The Ivanhoe Way, section two

Saturday 24th September 2016

At the crack of dawn, just as the sun was rising above the horizon, I was parking in the tiny village of Packington for the second section of the Ivanhoe Way. I had walked through this pretty village a couple of years before while on the National Forest Way and it was good to have an excuse to return. I set off along the Measham Road out of the village before taking a footpath that passes through a small, young wood with dew-soaked ground underfoot that quickly saturated my shoes as I passed new plantings of young trees for the National Forest in this picturesque location. After passing through several small fields I passed through a large field at the top of a low hill that gave me extensive views, particularly towards the rising sun in the east. Unfortunately I didn’t see the sun again for the rest of the morning as cloud soon enveloped the skies creating a hazy light that spoilt the views that I would have during this walk, even though it was still pleasantly warm.

The path beyond the lane to Champneys Springs passed through a freshly ploughed field and rather than attempting to walk across this muddy field I followed the road onto Gallows Lane to reach the other side of the path that continues on its course towards Measham. These fields were unimproved, which means that they were filled with lots of wild plants that provided me with a bit of interest before reaching Measham. After negotiating the highways and byways of this large village I eventually reached the Measham Museum where I had left the Ivanhoe Way previously, at the end of section one. Resuming my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way I set off along the course of the old Ashby & Nuneaton Railway that is now marked as being the Ashby Heritage Trail. This was a relaxing part of the walk with no-brainer navigation as the old railway follows a gentle curve through the gently undulating Leicestershire countryside. I had walked along part of this old railway line a couple of years ago while on the National Forest Way, and was now overlapping that walk slightly though in the opposite direction.

This time I came off the course of the railway just after passing through Donisthorpe Woodland Park, site of the former quarry, onto a lovely, little footpath that was tightly enclosed by hawthorn hedges and brought me to the Ashby Canal. On the previous section of this trail I had followed the course of this canal where it has been filled in following mine collapses, but this section of the canal has now been restored even though it lies in isolation, with just one and a half miles ending at the Conkers Waterside Centre. On this canal is the Moira Furnace, which is a remarkably preserved industrial monument, and now a museum, but since it was still too early in the morning and not open yet I had to walk past it and cross the canal to take a path onto a road. Beyond, a gently rising path on a small embankment took me up to a small wood that seemed like it would be worth exploring in the spring when there would hopefully be woodland flowers at their most spectacular. A sign revealed that this was the site of the Newfield Colliery, which just shows how quickly nature can transform a previously heavily industrial landscape into one of beauty and tranquillity.

I passed through this wood far too quickly and came upon the Ashby Road that I had to follow, underneath the Ivanhoe railway line and for some distance, until turning right into Willesley Lane I eventually reached a nature conservation area that has no public access except for a single footpath through the middle. The Ivanhoe Way follows this path and I had been on this path before on the aforementioned walk while doing the National Forest Way. I think it may even have been at this point while following this part of the Ivanhoe Way that I had the idea of doing the entire circuit. After passing through the open-access Chestnut Wood, typical of the National Forest, I passed Shellbrook Farm through a large freshly ploughed field. I couldn’t help thinking of the small field near Measham that I had bypassed earlier because it had been freshly ploughed while I was now struggling across this huge field. On the far side of the field I saw an invitingly wide, grassy lane that I recognized from my previous visit and took me onto the Moira Road.

When I got there I checked my map and realised that the Ivanhoe Way doesn’t join the road at that point, so I headed back to the ploughed field to try and find the correct path and missed the turning again, until I eventually reached the correct path that lay through another freshly ploughed field. Passing some horses and through a new housing development I eventually came back onto the Moira Road, which I followed all the way into Ashby-de-la-Zouch. You could say that this ends my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way even though technically I have a section left to complete as I’d started on section four, however I’d walked section three while on the National Forest Way, and I’d walked it in the other direction in May last year, so I didn’t feel as though I needed to do that section again. From Ashby I followed the route of the National Forest Way south across the A42 dual-carriageway back to the village of Packington. This walk only took me four hours and the sun didn’t come out until near the end, around midday, which was rather frustrating even though I did have plans for the afternoon.

