft Hill when I was a child, the first time in recent memory that I went up the hill was a couple of years ago after someone at work suggested it. On that occasion I walked from my house across towns and fields to the village of Croft and from there I proceeded up to the top of the hill. Even though I had enjoyed Croft Hill itself I was reluctant to return because it had been a long, dreary walk all the way to Croft and then another long walk back. Last Autumn I decided that I would go up Croft Hill again and this time I drove to the village of Croft and started the walk from there. This made for a much shorter walk, but also for a walk that was a lot more interesting.

I had been drawn to the area again when I saw on a map that there is a nature reserve near the village, so after parking the car that was where I headed first but I reached Croft Glebe first, which is an old parkland now managed by the Woodland Trust. At the time of the year that I did this walk the park was full of wild flowers that had turned to seed and tall grass that was swaying in the breeze. It didn’t take long for me to walk around this ten acre site so I soon left to cross over to the nearby Croft Pasture Nature Reserve, a fourteen acre area of unimproved grassland with the River Soar running through the middle. These two areas must be amazing in early summer when wild flowers would cover the grasslands in a blaze of colour, but in September the landscape was not so colourful being mainly overgrown with plants that had long past flowering. After spending some time exploring the area I set off back onto the road and headed up towards Croft Hill, which is owned by the same quarry company that owns Bardon Hill so has suffered the same fate with the summit being the sole surviving part of the hill.

A footpath through pretty woodland follows the road up to the start of a short, steep climb to the top of Croft Hill where the views were awe-inspiring, not just over the big quarry, not far from where I stood, but all around through 360°. Despite the desire to stay at the summit and gaze across the largely flat terrain of southern Leicestershire I eventually set off down the hill and through woodland along a path that passes disturbingly close to the edge of the quarry before slowly rising once more onto a hill created from the spoils of the quarry. This has been managed to create a pleasing area to walk along the top of the ridge, abundant in wildlife and planted with trees, though all too short. Before setting off from the top of the new hill I had a look at an information board that described Croft Hill as one of the ‘Ancient Mountains of Leicestershire’, which I found rather amusing, not just because there are no mountains in Leicestershire, but also because Croft Hill is only 128 metres high.

As I thought about this description I set off along the ridge created by the quarry waste past young trees and ancient granite boulders around the edge of the quarry. This description of ancient mountains in Leicestershire made me think it would be a good idea to write about some of these ancient mountains in my blog. I usually write about hills that are at least two or three thousand feet high, but here in Leicestershire we have hills that are not much more than two hundred metres high but are, in their own way, as mighty and ancient as any other in Britain or Ireland. I had a lovely stroll along the ridge in the sunshine, around the edge of the quarry, even though it was on wholly man-created terrain unlike Croft Hill itself. If New Hill is left to go wild, in a hundred years no one will be able to tell the difference. Unfortunately this hill has a problem in that it doesn’t lead anywhere. When the ridge came to an end I had to drop steeply down to the bottom of the hill and walk back along boarded paths to the foot of Croft Hill.

With the quarry buildings blocking a direct return to the village of Croft I had to return along my outward route, however there were enough paths to enable me to vary my route until I reached the foot of Croft Hill where I walked along the thin strip of woodland that lies between the road and the quarry edge. Eventually I reached my car in the village of Croft and I was happy with a good afternoon's walk up a hill that has far-reaching views and on a new hill landscaped to create a pleasant stroll. None of the hills in Leicestershire are very big, but they make up for their lack of height with an abundance of outcrops that puts much higher hills to shame and with wide-sweeping views to match.

Bardon Hill

Saturday 16th February 2013

Last week I wrote about the best hills in Leicestershire, Beacon Hill and Old John, both contained within country parks, and both are deservedly very popular. However, neither of these two are the highest hill in Leicestershire as that honour lies with Bardon Hill, which is not within a country park but on land owned by Bardon Aggregates, a quarrying company. This company operates throughout the UK but is based at Bardon Hill where they have what they describe as a super quarry producing over a million tonnes of crushed rock each year. This has resulted in a lot of Bardon Hill no longer actually remaining, however the summit is still intact and a public right-of-way exists to the top. Due to the edge of this huge quarry being just a couple of metres from the summit I don’t visit the top of Bardon Hill as often as the other two hills mentioned last week, but if I am taking a full excursion across Charnwood Forest then Bardon Hill is usually tagged on even though this means a long diversion across the M1 and back again to encompass all three of the great hills of Leicestershire.

