An East Leicestershire Walk up Burrough Hill

Saturday 23rd October 2021

After a summer of inactivity, partly due to poor weather, I was determined to make the most of the mild autumn, but I wasn’t sure where to go for this walk and spent a long time pouring over maps trying to decide where to go. Eventually I found myself looking at maps of East Leicestershire to see where the highest ground is in that area and without making a decision I shut down my computer, packed my rucksack and drove off even though I didn’t really want to do a walk in East Leicestershire, so I guess this walk was always going to be a disappointment. The best walking in Leicestershire is undoubtedly around Charnwood Forest in North West Leicestershire where ancient woodland and granite outcrops provide enjoyable walking. Elsewhere, the county is predominantly flat, arable land and so uninteresting, though it does rise to more than two hundred metres above sea level in the east and the village of Tilton on the Hill lies amongst these hills so that is where I parked, beside the village hall. It was already quite late in the morning, due to my uncertainty, when I set off, soon joining the route of the Midshires Way initially walking along roads before coming off onto a track heading north. The mild weather that had prompted me to go walking seemed to have ended as it was now quite cold and I was heavily wrapped up against the winds as I crossed the exposed plateau.

On reaching the edge of an escarpment the views were more interesting with the steep terrain helping to improve the scene and provided me with more interesting terrain. The track descends into Hammer’s Lodge Farm and to a stream that becomes Queniborough Brook. I was already becoming fed up with this walk, so I cut short my initial plan to stay on the Midshires Way as far as Ashby Folville and instead I turned right, heading north through Lowesby Park until eventually I reached the village of Twyford. So far this walk had completely failed to provide any interest for me as I walked through dull farmer’s fields under overcast skies, so I decided to turn towards Burrough Hill, which was the only thing of interest in the area that I had visited before. The path coming out of Twyford was delightfully wild through woodland, but this was short-lived and soon I encountered the frustration of recently ploughed fields that were very tiring to cross. On reaching the village of Burrough on the Hill, I turned north towards Burrough Hill, but frustratingly I was heading downhill and not towards the hill, and even worse I was heading into another freshly ploughed field.

With no sign of a path I had to somehow make my way across this and the next ploughed field until eventually I reached Burrough Hill Country Park where I could now enjoy myself climbing steeply up the hill on narrow, muddy paths through gorse to reach the viewfinder on the western corner of the Iron Age hillfort. Even though it was rather windy at the top, I had good views and it was great fun striding along the raised earthworks, but I didn’t stay there long as on the eastern side I descended on the route of the Leicestershire Round into woodland that was much more pleasing to walk through than the tedious walking of earlier in the day. After a while I turned right, with the Leicestershire Round, climbing steeply back up over the escarpment and unfortunately back onto the ploughed fields, though this time there was a clear path around the edges and this led me into the village of Somerby. I had intended on keeping to the Leicestershire Round as far as the village of Owston, but I was so fed up with the walk I wanted to take the most direct route back to Tilton on the Hill on quiet roads and byways.

This was not the most exciting walk, though better weather would have helped with a cold wind and overcast skies most of the day not helping me to appreciate it. There were a few moments when the terrain was a little wild and these were the best, but they were fleeting and mostly I was walking through the monoculture of modern agriculture. It was still great to stretch my legs and despite the many shortcuts taken throughout the walk, it still stretched to five and a half hours. While the walk in Cannock Chase the week before had been curiously satisfying, this walk was curiously unsatisfying.

Cannock Chase – Beaudesert Old Park and Rawnsley Hills

Saturday 16th October 2021

After rousing myself out of my lack of walking last summer with a walk the previous week in the Cotswolds, I wanted to maintain my renewed burst of enthusiasm, so I headed west to Cannock Chase where I had made my first visit the previous Easter. That had been based around the northern part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so this time I parked in the south beside Castle Ring, which is the site of an Iron Age hill fort. Soon I was up to the edge of the perimeter earthworks that are all that is left of the fort and starting the walk along the raised earthworks around the southern side. The weather was overcast, but warm for the time of year and this made the walk reasonably pleasant. Rather than completing a circuit of the fort, I dropped down the eastern bracken-covered slopes into the woodland following a fence that separates the woodland of Cannock Chase from the Beaudesert Outdoor Activity Centre. A faint path that was often very muddy led me beside the fence until finally I dropped steeply down onto a wide track to descend through the woodland through what used to be the gardens of Beaudesert Park.