Reflecting on the whole of the Ivanhoe Way I must say that I wasn’t impressed as far too much of it passes through farmer’s fields even though that is going to be inevitable for a walk in Leicestershire. No walk in this county can possibly compete with one in Scotland or the Lake District, but since Leicestershire is my home county this is what I have to make do with unless I want to travel several hours at the start and end of every walk. Rather than stopping at my car I passed through the village of Packington and had a wander around the fields to the south where I had made a mistake several years ago coming into the village on the National Forest Way. I retraced my steps of that walk to the Gilwiskaw Brook and through Plummer’s Wood up through a pretty avenue of young trees to reach the National Forest Way and followed the route that I should have taken several years ago through a field overgrown with thistles back into the village of Packington. With the sun shining this was a lovely end to an otherwise uneventful walk.

The Ivanhoe Way, section one

Saturday 6th August 2016

At this time of the year I don’t have any walking holidays to describe so I have to go back and look at the day-walks that I did last year in or near Leicestershire, my home county. I had been gradually working my way around the long distance trail of the Ivanhoe Way and on the previous section I had reached the village of Shackerstone, which is the official start of the trail. I had actually started my circuit in Dimminsdale Nature Reserve at the start of section four, so I was now more than half way around the trail. After parking in the car park for the Battlefield Line Railway I set off through the village of Shackerstone and onto the towpath that runs beside the Ashby de la Zouch Canal. There was a dense covering of trees on this section of the canal that made it rather dark and brooding, but I didn’t stay long on the canal as I came off at Hill’s Bridge and passing through the overgrown remains of a disused railway line I came onto a quiet country lane. I was accompanied by this lane with the purple flowers of willowherb that are a sure sign of summer, and a ubiquitous flower at that time of the year.

Just after passing Shackerstone Fields Farm I left the road and crossed a dew-soaked, grassy field that prompted me to put on my waterproof socks before continuing beside wheat fields, through Green Lane Coverts and into the village of Snarestone. Ragwort and rosebay willowherb decorated the edges of these fields while a dense plague of flies harassed me near Beanfield Farm until I could reach the safety of the trees in Green Land Coverts. These treats and irritations were a distant memory once I reached Snarestone as beyond this village the Ivanhoe Way follows the edge of a busy road until I eventually came off and started following a track that goes around a brick works. While on one side of the path is the brick works with a tall, ugly wire fence separating them, on the other is a narrow woodland screen that has been allowed to go wild resulting in a lovely display of plants that made for an enjoyable walk despite half of the view being industrial. All too soon I was in the village of Measham where a short walk through a housing estate brought me to the former Measham railway station that is now the Measham Museum.

This is the end of section one of the Ivanhoe Way, which hadn’t really taken me very long, and since the museum was closed for lunch I turned around and headed back towards Shackerstone along the course of the old railway line. This became very overgrown with lovely, dense vegetation covered with loads of summer flowers that made for an attractive area to walk through back towards the brick works. There was a loud buzzing of insects in this tall vegetation that shows the benefit of not being so meticulous about cutting back overgrown plants. Insects will love you for leaving weeds to grow tall in the height of summer and I loved walking through these dense plants to the accompanying buzz. The course of the old railway line disappears into the brick works so I was forced to retrace my steps of an hour earlier around the edge, but this time I was trying to find a path off the Ivanhoe Way that couldn’t be seen. The map indicates several paths that veer off the Ivanhoe Way, but despite going up and down the path several times I couldn’t find any way off the main path through the tangled screen of bramble.

In the end I came off the path near the south-eastern corner of the brick works on a short track that took me back onto the road that I had walked beside earlier in the day. A short walk north along this road brought me to the point where the path that I had been looking for crosses the road and turning right I followed this path east. On the other side of a field I came upon an area warning of military vehicles and where red flags were flying despite there being no sign of a military zone on my map. A sign revealed that this is not real, but something called Tank Mania for gullible tourists. I had no interest is this mania and followed the path on an interesting route along the length of a wide hedge that eventually brought me up to a delightful hay meadow that was full of many wonderful wild flowers. This could simply be an abandoned field, but that didn’t spoil my enthusiasm for a field that was filled with dock and ragwort and where a clear path takes a meandering course through the field. I was deeply enamoured with this field and felt disappointed when I came to the end of the field at a road.

