Leicestershire Round:Thorpe Langton to Foxton

29th September 2007

The forecast was not good today but we decided to walk anyway and take an assortment of waterproofs, hats etc. We drove to Thorpe Langton by a different route, M1, A563 south and A6 which shows we are working round the circle. We walked to East Langton through a field with cows and a big bull but he ignored us. The land was different today, much flatter but still across ploughed fields. The route in the guide book went through Bowden Inn Farm which had now disappeared, probably under the A6 roundabout. We arrived in Foxton to find that the pub had changed into a Chinese restaurant so walked on to the Black Horse where we had lunch. We then walked along the Grand Union canal to Foxton Locks, a flight of 10 locks which lifts the water up 75 ft. We sat and watched barges moving around for a bit and then left the LR to return. We walked along the towpath for about a mile, watching the ducks . We then had a boring walk which took us along the A6 for another mile but passing lots of rabbits who didn't seem to mind us, one even jumped under my boot, until we left and walked back to East Langton past a big lake with more ducks. We got back to Thorpe Langton by crossing the field with the cows and bull who still ignored us (17km). The weather had been warm and sunny and we had no need of the waterproofs or fleeces!

Leicestershire Round Hallaton to Thorpe Langton

27th September 2007
We drove to Hallaton and parked and walked past the church and into the fields. The forecast was for sun but it was overcast with a bitter North wind. Fleece hats were worn for the first time for ages! The terrain is very hilly, not steep but with lots of small up and downs - not rolling like the Downs but very lumpy! We walked across lots of fields which had been seeded (possibly barley) and some which already had new seedlings emerging (oil seed rape). We walked by Cranoe and through Glooston which had a nice pub but we were too early for lunch. The church was locked so we couldn't look round which was a shame as there were some very nice finials on the outside. We walked to Stonton Wyville where we looked round the 13th century church, it was very dark with a dark wood roof and few windows. It had a marble effigy in the corner. It looked like it was quite historical but there were no leaflets around.

We followed on towards Long Langton and had to pass through a field full of cows clustered round the stile, but they were well behaved. We arrived at the pub only to find it doesn't open during the week. We left the LR here and walked along the road (where we passed a very large fungus growing on the side of the road) to Welham where the "Olde Red Lion" was open.



We had very nice gammon steaks with chips peas and salad (2 for £6!)- very good value. We walked across the fields to reach the road to Slawston where we crossed the course of a roman road although there was nothing to see. We then joined the last footpath to return to Hallaton. All the fields had cows in and the last field had some boisterous ones who decided to try and cut us off from the stile. They got very frisky, jumping and running at us. I am definitely going off cows.

Leicestershire Round: Belton in Rutland to Hallaton

22nd September 2007

We drove to Belton in Rutland and parked by the war memorial. There were hoards of teenagers about, possibly DoE, obviously going on a hike. They set off in the opposite direction to us luckily or there might have been long queues to get over the stiles!

It is definitely getting Autumny. There were cobwebs on all the bushes and it was a bit foggy.

We walked through Belton and over the busy A47 to Alexton. This was a small village which is getting bigger as several new houses were being built. We looked round the small church which is no longer used but kept as a historical monument. The stone carving inside was very impressive but there were mouse droppings everywhere.

We walked across lots of fields which had recently been ploughed so it was quite hard walking. We arrived at Hallaton at about 1pm and had lunch at the Bewicke Arms- black pepper and seasalt coated scampi and chunky chips. Hallaton is a very pretty village which hosts the bottle kicking on Easter Monday. The vicar presents a hare pie which is carried to the butter cross and split and thrown to the crowds. The bottles (small casks of beer) are then thrown and chased from the Fox Inn to the neighbouring village of Medbourne. Photos in the pub suggest it is a bit of a riot with everyone getting very muddy.

John found a water pump in the village and had a go! The householder was walking past and said that the pumps needed priming before they worked. This involves pouring water into the pump to wet the leather valves. He told us that there were many pumps in the village and they needed pumping everyday to keep them working. He also said that there were 51 deep wells and they didn't get mains water in the village until 1961. We looked around the church which had very nice stained glass windows and then walked on towards East Norton across the A47.

It was easier walking now as the fields weren't ploughed. Another church to look round and then across more fields.

In one field there was a herd of young bullocks who decided to race us to the gate. We managed to get through only to find another herd in the next field. Luckily these showed no interest in us at all. We crossed the A47 again and watched a farmer planting seeds in a field - a very impressive bit of machinery and then followed a path back to Alexton and then back to the car.

Leicestershire Round: Owston to Belton in Rutland

Saturday 15th September 2007

We parked at Owston and walked along a green lane to fields where they had several methods of straw storage - big round ones, big oblongs, wrapped round and wrapped oblong.

We walked through Owston wood which was dry but very deeply rutted and potholed. We were later told by two walkers that it was used for tank practice during the war and it destroyed the sub-soil and has never recovered. We walked around Withcote Farm village and then over the hill to Launde Abbey (a C of E retreat). As we walked over a stream John attracted a friendly dragonfly who kept coming to sit on his hat. We followed more fields until we came to Belton in Rutland where we were disappointed to find the pub closed. Luckily we had apples and biscuits, so sat on a bench to rest. We left the LR here and returned via other footpaths. We chatted to a pair of walkers who were just coming to the end of their walk. Much of this part of the walk was along lanes and tracks which had been metalled so it was quite hard underfoot although we passed some nice lakes and saw a heron and a swan. The trees along the lanes are definitely showing signs of Autumn. We got back to the car at 5.30 after 22km.

