Where does that path go?

Monday 31st December 2018

Over the Christmas and New Year holidays at the end of last year I wanted to do a good, long walk even though the weather was generally rather grey and overcast. Eventually on New Year’s Eve I went to the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire where I have walked many times before, but where there is a particular footpath that I have walked past many times though never investigated, so this was my opportunity. I parked in the village of Woodhouse Eaves and initially followed the route of my oft-walked Charnwood Forest Round in an anti-clockwise direction into the Outwoods. Beyond I entered the permissive path, courtesy of Nanpantan Home Farm, that is a delightful path that I love following especially in the spring when bluebells litter the woodland floor. There is a gloriously rocky ridge on the side of Buck Hill that is a delight to climb on a steep path that has rock underfoot, just below the surface, and is reminiscent of the Lake District. This is my favourite place in Leicestershire where the views from the top of the ridge stretch across the Wood Brook valley over The Home Farm and up the side of the hill beyond to Nanpantan Hall. I only wish the sun was shining for this walk.

I remember the first time I discovered this place I had blindly followed the path from the north gate of Beacon Hill Country Park just to see where the path went and I had no idea where it would lead me or how I would get back. I didn’t have a map and I could have got completely lost, but that actually contributed to the excitement. I have walked along this path at the bottom of the Wood Brook valley that links Beacon Hill with the Outwoods many times, but I have never taken the path that climbs north out of the valley, so on this occasion when I reached the junction I turned right climbing along the edge of a grassy field with woodland on the other side of a wall. The sensible walker would have come prepared with a map of the area so they could follow their progress and always know where they were and where they were going. However, when I first ventured into the Wood Brook valley I didn’t have a map and I had no idea where the path was going to lead me.

If I had been walking in the Highlands of Scotland, or I was in the Lake District or a lot of other places, this would have been a very foolish thing to do, but I was in Leicestershire and never far from civilisation. I was actually excited at the thought of breaking the rules by going walking without a map and almost deliberately getting lost. Our lives are so dictated by Health & Safety rules and regulations that it is thrilling to occasionally break those rules and do something completely reckless, even though when you actually analyse this walk it was not even slightly dangerous. I didn’t have a map with me this time so I was blindly following the markers that led me slowly up a hill with views behind me of Felicity’s Wood on the southern bank of the valley that rises all the way up to the peak at the top of Beacon Hill. So far the path was not particularly exciting and I reflected that I would have enjoyed the path more if it had been in the woodland to my right rather on the edge of the grassy field beside it.

I was reliant on the signs on each successive gate to lead me up the hill with no sign of a path underfoot until I reached a grassy lane at the top of the hill. This lane led me beside Roe’s Plantation towards a road, but before reaching the road a sign directed me into the wood, which was a brief moment of joy as the path climbs over the wooded rock-laden ridge of Roe’s Plantation. After the earlier grassy fields this was a welcome change, except that these woods seemed to be suffering from an invasion of holly and was woefully too small an area so soon I was passing through a couple of fields full of sheep before passing through another wooded ridge that brought me onto the Nanpantan Road. Of course I had no idea where I was or where to go next although a footpath on the other side of the road seemed like a good idea. It was depressing to see a lot of rubbish dumped at the start of this path that led me through young woodland until I came to a sudden stop at a tall fence that I now know was the edge of Charnwood Quarry. Turning to my left I followed the side of the fence onto a right-of-way that took me to Longcliffe Lodge Farm, not far from a bridge under the M1 motorway that had been making its noisy presence known for a while.

Passing underneath the motorway I found a path on the left that followed a very wet and muddy track and eventually brought me down to the stables and farm at Lubcloud. Technically I should now have been completely lost having blindly followed whatever paths I came across, but truthfully I had looked at a map the day before so I had an idea where I was. I was on the route of the Charnwood Forest Challenge Walk that I had done in 2007, and had inspired me to create my own Charnwood Forest Round. Since that walk was a long time ago, and I didn’t have a map, I was unsure where to go next so I took a guess and turned right to follow the road to a crossroads where I had my lunch. I thought there should be a path nearby to Blackbrook Reservoir, but I didn’t know where it was, so I just kept on walking along the road. This used to be a common strategy when walking, before the days of G.P.S., when I was unsure of my location I would just keep walking and hope I came across a landmark that would allow me to pinpoint my location on the map. My perseverance paid off and I found a footpath on the left that took me down to Blackbrook Reservoir, which I remembered passing a few years earlier while doing the Ivanhoe Way and having to wade through ankle-deep mud.