On the other side of Gilwiskaw Brook I found a sign marking a construction site for the Ashby Canal. Since there is a footpath marked on my map at this point, and it wasn’t too difficult to go around the gate, even though there wasn’t any sign of a right-of-way, I headed along the course of the old canal up a stony track. I think the footpath that I had been trying to follow since leaving Measham is on the course of the old canal and there is a plan to restore it following the mine collapses that had closed it many years ago. The restoration works soon emerged and I had the weird experience of walking along the bed of a dry canal until I came to the mound of earth that blocks the current northern end of the canal. From there I walked along the towpath on this newly restored section of the canal until the surroundings finally merged into the long established canal. For the rest of the walk I simply followed the canal all the way back to Shackerstone in the wonderfully warm and sunny weather. The Ivanhoe Way was very boring mainly because it passes through fields which I don’t find particularly fun walking through, but the return was more interesting as I tried to trace the route of the old Ashby Canal and then it was very relaxing as I strolled along the easy canal towpath.

The return trip was soon blocked, however, by the 249 yard Snarestone Tunnel where there is no path for me to follow so I had to climb up to the village and find my way back down onto the canal, which wasn’t immediately obvious. Eventually I found the route through the beer garden for the Globe Inn that led me back down to the canal. When I eventually reached Shackerstone I took a trip along the preserved railway than runs along the old line to Shenton right next to Bosworth Battlefield. Rather than being pulled by a steam train on this day the service was being run by an old D.M.U. that reminded me of my childhood just as a steam train reminds my father of his childhood. The main benefit of this walk was the weather that was pleasantly warm and sunny, which produces good views, even over the flat Leicestershire countryside, and makes for an uplifting walk.

Five Dales Walk

Saturday 23rd July 2016

After a dull, wet start to July last year, it was a relief when the sun finally came out for the last week or two of the month and I was able to go for a walk with the Peak District beckoning me, so I drove up the M1 to Miller’s Dale Station that lies on the disused railway line between Matlock and Buxton. The walk that I ended up doing was actually one that I’d originally done way back in 1998 and was based on a walk that I’d found in a book of my father’s called ‘On Foot in the Peak District’. To make a change I decided to do the walk in the opposite direction, so from the station I headed into Monk’s Dale, which I remembered from nineteen years ago was really tricky underfoot. After the recent wet weather it was very damp and slippery at the bottom of this dark, narrow, wooded valley, but it was also gloriously overgrown underneath the dense canopy with moss everywhere and vegetation encroaching on the slimy rock path from all directions. As magical and eerie as the place was, I spent most of my time concentrating on keeping a secure footing rather than absorbing the fabulous surroundings.

Beyond a road the valley continues into Peter Dale, but after a short rock-walled ravine the valley deteriorates into a broad grass-covered valley that had been churned up by grazing cattle and made the surface almost as difficult to walk upon as in Monk’s Dale, but without the compensation of trees and plants. When I reached a second road I was in no mood to continue into Hay Dale, so I turned right onto the road and followed it out of the valley and over the hill into the picturesque village of Tideswell. On reflection, I think I must have taken the first road in 1998 and missed out Peter Dale, which in the end wasn’t worth the diversion, and is not included in the five dales of the title. After passing through Tideswell and the smaller village of Litton, I turned off the road and dropped into small Tansley Dale that soon leads into the pretty Cressbrook Dale. Tansley Dale was covered with little meadow flowers and there was a stunning arrangement of wild flowers at the junction between the two dales that was frustratingly at the same time as problems with my camera.

