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 actually walked in an easterly direction whereas every other stage that I walked of the National Forest Way was 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 up past the primary school 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 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 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 covers 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 Way and full of immature trees with nothing of interest to see as I made my way north blindly following the direction markers for the trail through a maze of paths. Eventually emerging from the wood I 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 it reaches 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 I had enjoyed the wonders. After a blissful time spent wandering through the park I made my way to the southern end of the park where a wild flower meadow was showing wondrous delights that I hadn’t seen on my previous visits to the park. Eventually I emerged from the park and entered Mill Hill Wood only to find a construction site at the far end of the wood. 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 back to Bagworth New Wood and on entering the village of Bagworth copied my previous year’s route by turning right onto the main village street. At a church I followed the route of the Leicestershire Round through Bagworth Heath Woods that led me back into the village of Thornton. 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.