At the bottom of the hill near the Horsepasture Pools I turned left and proceeded west, but I had no clear idea where I was going. I had enjoyed good views across the Old Park while descending from the Scout camp, but now that I was enveloped within the trees I had no clear idea of where I was going except to blindly follow the path. I did not even have a map to refer to, besides Google, so I was walking blind, just wandering around hoping that I would able to find my way and in a way this was rather liberating as I wasn’t trying to navigate the complex terrain based on a map and instead I could just enjoy the surroundings. Google Maps indicated a junction ahead and when I reach that I turned right heading north over Red Brook on the route of the Heart of England Way and the Two Saints Way, which I decided to follow. The pleasant woodland walk continued to a road and after a short walk beside the road opposite a campsite, I reached a junction where I turned left, still following the trails, onto a track that is known as Marquis’s Drive and I remembered walking on previously.

This lane took me past Seven Springs lake and down a valley with steep sides that I felt obliged to climb, though only briefly before coming even more steeply back down and resuming my walk along the track. At the bottom I crossed a road and a railway line by way of a footbridge. On the other side I found an information point about the Brindley Heath railway station that used to be at this point to serve RAF Hednesford nearby. New recruits were made to carry their heavy pack from the station up the steep hill to the Air Force base and now I also had to climb Jockey Hill until finally I reached the site of RAF Hednesford, which has now been turned into Cannock Chase Country Park. This was familiar territory for me having reached this point last Easter, so I felt free to explore passing a memorial to those who had served in the old RAF base and through the parkland that now covers the area. After a stopover in the centre of the park I headed south wandering around with no clear idea where I was going except for a desire to enjoy the walk through the woodland.

Eventually I came out of the woods onto an area of low scrub and young trees to a ridge that looked out over disused quarry workings. There I stopped as the sun slowly began to break through the clouds that had previously been covering the skies while I had my lunch. After eating I descended across the grasslands that covers the disused workings and into the grounds of Cannock Chase Enterprise Centre, which I walked around and onto the access road, across the railway line and onto the main road. Despite not knowing how I was going to proceed from here, I walked up the road until I discovered a path on the other side that took me onto the Rawnsley Hills between the Cannock Chase woodland and Beau Desert Golf Club. I was not keen to be so close to a golf club, so when I came to a junction I turned away to plunge into the wood heading downhill to Deercote Slade. However, I soon decided that this would not take me back to Castle Ring, so at the next junction I turned right and climbed back up the hill until eventually I reached the edge of the golf club again and followed this until I reached the Club House.

Turning onto a clear bridleway I gradually descended downhill, but once again I suspected I was going the wrong way so I checked my direction and discovered that I was going north instead of the required east. Turning around I headed back up the hill to the driving range for the golf club and onto a path that initially was going in the right direction, but soon turned north, so I came off the path and tried to keep heading east despite the rough terrain. At one point I was dismayed to find myself coming back towards the driving range, so I turned around and finally came down to the Rugeley Road. Google Maps, which had been completely unhelpful on the Rawnsley Hills, now showed a path beside the road to what it calls “Small Car Park”, which was really just the entrance to a forestry track. In the improving weather, I now had a lovely walk through the mixed woodland past some cleared areas and after climbing a hill to a track I had stunning views across the woodland. A short climb from there brought me to the northern tip of Castle Ring, which is the highest point in Cannock Chase with the resulting views across the area in the sunshine being worth the climb. Considering I had no idea where I was going for much of this walk, it was surprisingly enjoyable. My previous visits to Cannock Chase had been plagued by trying to navigate with a map, but by not having a map I seemed to have a much better walk by simply wandering around aimlessly.