Cressbrook Dale is as wooded as Monk’s Dale and had a little of the damp conditions underfoot, even though it’s not as narrow. It was still great surroundings to be walking in until I reached the cottages that herald the start of more road walking. So far on this walk I felt like I had been encountering either slippery rock within dark, damp valleys or dreary road walking and this road took me down to Cressbrook Mill. On the other side of the mill is Water-cum-Jolly Dale, which is a well-known valley that I have walked through many times since I was a child. The scene before me of the wide expansion of the river below a dramatic limestone cliff face is a very familiar one. However, for some reason I wasn’t particularly enthused by this stage of the walk, maybe because it is so familiar, or because I’d already been depressed by the road walking and the wet conditions underfoot elsewhere.

The valley soon becomes Miller’s Dale and eventually I reached Litton Mill where I once again encountered a road that I had to walk upon, though in this valley there are some dramatic cliffs that loom above the road and the grass verges are filled with many wild flowers. This road eventually leads to the village of Miller’s Dale where I had parked my car, however rather than climbing up to the station I continued beside the river into Chee Dale. I remember doing a walk a couple of years ago through Monsal Dale to Miller’s Dale and Chee Dale, and now I was copying that walk for the simple reason that I love Chee Dale. This valley is even narrower than Monk’s Dale and just as damp underfoot, so I think with hindsight this walk would have been better after a long dry spell as these narrow valleys hold onto moisture for a long time which made walking at the bottom of them slippery if there has been rain recently. I still loved walking through Chee Dale as there are some really spectacular sections where the valley enters a narrow ravine with sheer rock walls either side that require a bit of scrambling 

The path is forced onto stepping stones on the edge of the river at this point as the river fills the entire valley bottom. Normally I would be excited by the awesome surroundings, but on this occasion my mind was mostly on trying not to slip on the damp rocks. Eventually the valley opens out and splits into Great Rocks Dale and Wye Dale, but this was as far I was going to walk so I climbed up onto the Monsal Trail and followed the course of the old railway line all the way back to Miller’s Dale Station. On paper this should have been a good walk, but maybe it wasn’t sunny enough, or dry enough underfoot. My original walk, of 1998, had not gone through Chee Dale, but I felt motivated to tag that diversion onto the end of this walk simply because I hadn’t really been enjoying the walk up to that point, and always love Chee Dale.

The Ivanhoe Way, section seven

Saturday 2nd July 2016

Just one week after my aborted walk on section six of the Ivanhoe Way I was back at the car park for the Billa Barra Local Nature Reserve to resume my circuit of the long distance trail. Unfortunately this is not a particularly interesting section as it passes through many farmers’ fields that I find rather dull mainly because of their lack of wild flowers. The weather was no help with largely overcast skies and only an occasional bit of sunshine. Soon after starting I turned off the road into a delightfully wild area that has a wonderfully abandoned look about it, just north of the village of Stanton under Bardon. The course of a mineral railway for the Old Cliffe Hill Quarry passes through this area that is delightfully being reclaimed by nature to produce a fascinating area to wander through, but is sadly far too small and I was soon passing between the back of the village and allotments. A track follows the edge of the village to enter a typical National Forest Wood after crossing a road.

The ground underfoot in this wood was particularly wet and boggy so left my shoes saturated by the time I emerged from the wood and entered the first of the arable fields that typifies this part of the Ivanhoe Way. Just before reaching the village of Bagworth I encountered the National Forest Way, which heads north towards Bagworth Wood with a variation of the Ivanhoe Way. Since I had taken that route while on the National Forest Way I decided to head straight on, passing under the Ivanhoe railway line and into the village of Bagworth. There I was joined by the Leicestershire Round trail that follows the Ivanhoe Way for the next five miles almost all the way to the end of section seven at Shackerstone. I was captivated by the lovely, little blue flowers that filled the first couple of fields out of Bagworth and I was curious about what there were until I discover a label that identified them as linum usi, or in other words, flax and used to make linseed oil.

