Friday 19th October 2007
The one where John becomes a cowboy.....
It was a lovely day so we decided to do part 8 of the LR walk starting at Willoughby Waterleys. The route is getting ever closer to home as we went even less distance round the ring road. We set off across fields, the first of which had curious bullocks in who decised to follow us, but they stopped when John turned round and stared at them. As we crossed the field we met a girl with two dogs who was a bit wary of how the cows might react to her dogs (hopefully she got through them OK). We walked across lots of fields and beside a very nice fishing lake until eventually we had to cross the M1, another sign we are getting closer to home and moving round the county. After this it was across more fields and past a lake and mill house to Leire. We stopped for lunch here, a bit expensive and not wonderfully cooked. We then diverted from the walk to find a geocache. This involved a walk along a disused railway which has been changed into a nature trail. Some rangers were working there killing some tree stumps to provide more light for wild flowers. We had quite a chat as he told us about the railway and the drainage problems they were having. We found the place for the cache but could not find it although there were signs of damage to the wall where people had been hunting - a shame as the hider had said there was no need to remove stones. So after 10 minutes hunting we gave up and continued our walk. We walked along a path to a stables where an old man hobbling about with a walking stick was trying to persuade a very large horse to go into his stable. We helped direct the horse to the door but he would then just walk past. The horse had escaped the night before and had damaged its leg so was bandaged up. We tried enticing him in with hay and apples but he wasn't interested. Eventually John managed to get his halter on, albeit upside down, and the horse was led back to the stable. The old man was very grateful. We then continued our walk across fields and back across the M1 to rejoin a short section of the LR back to the car. All the bullocks in the first field had gone which was a relief. It was later than we expected (5.30) due to the delay with William the horse and was dusky (17km).
Sunday 21 October 2007
Thursday 18 October 2007
Leicestershire Round:Shearsby to Willoughby Waterleys
We drove to Shearsby today. There were no apples today which was a shame. An old man chatted to us and told us about the church and the village. He said the roof was replaced but was too heavy for the walls so they had to be replaced too. His wifes bequest paid for 4 lead urns to be placed at the corner of the tower to act as lightning conductors. The church was still locked so we looked round the churchyard and then continued our walk.
We walked across fields towards Bruntingthorpe and then towards Peatling Magna. There were lots of cows but they were mainly black and white dairy cows so were well behaved. There was also one field with big cows and a huge bull but they were quite good and the bull ignored us!
We had ham rolls at the Cock Inn and then walked to Willouby Waterleys where we left the Leicestershire Round and diverted off our planned route to find a geocache. It was nicely hidden under a rotten stump by an oak tree. On the computer it showed that it had last been found in late August but the logbook showed that someone had been there that morning. Its amazing to think that these boxes are hidden all over the place and you don't realise wh else might be hunting for them. We found a travel bug in the box which belonged to a young girl in Holland and so we took that to move onto another nice cache so she can follow its travels. We followed the road to Peatling Parva where we looked round the church (most of the churches have been locked along this part of the route) and then went through new woodland, farms and a newly ploughed field back to Shearsby where we saw a hot air balloon hovering over the trees.
Leicestershire Round: Foxton Lock to Shearsby
Thursday 4th October 2007
We drove to Foxton Locks and parked in the carpark. We discovered that John had put the wrong walk into the GPS but luckily we had the guide book and maps with us. We walked along the locks and the canal and found that my camera wouldn't work. The batteries were flat and it took 3 attempts to find a working set. We eventually got moving at about 12. We walked along the canal and then headed off across fields to Gumley and then towards Saddington where we stopped for lunch at the Queens head, which we thought we had been in before but couldn't remember when - obviously on a previous walk. After lunch we walked towards Shearsby.
We got a little lost as the LR signposts petered out and had to check the map and compas to find out which way to go. At Shearsby we saw two buzzards flying overhead. It was a pretty village with thatched cottages and a nice church where we looked for a geocache which we found easily behind a gravestone at the corner of the church. Geocaching is a new hobby that we have found which involves using the GPS to find treasure hidden in various locations around the country. We thought that it would add extra interest to our walks. A house at the edge of the village had a bucket full of free apples so we took 2 for the chutney that I planned to make. We left the LR here and walked along the A50 for a km and then headed off across fields to Mosley and Laughton through fields of sweetcorn and back to Foxton locks. We had several horrid encounters with bullocks and bulls in fields, they all wanted to chase us. The fields all seemed very big and interconnecting so we did not have good escape routes.
We drove to Foxton Locks and parked in the carpark. We discovered that John had put the wrong walk into the GPS but luckily we had the guide book and maps with us. We walked along the locks and the canal and found that my camera wouldn't work. The batteries were flat and it took 3 attempts to find a working set. We eventually got moving at about 12. We walked along the canal and then headed off across fields to Gumley and then towards Saddington where we stopped for lunch at the Queens head, which we thought we had been in before but couldn't remember when - obviously on a previous walk. After lunch we walked towards Shearsby.
We got a little lost as the LR signposts petered out and had to check the map and compas to find out which way to go. At Shearsby we saw two buzzards flying overhead. It was a pretty village with thatched cottages and a nice church where we looked for a geocache which we found easily behind a gravestone at the corner of the church. Geocaching is a new hobby that we have found which involves using the GPS to find treasure hidden in various locations around the country. We thought that it would add extra interest to our walks. A house at the edge of the village had a bucket full of free apples so we took 2 for the chutney that I planned to make. We left the LR here and walked along the A50 for a km and then headed off across fields to Mosley and Laughton through fields of sweetcorn and back to Foxton locks. We had several horrid encounters with bullocks and bulls in fields, they all wanted to chase us. The fields all seemed very big and interconnecting so we did not have good escape routes.
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