Cotswold Way - Barrow Wake to Painswick

Saturday 9th October 2021

Four months had passed since I had last done a section of the Cotswold Way before I finally returned to Barrow Wake to continue my trek. Having to work on a Saturday prevented me from being able to do any lengthy walks throughout the summer and even into the autumn it seemed as if I had fallen out of the habit of doing a long walk on a Saturday. Eventually good weather roused me into making the effort to go for a walk despite still having to work. Once I had impatiently finished work I rushed off down the motorway to return to Barrow Wake, a vantage point on the Cotswold escarpment that looks out over the Vale of Gloucester, where I reached on my previous stage of the trail back in June. Leaving the car park I headed off along the Cotswold Way immediately enjoying the morning sunshine, but soon I disappeared under trees that would be the norm for much of this stage of the Cotswold Way. Wide tracks led my way throughout the woodland, which provided me with very relaxing, if slightly dull, walking as I strolled along the footpath, though there was a significant amount of undulation that meant I still had to put in quite a bit of effort.

Dappled sunlight coming through the trees produced some lovely scenes that made the walk a pleasure and carried me along, but it wasn’t too long before the trail turned westwards and sunk further below the top of the escarpment leaving me in shadow on the northern slopes of Witcombe Wood. However, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather and the undulating path I had soon stripped down to a tee shirt and was enjoying the walk as the miles slowly passed by until on reaching a road at the foot of Cooper’s Hill I came out of the woodland. Soon, I came off the road and onto a path that took me steeply up the hill to where the view north was revealed over Brockworth on the outskirts of Gloucester. This was a rare break in the tedium of endless woodland but was soon over as I plunged into Brockworth Wood and from there I continued into Upton Wood and Buckholt Wood, which is part of the vast Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve, which I would be seeing more of later in my walk.

When I eventually passed out of the Nature Reserve I came out of the trees and onto the open grassland of Painswick Golf Course. This was slightly annoying as it was not the first time on the Cotswold Way that I had encountered an open common where I should have had freedom to roam, but in practice I didn’t because it is a golf course where I had to be careful to ensure I wasn’t hit by a golf ball. Keeping to the waymarked path as much as possible I missed the top of Painswick Beacon and followed a track that took me onto the road that divides the course in half. The trail continues beyond there through woodland that lines the edge of the golf course and eventually brought me to the club house, but when I checked my map I discovered that I had missed a turning somewhere and was no longer on the Cotswold Way. After studying my map I decided to keep to the road heading from the club house, passing a cemetery on my right until the Cotswold Way merged with the road that I was already on and led me all the way into the town of Painswick where I had my lunch.

I was now almost half way along the Cotswold Way and I had reached the end of the trail for this day, so now I needed to find my own way back to Barrow Wake. Leaving the town I took a path down into the Painswick Valley where I found a pretty, little stream before climbing out of the valley onto a road that led me into the quaint little village of Sheepscombe. At the end of the road out of the village I plunged once more into woodland that is part of the Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve for a prolonged walk through the vast wood that must look spectacular if only a good vantage point could be found, but I never found one. With nothing to see except the trees, I made my way slowly along the bridleway gradually climbing higher into the valley until I eventually reached the top of the path out of Workman’s Wood and onto a road. At a pub I turned onto a bridlepath that took me down into the smaller Climberwell Wood, but not for long before continued north into Hazel Hanger Wood until eventually I reached the woodland at the top of the escarpment that I had passed through earlier.

A steep, slippery descent brought me back onto the Cotswold Way, which I followed retracing my steps all the way back to the car park. Due to the many undulations in the path, this was a very exhausting but satisfying walk. It was fantastic to get out again and do a long walk, enjoying the warm weather and a great relief to finally return to the Cotswold Way, which I had been putting off for too many months over the summer. Unfortunately, I was getting further and further away from my home so I was now on the edge of how far one can reasonably drive there and back in one day. Whenever I do return to the Cotswold Way I know I will enjoy it as this had so far been a pleasing series of walks and I look forward to continuing my trek along the western escarpment of the Cotswolds.