Last March my father mentioned that he’d never been up Bardon Hill so during an unseasonably warm dry spell I took him up to the highest point in Leicestershire, and then last Saturday I decided to repeat that walk, on my own, with a few diversions to explore the surrounding area. As in March I parked at the car park for the nearby Local Nature Reserve of Billa Barra Hill. Instead of heading straight towards Bardon Hill as in March I headed in the opposite direction towards the village of Stanton Under Bardon soon taking a footpath across an old mineral railway and past some allotments near the village. From there I took a path across the edge of a field to a wood where a steep, very muddy path took me to the top of the small ridge. With all the rain that has fallen in the last year a walk in the countryside at the moment is fraught with difficulty as the ground is saturated soon leaving any shoes that you’re wearing soaked and thick with mud.

My feet were staying dry thanks to the SealSkinz socks that I’d started using over the New Year in the Lake District, but it was still very slippery and tricky trying to climb the short slope to the top of the ridge where I was confronted by a big quarry. This is not Bardon Hill Quarry but Cliffe Hill Quarry operated by Midland Quarry Products. The ridge that I was now walking along is made from the spoils of the quarry and the trees I’d walked through have been planted as a screen to block the unsightly view of the quarry. This ‘Good Neighbour Scheme’ has created a lovely walk through woodland along the top of these mounds so despite the mud I had an enjoyable walk along to the end of the ridge where I slipped down the hill past a couple of ponds and onto a road. A short walk along the road brought me onto the busy A511 with Bardon Hill ahead of me. I passed by Bardon Park Chapel, the oldest non-conformist place of worship in Leicestershire, and headed along a lane to a rather fine group of farm buildings past which I found the footpath sign that I’d been looking for.

With Bardon Hill ahead of me I waded along a particularly wet path until I reached a familiar field edge where I joined the direct route from Billa Barra that I’d taken in March (my diversion over), and the route that until now I had always taken to reach Bardon Hill. A steady climb brought me to a tarmac road, up some wooden steps and across a wide, muddy quarry road. Now the walk improved immensely as the path climbed steeply through heathland thinly planted with trees towards a radio mast at the top of the hill. Just before reaching the mast I diverted along the top of the summit ridge to the trig point that marks the top of the hill. Up until this point my climb up Bardon Hill hadn’t been spoilt by a view of the quarry, but at the summit a wire fence barred further progress just a short distance from the cliff edge of the quarry. This enormous quarry is always a jaw-dropping sight no matter how many times I’ve seen it, but I’m sure the hill was a much more enjoyable place to walk when a big quarry hadn’t consumed half of it.

From the top of Bardon Hill I followed a path along the top, past the radio mast and around the top of the cliff, to an area of heathland that affords views of the summit including the sheer cliff edge a short distance away from the summit. I followed this path down the hill through woodland around the eastern edge of the hill and back to my outward route. As in March, and as on most of my visits to Bardon Hill, I returned to Billa Barra passing Rise Rocks Farm and across the A511. Since I’d gone around Billa Barra Hill at the start of the walk I decided that it would be a shame if I didn’t climb to the top of this small hill now to take in the splendid views that can be seen from the top. Billa Barra is an enjoyable little hill that benefits from being completely set aside for the benefit of the flora and fauna that make their home on the hill. At 235 metres it’s higher than Old John but not as high as Bardon Hill’s lofty (relatively speaking) 278 metres. There has been and still is a lot of quarrying being carried out in Leicestershire, but rather than this being a problem for walkers it has actually provoked the creation of some lovely landscaped woodland. Despite the mud it was good to climb the highest hill in what I once heard someone describe as the Highlands of Leicestershire.

Old John and Beacon Hill

Saturday 26th January 2013

A couple of weeks ago, just before all the snow melted, I went up to Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire to do a walk around the best hills in the county while they still had snow on them. I often go for walks in this area since it is quite simply the best place in Leicestershire to walk and boasts scenery that many counties in England would die for. The actual heights of the hills may be low but they are full of ancient woodland and granite-topped hills. Charnwood Forest has been extensively quarried over the centuries and is still being quarried in places, though fortunately not in the area that I was walking on this occasion. The hills are not very steep and the snow was not very deep, and was actually gradually melting as the day progressed, so I was perfectly safe with a pair of trail shoes and walking poles. I don’t like winter walking when it gets to the level of serious mountaineering over ice and hard snow, but walking on soft snow over low hills can be fun.