Swanage, Dorset

August 31st to September 8th 2007

Off on holiday again. This time we stayed at Sunny Glade, a Caravan Club certified location in Harmans Cross, Dorset. This was a small sloping field, about 100m from the station on the Swanage steam train line. We couldn't see the trains going past but could hear them and see puffs of steam. It was fairly quiet for most of the week as we had the field to ourselves (apart from the flock of geese and chickens-very nice free range eggs). At the end of the week the Swanage steam rally saw an influx of caravanners. We met up with Dad, Wyn and Len to do some of the walks this week.

After setting up we drove to Studland (along a single track road) and parked in the NT carpark. We then did a 3.5 km walk along the dunes and heather trail to the point where the South West Coast Path begins. There may be a pattern developing here! We then followed the coast path back . A total of 7.8km. The beach was lovely and sandy and the sun was going down by the time we got back to Studland.

Saturday 1st September

We decided to walk some more South West Coast path. We drove to Studland and parked in the NT car park again. We then walked south along the beach for a km and then left it to follow the path to Fort Henry, remnants of a WWII observation post. We walked along the cliff top to Old Harry rocks and then the Pinnacles where we had a good view of the Isle of Wight and the Needles. We followed the cliff path up and down some steep sections until we came to the beach at Swanage where we had an ice-cream (very nice) and left the SWCP. We then walked through Swanage and up on to Ballard Down. It was a very steep climb up chalk steps to a obelisk which was dismantled during the war to stop it being a landmark for bombers, it was then reconstructed after the war. We walked across the Down with great views across Poole Harbour. We were followed by several cows who were moving downhill away from the impending cloud burst. We walked downhill towards Studland with a few spits of rain where we stopped at the Bankes Arms for a pint of Ocelot (J) and half of Solar Power (K). We retraced our steps to Fort Henry and back to the car. 17.1 km.

Monday 3rd September 2007

We walked to the station at Harmans Cross to catch the train that Dad, Wyn and Len had caught at Swanage. Our train was a diesel and Len was waving out the window. We started walking from Corfe and went up 311? Steps onto Rollington hill. Wyn and Len made it quite well with a few stops. They were pleased we were there as they might not have had the confidence to do the climb on their own. We then had a nice walk along the ridge to Nine Barrow Down and then down to Ulwell. We noticed the soles were coming off Wyns shoes so we didn't walk the footpath to Swanage but stayed on the road (10 km). We had a nice cup of tea in Swanage and then they returned to their hotel and we caught the train from Swanage to Harmans Cross (£3.50) each.

Tuesday 4th September 2007
Another section of the SWCP today. We caught the train into Swanage and then walked the coast path to Peveril Point, Durlston Park and the Globe.
Then round Durlston head and past Tilly Whin caves and on to Anvil Point and Dancing Ledge where we climbed down to the quarry and sat in the sun for a while. Puffins are supposed to nest here but we didn't see any seabirds at all. We then carried on along the coast path to Whin Spit where we left the Coast Path and headed inland to Worth Matravers. We stopped at the Square and Compass and had some cider and a pasty (17km)

There were some interesting people telling jokes which kept us amused for a while. We continued along the road and back to the caravan.

Wednesday 5th September 2007
We drove to Kingston today. Wyn and Len had walked too much yesterday and so just Dad met us. We parked the car and walked across a field and lanes to the coast path. We had very good clear views of the Isle of Portland as we went. We walked along to Kimmerage bay where we sat and had a bit of lunch and watched the military guard keeping a lookout for walkers and surfers that might trespass into the firing range! We then looked round the marine centre and walked to Kimmerage which had lots of thatched cottages. We lost the path for a bit and ended up climbing a very steep and brambly hill only to find that the path was up the road a bit further. We walked across farm tracks back to the car (13 km). Dad called in for a cup of tea. We were going to go out for dinner but it was too nice sitting near the caravan.

Thursday 6th September 2007
We met Dad, Wyn and Len at the carpark at Worth Matravers and walked towards St Andhelm's head. We had a rest at the monument to Telecommunications. It was quite nice and very sunny. We looked round the chapel and were then told that a dolphin was following a boat. We watched for a while and saw it leap out of the water. We continued along the coast path but then discovered that the path went steeply downhill and then just as steeply uphill. We thought that tnis might be too much for Wyn and Len and so took a straight road back to Worth (8km). We all stopped and had a glass of cider and then they came back to the caravan for a cup of tea. Friday 7th September 2007
We wanted to join up our sections of the SWCP today and so we drove to the lower carpark in Worth and walked back to St Aldhelms head. We set off down the hill that we hadn't attempted yesterday (204 steps) and then 149 steps up the other side. We continued along the coast path which was very up and down to Chapmans pool where we had another 166 steps to climb. We continued on to the spot where we joined the coast path on Wednesday, so we have now done all the path from Haven point to Kimmerage bay (about 21.5 miles). At this rate it will take us about 30 weeks of holidays to complete the SWCP -we might have tohave a few more holidays down here. We then retraced our steps to Chapmans pool and then cut off towards the car park (14km). We were exhausted as it had been so hot. We then drove up to the Square and Compass and had a very welcome cider and pasty.