Mill Lane

Thursday 17th March 2016

I have done many fabulous walks around Britain and Ireland, but there is one walk that I 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 that 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 I moved 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 the 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 between the hedges yet, but the fields on the other side of the hedge were ablaze with these delightful yellow flowers.

At the end of this narrow, little path is 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 that 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 swings sharply 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 sharp zigzag the lane heads between two meadows that are 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. This embankment usually contains more wild flowers than I would usually see on Mill Lane and is always a strong draw for me.

Near the top of the path a small hollow opens out 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 had been 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 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 very 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 found that it was dry underfoot so I was easily able to follow the canal between the houses at the back of South Wigston and farmer’s fields 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.