Walking home ahead of the Beast from the East

Saturday 24th February 2018

Early this year easterly winds brought Siberian weather to Great Britain in a cold wave that was nicknamed by the media as the “Beast from the East”. Ahead of the snow were a few days of bitterly cold weather, but also clear blue skies and lovely sunshine so I jumped at the opportunity to do a walk through the great Leicestershire countryside. Since, I reasoned, my car was going to be inches thick of ice I caught a train instead to the market town of Loughborough and then walked all the way back home. This is something that I have done several times before and the most recent, two years ago, was described on this blog. On that occasion I walked along the Grand Union Canal all the way through Leicester, but the first time I did the endeavour I diverted via the hill of Old John in Bradgate Park which made an already long walk even longer and harder. That was the inspiration for this walk but now as I made the attempt again I would make it even tougher, so first thing in the morning I caught the train to Loughborough and set off through the town passing the market that was already being set up. I carried on through Loughborough until I reached the Forest Road roundabout where I branched off onto a cyclepath that follows the Wood Brook initially passing through a lovely spot that even at this early time of the year already had some daffodils in bloom along with snowdrops and crocuses.

The cyclepath follows the Wood Brook through a housing estate until eventually it parts company at the edge of the estate with the Outwoods on the horizon ahead of me. Even though it was very cold and the ground was frozen solid I was already working up a sweat and needed to take off several layers. This would be a curious day of very cold temperatures but with warm sunshine so that underfoot I found the sun soon started melting the mud and making the walking a little tougher. Following the path out of Loughborough I headed up to the Outwoods and upon entering these fabulous bluebell woods I climbed up onto a prominent top on its northern edge. At this point I started following the route of my oft-walked Charnwood Forest Round passing Jubilee Wood on a permissive path that climbs to the narrow top of Buck Hill before descending into the Wood Brook valley. After a walk through the fields at the bottom of the valley I climbed all the way up to the top of Beacon Hill and there broke off from my Charnwood Forest Round route to descend the eastern slopes, cross the road and enter the Broombriggs Farm Country Park.

I was now following the route of the Leicestershire Round that took me straight through the middle of Lingdale Golf Club. I do not like taking this route through the golf course as I feel as if I’m intruding and consequently I have not taken it in a long time, but eventually I did manage to safely cross to the other side and passing through the muddy Rough Hill woodland I came onto a road that is a short distance from the Hunt's Hill car park for Bradgate Park. After passing through Hunt’s Hill wood the iconic view of Old John Hill appeared ahead of me with the beer mug shaped tower at the top. This was the route that I always took as a child up Old John, but these days I usually enter the park from a completely different direction on my Charnwood Forest Round. While descending the long slopes of the hill under gorgeous blue skies, behind me the two peaks of Old John were looking splendid in the sunshine, while ahead of me was a herd of red deer with two males headbutting each other for supremacy. On reaching Bradgate House, known locally as Lady Jane Grey’s House, I crossed the River Lin and followed a path out of the park.

Stopping on the edge of the park I turned around and surveyed the tremendous scene before me of Bradgate House with Old John behind and the war memorial and tower on top. With this view before me I had my lunch while I reflected that the best bit of the walk was now over. I had taken a much more strenuous route from Loughborough up to this point than I had taken years before and I was still only half way home with a long way to go. Leaving Bradgate Park behind I crossed some horribly muddy fields that had been warmed by the sunshine and entered the outskirts of the village of Anstey. When I reached Anstey Cemetery I found that the path I needed to reach Rothley Brook was temporarily closed due to construction work. With no alternative I managed to bypass the barriers and walk along the partially constructed path over the stream and under the A46 Western Bypass to reach the outskirts of Glenfield. After walking beside the road through Glenfield I crossed the busy New Parks Way and entered Western Park where the walking could once again be more pleasing in more natural surroundings. Unfortunately I have no idea how to cross Western Park and I had no map, so it was interesting trying to find my way across and in the process I found some good paths through some lovely woodland.

At the southern tip of Western Park I crossed a main road and entered Braunstone Park which has less woodland to enjoy, but I was able to follow a good path that effortlessly took me across the park. On leaving the park I walked along Braunstone Road until I reached Aylestone Playing Fields and upon crossing an old packhorse bridge over the River Soar I reached the Great Central Way, which is familiar territory for me and close enough to home to enable to confidently follow the old railway line all the back home. This mammoth walk must have been about twenty miles long and involved a lot of hills in the first half, so by the time I got home my legs were really tired, but it felt really good to do such a long, strenuous walk especially in such good, though cold, weather. The first half of the walk was an enjoyable crossing of the hills in the Charnwood Forest while the second, though initially muddy, involved crossing as many of the city parks as I could link together. The weather was fabulous all day with gorgeous sunshine, but Siberian winds would soon bring extreme conditions as the Beast from the East began to bite. I am just glad I was able to take advantage of the calm before the storm to do a great walk.