There was no such problem now with the ground still very dry thanks to the hot and dry summer so I was easily able to follow the path up to Mount St. Bernard Abbey. I didn’t stop to look around the monastery but followed the path until I reached a junction, where I remembered I should turn left, however taking the attitude “I wonder where that path goes?” I turned right. It soon became apparent that this path was not going in the direction I wanted to go so I turned back and followed the correct path onto Abbey Road. I was now on more familiar ground as I had done a walk in this area with a guy from work last summer, so abandoning the route of the Challenge Walk I entered Charnwood Lodge National Nature Reserve and followed the paths that lead all the way up to the cairn at the top of Timberwood Hill. From there I dropped steeply down, through Charley Woods Nature Reserve and onto a road under the M1 motorway. I knew exactly where I was going now and soon I reached the north gate of Beacon Hill Country Park, and after a satisfying climb up the Hill I finally returned to Woodhouse Eaves. I had hoped that the sun would come out on this walk and this sadly never happened, but it was still a fabulous walk that stretched my legs and enabled me to explore some paths that I had never walked before, and all without a map.

From Sheffield to the Peak District

Saturday 21st July 2018

Keen to make the most of the fabulous weather that we enjoyed last summer, I thought a good walk to do would be somewhere that would normally be boggy. After all that hot and dry weather the ground was rock hard even where it is usually a bit of a marsh. The closest such place to my home that I could think of was the Dark Peak in the northern half of the Peak District, and then the latest alumni magazine for my University asked “When did you last visit the University? If it was more than five years ago you are in for a surprise.” That got me intrigued so I caught a train to Sheffield and headed through the city centre that has certainly changed a lot since I was there twenty-five years ago. I passed the church that I used to go to, now a Walkabout pub, and along West Street that now has tram lines on it, which were being built as I finished Uni, and they led me to the outskirts of the University of Sheffield. Walking up the hill I passed the Hicks Building where I spent a lot of my time and it doesn’t look like it’s changed much on the outside, but right next to the building is now a pedestrian crossing that I don’t remember and this would have helped me as I also spent some time, while at Uni, in the Dainton Building opposite, and was constantly moving between the two.

Now I used this crossing to visit the front of the Dainton Building before heading beside the road past the Alfred Denny Building and the Arts Tower until I reached the underpass that took me under the road and rather than turning left back towards the Hicks building, as I often used to do, I turned right past the Student’s Union where there has been a lot of development on top or in front of the old building that I would have remembered. The place does look fantastic as I walked back up to the road where the red-brick building of Firth Court stands grandly across the road. Leaving the University behind where I had spent three years of my life, I walked along Western Bank road to Broomhill, which is a social-hub for the students and doesn’t seem to have changed, and further along the road I came to Ranmoor hall of residence where I stayed during some of my time in Sheffield, and which has completely changed. Gone is the old prison-like building that I knew and hated, to be replaced with fresh, modern buildings that are much more welcoming. The best thing about staying at Ranmoor was a walk I did from the halls down the hill into Endcliffe Park and the Porter Valley.

Turning right when I reached the park I followed the Porter Brook into Bingham Park and Whitley Woods where a peaceful wooded valley plunges deep into the city and often provided me with a welcome refreshing all those years ago as I tried to survive the bustling city. I soon felt like I was miles from civilisation, though still in Sheffield. I have returned to the Porter Valley several times over the years, most recently in 2014 when I did the Sheffield Round Walk again, retracing my steps of when I first did it in 1992 to escape from the confines of Ranmoor prison. This delightful valley, through many wonders, eventually brought me to the edge of the Peak District where I turned right along the road that marks the boundary of the National Park with hazy views across the city behind me before coming off the road onto a permissive path that heads over Rud Hill and into the Peak District even though I was still technically in the City of Sheffield. Passing through an area of heather and bracken the ground was satisfyingly dry as I followed the clear path past White Stones and onto a byway that took me to the trig point at Stanedge Pole. I was now at the boundary of the city and finally left Sheffield behind to enter Derbyshire near the popular Stanage Edge, which I have visited many times in the past, and now I walked along the edge again passing over the highest point at High Neb.

It was a shame it wasn’t sunny for this walk and the views were murky, but at least it was warm and dry. Coming off the edge at Crow Chin I descended onto Moscar Moor where I had difficulty finding a route through a thick barrier of bracken. Although I was aided by the ground being dry, it was still difficult battling through the heather on Bamford Moor and it took me a while until I eventually reached Bamford Edge with the prominent top of Win Hill ahead of me, but across the gap cut by the River Derwent, with seemingly no route down. In the end I gave up trying to find a way down, although if I’d headed south straight away, instead of north, I may have found a way, but by then I had already decided to head home. On reaching the road I turned steeply down Bamford Clough into the village of Bamford and rather than following the main road to Bamford station I turned onto the minor Joan Lane taking a footpath around Bamford Filters and descended steeply into Hurst Clough before climbing even more steeply out of the deep valley, which was quite tiring at the end of a long day so from there I followed a road all the way into Hathersage and the railway station there.