After passing through another young wood: Underhills, that has a picturesque pond in the middle of it, the trail passes through more dull fields. On the approach to the village of Nailstone I had to battle through several fields of dense, overgrown oilseed rape so that although some ox-eye daisy started appearing in gaps between the rapeseed I was greatly relieved when I finally reached All Saints Church in Nailstone. This ended section six of the Ivanhoe Way, but I didn’t stop there as I continued on passing a charming arrangement of poppies at an overgrown road corner on the outskirts of Nailstone. Before reaching the hamlet of Odstone I could see a field that was full of red flowers, presumably poppies, but frustratingly there was no way that I could get there as there is no public access. It was annoying that I couldn’t get a closer look at what must be a charming wildflower meadow.

There was nothing else of interest in section seven of the Ivanhoe Way until the Leicestershire Round finally parted company to take a different route into the village of Shackerstone as I came off a farmer's track to follow a footpath through more oilseed rape that eventually brought me into Shackerstone where the preserved Battlefield Line Railway has its base. The Ivanhoe Way officially ends in Shackerstone, however since I had started my circuit with section four I had not finished yet, but I had finished for this walk. Now I needed to get back to Billa Barra so I joined the Leicestershire Round heading out of the village, briefly beside the Ashby Canal before rejoining the Ivanhoe Way back towards Odstone. I didn't want to stay on the Ivanhoe Way all the way back to Billa Barra as I parted company in Odstone and took an easy footpath that passes Odstone Barn Farm until just before I reached a sewage works.

The path between a stream and the access road for the works was completely overgrown with deadly hemlock, stinging nettles and thorny bramble. Unfortunately such overgrown paths are not unusual at this time of the year. After crossing a main road, I entered a large wood that is part of the National Forest and encircles Ibstock Grange. In Workman’s Wood there was no sign of a path and I had to battle through tall grass until I was able to cross a fence into Battram Wood where I could continue easily through the wood to the far end at Pickering Grange Farm. On passing an old clay pit I saw many ox-eye daisies in an area that appears to have been left to go wild, and as always it doesn’t take long for nature to produce a fabulous display. After crossing the Ivanhoe railway line again I encountered another heavily overgrown path that follows the railway line into New Cliffe Hill Quarry.

At one point I saw a bank of spotted-orchids that had me enraptured. I love these flowers that until the week before on Bardon Hill I had only ever seen on rare moments in the Highlands of Scotland, but I was now seeing great swathes of them in Leicestershire. The weather gradually improved during the afternoon so that by the time I was walking around the edge of New Cliffe Hill Quarry it was sunny with clear views over the largely flat terrain to the south as I walked past fields that had recently been cut for silage with the black plastic bales still sitting in the fields. This walk ended with a circuit through the woodland that has been created to screen the quarry and is a familiar route, but a nice end to a long walk. Overall this wasn’t a great walk, and the Ivanhoe Way was particularly poor, but there were moments of interest and there is something about a really long walk that is invigorating.

Prior’s Coppice and the Launde Woods; Section Six of the Ivanhoe Way

Saturday 14th May and Saturday 25th June 2016

In my search for bluebells last spring, I headed east to the tiny county of Rutland and parked beside Prior’s Coppice, a Wildlife Trust property and ancient woodland that is bestrewn with wild flowers. There were bluebells, wood anemones, red campion, yellow archangel, early purple orchids, wood forget-me-nots, and bugle. This wood was absolutely delightful and I was in rapture of the wide array of flowers, but my enthusiasm was rather tempered by the wet and boggy ground underfoot, which after my walk the previous month in Cademan Wood seemed to be common in ancient woods. This is not a very large wood so after walking after Prior’s Coppice I set off along bridlepaths to another Wildlife Trust property: Launde Woods. Once again there were loads of woodland flowers: banks of forget-me-nots and bluebells, as well as purple orchids and red campions. The best part was in the north-eastern corner where an ancient lane was lined with a kaleidoscope of colours including white ramsons, bluebells, and red campions. I love the pungent smell of the wild garlic and I was enthralled by everything that I found so that I was reluctant to leave the wood.