I started from the village of Woodhouse Eaves by walking along the road past the village church and around to the northern tip of Swithland Wood, which is part of the Bradgate Country Park Estate and a beautiful area of ancient oak woodland.  According to the Bradgate Park website it “covers 146 acres and is a remnant of the original Charnwood Forest Oak Woods.  It is rich in a wide range of flora and fauna with an extensive network of footpaths, designated horse tracks and bridleways, and within the wood nestles reminders of the famous former Swithland slate quarries.” This is a fabulous wood to walk through especially in the spring when the woodland floor is covered in bluebells and wood anemones. After the relatively safe walk along the pavement, this was my first chance to see what the ground was like to walk upon, and at this early hour I found that it was a mixture of snow-covered mud with some frozen areas. As the day went on these frozen areas quickly thawed.

Once through the wood I crossed a road and headed along a farm track towards Bradgate Park itself with the folly of Old John Tower at the top of the hill ahead of me. Bradgate Park is a place that I have been coming to for many years and will always be a special place for me as a consequence. I strode out confidently across the very familiar terrain of bracken and grass and up the short, steep hill where many people were, even as I climbed, sliding down on sledges. When there is snow on the ground Old John is guaranteed to be full of sledges. After passing the beer mug shaped tower of Old John I walked over to the Yeomanry War Memorial nearby and gazed at the stunning views under clear, crisp skies while pondering the sacrifice commemorated on the memorial. Old John may be only 212 metres high but it still commands a stunning view across the city of Leicester and the surrounding countryside (the pictures below were taken with my mobile - they are not up to the standard of my camera).

Turning right I headed north down the gentle slopes of Old John and over the small copse of Hunts Hill to one of the car parks that serve the park. On the road opposite I walked for a short distance before passing through a small wood created as part of the National Forest, of which the old Charnwood Forest is only a small part on its eastern edge. On the other side of this new wood is Lingdale Golf Course where a footpath winds a careful route across the fairways and around the tees and putting greens. I am usually reluctant to take this path across the golf course, but on this occasion I had no reason for caution as the snow had put a stop to all golfing activities leaving me to enjoy acres of unspoilt snow. After passing through the golf course I neared the edge of Woodhouse Eaves having almost come full circle, but soon after entering the village I turned off the road into Broombriggs Farm, which is a mixed arable and stock farm owned by Leicestershire County Council.

My target in Broombriggs was not the farm but Windmill Hill which lies between the farm and Woodhouse Eaves where the remains of a windmill stands on top of a hill that commands impressive views through the trees. On coming down from Windmill Hill I crossed into Beacon Hill Country Park, also owned by Leicestershire County Council, and headed for a narrow path that I love and follows a tiny stream through woodland to a small pond before heading across the heathland up to the top of Beacon Hill. I don’t have the long associations with Beacon Hill that I have with Bradgate Park, but I have begun to prefer Beacon Hill for its sheer variety of landscape with the woods and heathland on its slopes to the craggy summit that was once the site of a Bronze Age hill fort. At 248 metres Beacon Hill is higher than old John and provides wide sweeping views across Loughborough and the whole of north Leicestershire.

The clear blue skies that I had at the start of the day were now sadly beginning to cloud over while the snow that had been plentiful on Old John was beginning to melt. I descended the hill along Jubilee Walk and through more ancient woodland slowly descending to the bottom of the valley of Wood Brook where a permissive path allows access through this pleasant valley through to Buck Hill where a slanting path climbs to a prominent ridge that makes me feel like that I am in the fells of the Lake District rather than the rolling hills of Leicestershire. This is a special place that never fails to delight me whenever I walk along this short ridge. A surprisingly steep descent off the end of the ridge leads on beside the edge of a private wood on now snow-free muddy paths to a road and the County Council-owned Jubilee Woods. These woods were recently extended and I look forward to the time when I’ll be able to walk through the whole wood, but until that time I headed through the older section of the wood and into the Charnwood Borough Council-owned Outwoods.

This ancient woodland is covered in bluebells in the spring that guarantees a visit every year so I can see the amazing display that covers the woodland floor in small, delicate blue flowers. The Outwoods is a great place any time of the year, but at the end of April or the beginning of May it becomes the place of my dreams. A pleasant stroll along the quiet Brook Road lane led me from the Outwoods back to Woodhouse Eaves and the end of this enthralling walk. I have done this walk or a variant of it many times before and it never fails to satisfy. Even though the Lake District and Snowdonia are too far away for a day trip I can always go to the Charnwood Forest where ancient woodlands and granite-topped hills provide me with all the interest I need to keep going. If you thought Leicestershire was a dull place to go walking, think again.