The Roaches and Lud's Church

Saturday 17th July 2021

After my walk in June last year on the Cotswold Way, I had to start working Saturday mornings, which reduced my available time for a walk. By the time I had finished working there wasn’t enough time left to drive all the way over to Gloucestershire and do the next stage of the Cotswold Way, so therefore my walking over the summer was reduced to short walks in Leicestershire. The only walk I did last summer outside of the county was in the Peak District when I visited the Roaches and Lud's Church. I did a lot of walking in the Peak District in 2020 when I was stuck at home and the only walking I could do was day trips and during those walks I did many of the best walks in the park. However, this was one place that I hadn’t returned to and was where I now ended up having been pushed into doing a walk by my colleague from work with whom I have done several walks including in 2017 up Scafell Pike. He was in favour of going up Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, but I eventually changed it to the Roaches since it is a lot closer and wouldn’t take so long to get to, which was important given the shortened time available. Nevertheless, I got up extra early to get my work completed as soon as possible before my colleague picked me up to drive us to the Peak District.

I had previously done a walk over the Roaches in 2015 and this was a shortened version of that. We parked in the same place, below Hen Cloud and as we were putting on our packs my colleague realised that he had forgotten to bring any water. This was a big problem as it was going to be a very hot day with clear blue skies overhead, and even though he thought he’d be alright it wasn’t long before he realised he was going to have a problem. I had water to spare with me, but no container that he could drink from. Leaving that problem until later we set off up the track that goes to Roaches Hall and soon came off onto a narrow path that climbs steeply up the hillside towards Hen Cloud. This was an entertaining climb that tested both of us as we climbed up past rocks that are popular with rock climbers until eventually we reached the top of Hen Cloud where we were able to enjoy stunning views south towards Tittesworth Reservoir and north to the southern tip of the Roaches. After a while spent admiring the view and catching our breath, we set off north across the gap between Hen Cloud and the Roaches before taking the path that passes through the woodland below crags that were being climbed as we passed.

With hindsight, it may have been better if we had taken that route in descent, but soon we had climbed up onto the ridge where we stopped once more to admire the tremendous view west before slowly making our way along the ridge until eventually we reached the trig point that marks the highest point on the Roaches. A steady descent brought us down to a minor road where we found a discarded plastic bottle that we picked up thinking that it may help with our water problem. Continuing along the now broader, less dramatic ridge we eventually made our way to a junction where we turned right onto a gradually descending path that that was lined with bilberries. These were too tempting to ignore and my colleague eagerly ate loads perhaps thinking they would make up for his lack of water. Continuing along the path we entered Forest Wood and eventually reached the entrance to Lud’s Church, which is a chasm with sheer rock faces that were covered in ferns and mosses due to the damp conditions. We found there was a remarkable big temperature difference between the hot weather outside and inside the cold, sheltered chasm.

I was enthused by the surroundings and explored many of the side branches to see where they went leaving my colleague to take the regular path out at the far end while I clambered through a narrow opening into the woodland so when I eventually found my colleague he was surprised see me come from a completely different direction to the main outlet. As we resumed our walk along the footpath through the delightful woodland, my colleague decided that he really needed a drink so after washing out the plastic bottle that we had found I filled it up from my water bladder. Our route now turned uphill at a time when we really could have done without it as it was now getting very hot. The route I had devised was deeply flawed in that the Roaches had to be climbed twice including at the end of the walk when we were both tired, especially my colleague who was less used to walking. Slowly we climbed back up to the top of the ridge and even more slowly stumbled back up to the trig point. Beyond that the walking was much easier as the slow descent along the top of the Roaches took us back past the stunning cliff edges and their great views.

Near the southern end we ignored both the gentler path below the crags that we had taken earlier and the path that circles wide around the crags in order to tackle them direct. This would have been better done in ascent and not when we were tired, but although my colleague did slip at one point it was harmless and we both safely reached the bottom and we were able to make the final descent onto the road. The walk that I did in 2015 was much longer having been extended all the way along the valley to Danebridge, but in the hot weather and with my colleague’s lack of water it was better to cut the walk short. We had stunning views all day and it was great to enjoy the sunshine on a stunning ridge that was a joy to walk along, both ways.