Eventually I continued my circuit of the Wildlife Trust properties of east Leicestershire and Rutland by walking around to the Tilton Railway Cutting, which is on the remains of an old railway that used to run from Melton Mowbray to Market Harborough. The primary interest here is geological thanks to the exposed rocks that feature a plentiful number of fossils, however this doesn’t interest me although the red campion and forget-me-nots that litter the site prevented the long diversion from being a waste of time. A long walk along roads and past Launde Abbey took me back to Prior’s Coppice. Forget-me-nots were a common feature in all these woods, and often carpeted the woodland floor in a similar way to the bluebells that had been my original draw. This walk was the last of my spring excursions in search of bluebells and they all proved highly productive setting a high standard for a potential similar excursion this year.

While looking for bluebells I had abandoned my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way so it wasn’t until after my holiday in Scotland and the brief period of poor health that had followed that I finally returned to the Ivanhoe Way. Even though I still wasn’t fully well I decided that I could wait no longer and so I headed off early in the morning to the car park for the Billa Barra Nature Reserve. This small hill is a delightful place that I have visited many times before and I have always enjoyed the easy walk up the hill from the car park past many foxgloves to the top where my goal for the day, Bardon Hill, the highest point in Leicestershire, is clearly to be seen. The view all around from Billa Barra Hill is very good with a surprisingly large number of trees in an area that until recently was filled with coal mines. Heading down the hill through meadows full of oxtail daisies I reflected that the season for woodland flowers was now past and meadow flowers were now taking the fore.

After crossing the busy A511 road I headed along a footpath beside overgrown vegetation that was bejewelled with dew at this early hour and drenched my feet. I could see ahead of me that Bardon Hill Quarry was turning its attention to the area south of the hill resulting in a significant change to the landscape from gentle arable fields to bare earth and harsh wire fences. Fortunately the path is still open so I was able to make my way towards Bardon Hill, however I wanted to reach the point where I had left the Ivanhoe Way two months before, so I made a course around the edge of Bardon Hill Wood on a new path that diverts walkers around the new quarry workings. I remember that there used to be a lot of rhododendrons in that corner of the wood that has now been bulldozed, so although they would have been in flower at this time of the year I wasn’t too disappointed as these can be very invasive flowers. The diverted footpath eventually took me to a busy, albeit minor, road that I walked beside to Abbot’s Oak where I turned onto Greenhill Road to the point where I had previously abandoned the Ivanhoe Way. Finally I could resume my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way, initially through a small housing estate that led me into Bardon Hill Wood.

To the east of the top of Bardon Hill is a stunning area of heathland that is filled with many fabulous wild flowers including one of my absolute favourites: spotted-orchids that I had previously only ever seen in the Highlands of Scotland. I was so overwhelmed by the huge variety and number of wild meadow flowers that I wanted to stay on top of Bardon Hill forever, but eventually I managed to tare myself away and head up to the trig point that marks the summit of the hill. The huge quarry that lies just below the summit of the highest hill in Leicestershire fails to detract from the widespread scene across the former coalfields of north-west Leicestershire. Soon I turned south onto the narrow path that threads its way steeply through the wood past many foxgloves to reach the path that I had taken on my way towards Bardon Hill. Continuing south I saw an advantage to the new quarry workings as the old arable fields had been left to go wild producing a fabulous display of wild flowers so rather than reducing the appeal of the landscape it seemed the new quarry workings were actually enhancing it.

These new meadows were full of many lovely flowers with poppies being the most noticeable and striking in attracting the attention of the passerby. Previously these fields had been dull and boring to look at as they contained only a small variety of plants, but now the bio-diversity had been greatly increased simply by doing nothing. Eventually I returned to the busy dual carriageway that the Ivanhoe Way follows for a short distance before heading south past some stables, but after crossing a hedge I couldn’t find any trace of the path, just newly constructed fences that barred the way. This is a disappointing rejection of walkers, but rather than demanding action I made my way further down the main road onto another path that parallels the closed one. This was an interesting short path through apparently abandoned land that soon brought onto the Cliffe Hill path that in turn brought me onto the road just outside Stanton under Bardon. With darkening skies and my cough still sounding bad, I decided it would be best to return to my car and end section six of the Ivanhoe Way halfway through. On these two walks I saw loads of gorgeous wild flowers that had me in awe with works of art more splendid than anything that can be found in any gallery.