Bleaberry Fell

Wednesday 2nd January 2013

I had not planned anything in advance for the last day of my holiday in the Lake District except for a requirement to catch a bus from Keswick mid-afternoon. I spent much of the evening of New Year’s Eve pouring over maps trying to decide what walks I was going to do for the next two days, but it wasn’t until I was part way through my walk of New Year’s Day on the western side of Derwent Water that I got the idea to walk up Bleaberry Fell, which is near to Keswick on the eastern side of Derwent Water. My original idea for New Year’s Day had been to walk all the way around Derwent Water, but a lack of a good through route on the eastern side of the lake prompted me to stay on the western side on New Year’s Day. Now the eastern side beckoned with a desire to climb alongside Cat Gill on an ascent of Bleaberry Fell that became my sole target for this last day. Wainwright’s “Ascent from the Borrowdale Road” fitted the bill, but first I needed to get to the Borrowdale Road.

My walk started with a stroll down to the popular viewpoint of Friar’s Crag for a look at the stunning view across Derwent Water, the most beautiful lake in the Lake District, even when the weather is awful. On this last day it was just as lousy as it had been throughout my holiday with rain falling more often than not but with lighter winds than I had endured over the previous couple of days. Fortunately the poor weather had driven away all the tourists and allowed me to enjoy the stunning views across the lake all on my own. Following the lake-shore path I walked around Strandshag Bay and through the Ings Wood to Calfclose Bay. Slowly, I made my way along the pleasant path to the Borrowdale Road and the start of the “Ascent from the Borrowdale Road” at the mouth of Cat Gill. After crossing the road I climbed a muddy path below the imposing Falcon Crag that I would have loved to have been able to explore.

Crossing Cat Gill by a footbridge I took an thrilling path that climbs steeply up the hillside beside the ravine created by Cat Gill on the edge of Great Wood. I loved this gorgeous stone-flagged path that cleverly climbs the steep hillside while on the edge of a stunning ravine and was thankful that I’d made the effort to climb Bleaberry Fell by this route; I am only disappointed that I hadn’t been up this path earlier. I was sheltered from the wind in the ravine and as I got hot from the effort of the climb I was actually wishing for a breath of wind, which is ironic after the savage cross-winds that I’d endured the day before on Maiden Moor. On this holiday I had been wearing two waterproofs, which is not something I’ve ever done before but it’s worked out quite well. As well as my usual waterproof (which is very light), I have added the old cagoule that I’ve had for years (and wore on my first ever holiday in the Lake District) and was now being used as an overcoat. In the very wet conditions I found on this holiday it worked very well, but on this ascent the non-breathable nature of the cagoule made me a bit warm, but through judicious use of rolling up the sleeves of my two waterproofs I managed to reach the top of Cat Gills without melting into a pool of sweat.

A clear path took me around the top of the various streams that combine at the top of the ravine until after I’d crossed the last stream I set off across the fell on relatively firm ground to the clear path that heads towards Bleaberry Fell. After passing a sheepfold, a heavily constructed path emerged that led me all the way up to the top of the fell, and was a welcome help as soon after joining this path it started raining heavily with no sign that it would end. This is not the sort of weather that you would want when climbing a fell. I resolutely made my way through the rain, up the steep paved path and past the many cairns that litter the top until I reached the summit of Bleaberry Fell where I found a small shelter from the wind and rain and had my lunch.

I returned back down the heavily made path and after passing the sheepfold I made a direct course for Walla Crag across very boggy ground. This was the route that I had taken the last time I was in this area, in 2006, but it’s not a good route. The route I’d taken in ascent from Cat Gill is much drier and much better than this usual route across the ridiculously boggy ground of Low Moss. Eventually I reached the tremendous views across Derwent Water that can seen from the popular top of Walla Crag, and from the top I took a fabulous path that skirts the edge of the crags and provided me with excellent views throughout the all-too-short walk. A delightful descent beside Brockle Beck followed and led me all the way down into Keswick, where since I still had a bit of time left before my bus I decided to nip up to the top of the wooded viewpoint of Castlehead, which Wainwright describes as having the most beautiful of all the views of Derwent Water. The extra height of Castlehead possibly gives it an edge over the lakeshore viewpoint from Friar’s Crag. This was a great end to a fabulous six days in the Lake District that shows that bad weather doesn’t necessarily stop you having a great walking holiday over the fells; you just have to be prepared.