Charnwood Peaks

Saturday 3rd April 2021

With lockdown ending I was desperate to do a long walk that didn’t start from my front door, so I drove up to the Charnwood Forest, an area where I have done many walks in the past as it is the best place to walk in Leicestershire offering ancient woodlands and granite outcrops on low hills. I often do a Charnwood Round Walk that takes a very hilly route though the area and most recently did this walk just before Christmas. This was the last walk I did before lockdown so could have been my first walk after lockdown, but instead I thought I’d do something different. There is a walk on the National Forest website called Charnwood Peaks that could be called the Three Peaks of Leicestershire and there are charity walks that do something similar (however the Long Distance Walkers Association website describes this walk as going over the four peaks that define Charnwood Forest). The walk starts in Newtown Linford, which didn’t appeal to me as it is too busy and expensive to park, so I decided to start from the local nature reserve of Billa Barra that is conveniently located near junction 22 of the M1, and I also decided that a clockwise direction would work better for me than the National Forest’s anticlockwise directions.

From the car park I set off straight up to the top of Billa Barra, which I assume is the fourth of the LDWA’s peaks that others ignore. I enjoy going up this hill and particularly like the view west from the top as it is surprisingly hilly and wild-looking, for Leicestershire, although dull overcast skies spoilt the view. From the top of Billa Barra I immediately had to divert away from the National Forest’s directions as quarrying activities near Bardon Hill has closed the path, which the National Forest does note on their website. This is nothing new so I descended onto Billa Barra Lane and crossed the main road onto diversionary paths via Brook Farm that took me back onto the old path for the climb through Bardon Hill Wood to the top of the hill. Despite the cold, overcast weather it was great to be out climbing a hill again and I was invigorated by the exercise in the unspoilt, wild scenery. At the top of the hill is a radio mast and trig point, though the highest point could be anywhere along the ridge between the two. I wandered about trying to determine where the highest point is, but there is not much in it so I gave up and made my way to the trig point where I looked out across the large quarry that has removed most of the hill to the extensive views west.

Passing the radio mast again, I descended the hill and took the another diversionary route around quarry workings that took me onto a busy road opposite the drive for Charley Mill that took me into the lovely Charley Woods Nature Reserve. Small bluebell plants covered the floor waiting for warmer weather when they will put up their delightful flowers. Coming down the hill onto a lane I had a pleasant stroll beside daffodils that brought me onto a road just before it passes under the M1 motorway. When I have done this route in the past I have stayed on the road, but the National Forest route turns right immediately after the bridge into a young wood where there is a permissive path. I have attempted to take this route before and have found it overgrown, including when I came from the other direction last year. This time I was determined to forge a way through even though the National Forest does note this section as being impassable and recommends using the road, but if this route is ever going to be passable it is at this time of the year, so I brought some secateurs with me to cut any bramble that may be blocking my way.

For a while I made good progress and while there were some low branches that couldn’t be cut with the secateurs sometimes blocking my way, I could always duck underneath. Eventually the difficulty increased mostly due to a heavily churned up ground as if passed by much cattle and the low branches became thicker and more frequent. I also had a problem that wouldn’t be encountered in the other direction and that is when to turn. The motorway that I was walking beside provides a solid barrier when taking the prescribed direction, but I did not know when to turn left, so eventually I turned when things got too difficult ahead of me. This was obviously not the right moment as I soon came upon a fence and stream that could not be crossed, so I followed them uphill tackling the undergrowth and bramble until I was astonished to find a signpost for the permissive path. A stile was buried amongst the nearby undergrowth, though the bridge had collapsed, but at least I knew I was now going in the right direction as I headed up through the young woodland, cutting my way through the bramble until I thankfully reached the road. This is a tricky and exhausting path so I hope the National Forest follows their promise to open the route back up or I’m going to need a saw next time.

The onward route was relatively straight forward and brought me to Beacon Hill where I soon found I would have to take another diversionary route, but this time one I was not expecting. The field below Beacon Hill has been temporarily closed for ecological reasons, so I turned to the northern slopes of the hill blindly following a path, not knowing where it would lead me, but hoping that I would eventually be able to get to the top. It was an interesting, undulating path and eventually I found a gate that was not padlocked and led me onto a steep climb up to the top of Beacon Hill by a route that I have never taken before. From the viewfinder I could see the next Charnwood Peak ahead of me, Old John, so I headed down the hill, and branching off the main track, headed into Broombriggs Farm Country Park, which is a working farm owned by the county council. Soon, I crossed the farm and on the outskirts of Woodhouse Eaves turned away from the village onto a path that brought me to the edge of Lingdale Golf Course. Although I have taken this path before, I don’t like it as it is dangerous and you disturb the golfers, so I have not taken it in many years and I was relieved when I safely crossed the final fairway and entered a wood where I could relax and have my lunch.

Soon after setting off again I entered Bradgate Park, which is a place I have visited hundreds of times throughout my life and when I was young it was always the Hunt’s Hill car park that we used and that I now passed through before climbing up to the top of Old John. Nowadays, I would approach the hill from a different direction, so it was very nostalgic for me to be climbing Old John from Hunt’s Hill again. After a brief gaze at the view over the city of Leicester I crossed over to the war memorial before descending the wide, southern slopes to the Tyburn copse where the directions from the National Forest would direct you to the main car park for Bradgate Park, but since I had not started from there I cut the corner by taking a footpath near Tyburn that takes you out of Bradgate Park into Newtown Linford. I was now on the course of my very familiar Charnwood Round route that passes John’s Lee Wood to the A50 dual carriageway where I was disgusted by vast amounts of litter cast out by the passing idiots on the road. This is sickened me as I am dumbfounded that anyone would be so stupid as to do such a reprehensible thing.

My mood didn’t improve as I made my way into Markfield as my body started to feel the five hours of walking that I had already done, which is far more than I had done since before Christmas. I was all aches and pains as I hobbled through the village, but still followed the directions dragging myself up to the highest point in Hill Hole Quarry Nature Reserve. Descending back down to the meadow below I passed the large flooded quarry pit onto the road and from there took a footpath across the motorway, up the hill to a road and around the old Cliffe Hill Quarry back to my car below Billa Barra. It was great to be out on a long walk again after the extended lockdown, but my body let me know that it wasn’t used to walking for this long. With lockdown lifted I will now be able to do longer walks and hopefully, soon, be able to go further afield and finally be able to go up a mountain again.