It was good to return to my old haunts from my University days and I particularly enjoyed walking along the Porter Valley again, which is a fantastic place that will be drawing me back many more times. A lot of time has passed since I was at the University of Sheffield and although there have been many changes at the Uni since those days I have also changed a lot since those days. I do still have a lot of affection for Sheffield, but the University itself is very much in my past, while places like the Porter Valley are what interest me now. It is a pity the views in the Peak District were so poor, but this was still a good, long walk to travel from the centre of a large city all the way out into the moors of the Peak District National Park.

Looking for bluebells in the Charnwood Forest

Saturday 19th May 2018

Every year I like to do a walk through the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire to see bluebells. I will usually use my Charnwood Forest Round for this, which is a walk that I devised some years ago and now do several times every year as a way of keeping my hillwalking fitness up, and passes through a few ancient woodlands that rejoice in bluebells in the spring. Last year I was delayed in doing my annual bluebell walk by being in the Lake District at the beginning of May, and when I was back I decided to do vary the walk by drawing inspiration from the National Forest Way and another bluebell walk that I did in 2017 that took in the three peaks of Leicestershire. However last year was very different to previous years and hot weather over the bank holiday weekend had sent the bluebells to seed very quickly despite a late appearance due to the late winter. Therefore the flowering period for bluebells last year was very short, which is a shame and severely affected this walk. Setting off from the village of Woodhouse Eaves on the course of the National Forest Way I could already see that the bluebells were going to seed and the prospects for the walk seemed bleak, though the weather was fabulous with cloudless skies and bright sunshine all day.

After passing through Swithland Woods I came into Bradgate Park where I found a welcome array of bluebells still shining in the full vigour of youth, late developers that had escaped the scorching weather earlier in the month. Climbing to the top of Old John I passed the folly and war memorial and descended into Newtown Linford continuing along the National Forest Way on a path that was decorated with stitchworts. A private wood to the right of the path had a great covering of bluebells with many still in good condition and only just past their peak so they were producing a splendid display. Being a private wood with no public access helps enormously in preventing bluebells being trampled underfoot by people eager to get a closer look, and I had to be content with staying on the other side of a barbed wire fence. The path continues through some wild flower meadows to reach Lady Hay Wood where I found a glade that was filled with bluebells, just as I’d remembered the previous year. Despite many of the bluebells starting to go to seed there was a fantastic display that was made even more special by the sunshine, which was a welcome change from the rain that had accompanied me when I had been at this spot the year before.

Continuing on the National Forest Way I crossed the busy A50 and entered Martinshaw Wood, which has never produced spectacular displays of bluebells in my experience, although I did find splendid displays of stitchworts. Soon after entering the wood I took a wide path that follows the northern edge of the wood, but soon I decided to abandon that and return to the National Forest Way, but I’m not particularly familiar with the layout of Martinshaw Wood so instead of heading south I actually headed west, which was completely the wrong direction. Eventually I came to the corner where the M1 motorway cuts the wood in two, and from that point I followed the fence beside the roar of the passing cars and lorries until I reached the bridge at the south-eastern edge where I finally managed to return to the National Forest Way. Now I stuck to the trail all the way through to Burroughs Wood where I was greeted by a great bank of cow parsley and red campion, but the bluebells had completely gone to seed and were no longer in flower, which was very disillusioning for me and left me with the realisation that it wasn’t worth my looking for for anymore bluebells on this walk.

However, there were still plenty of other wild flowers to me to see with cow parsley overgrowing the path beyond Burroughs Wood. As I continued along the trail stitchworts and red campion delighted me all the way to Thornton Reservoir, where the fields at the foot of the dam were filled with dandelion seed heads and buttercups adding to the beautiful scene that was reminiscent of last year. After passing the reservoir I finally turned off the National Forest Way (and my walk of last year) to follow the route of the Leicestershire Round along a path that I have not taken for many years so I was unsure of the route, although it proved to be pretty easy. After passing through Markfield I joined the route of my familiar Charnwood Forest Round passing bluebells in Ulverscroft Wood that were so far gone that it was quite depressing to realise I’d missed them at their best. Later I had a similar story in the Outwoods that are usually filled with bluebells at this time of the year but were now in a sorry state.

I had suspected I would see poor displays of bluebells and in fact these just seemed to get worse as the walk progressed, although I had hoped the late winter would have preserved them, but that had worked in only a small number of exposed locations. It is a pity I couldn’t enjoy this walk for it was rather than for what it didn’t have. I had fabulous weather and a great display of wild flowers including the red campion pictured above, but that was not what I had come out to see.