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.
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