Geocaching at Ticknall

Tuesday 20th January 2009
We took advantage of the good but cold and frosty weather today to do some of the geocaches that had been put out for the emCachers mmeting tonight at Ticknall. We parked at the village hall and set off to find the first cache at Ticknall lock-up. the lock-up (known as the jug) was tocked into a small gap on the main street. It was a round building, about 8ft tall with a heavy wooden, studded door, no windows and a conical roof. It had been used to lock up drunks until early in the 20th century. The cache was found and signed and we set off along the main road towards Stanton's wood, a new area of woodland where the cache was located hidden in the roots of a beautiful old oak tree. We retraced our steps across the muddy waterlogged fields to the road to the footpath leading to the rear of the Calke estate where we were going to do the Calke-limeyards multicache.
We set off along the footpath looking for a tramway tunnel that used to transport lime from Ticknall to the Ashby canal. The tramway passed in a tunnel under the Calke estate. We couldn't find the tunnel but did find the Limeyards SSSI, which was a lovely area with a small waterfall and lots of ponds covered in ice. We walked further along the footpath but still no tunnel so we decided that the start co-ordinates for the cache wer wrong and decided to explore more of the estate along a footpath we had not found before.
We soon discovered we were close to Popping the Calke cache so diverted to find that. This put us on the right footpath and we came across the tunnel that we had looked for earlier - on the other side of the estate! We walked through the tunnel with just a penlight torch for light. It was about 150m long and quite creepy.

We found the rest of the clues in the SSSI and were able to calculate the co-ordinates for the cache which was found across a muddy field, hidden under a bridge. We retraced our steps through Ticknall and back to the car.
We returned to Ticknall in the evening for a meal at the Wheel and the emCachers meeting where there was lots of chat with some very dedicated cachers.

Ivanhoe Way: Heath End to Worthington

Saturday 17th January 2009
It was forecast dry but gales later so we took advantage of the blue skies and set off to walk some Ivanhoe way. For ease of parking we parked at the Severn Trent carpark near Staunton Harold reservoir which is further along the Ivanhoe way than where we finished last-time, so will walk the IW in two sections today. There was only 1 car there as it was early (for us!). As we set off walking up the road, two buzzards were soaring over us. We looked for the signpost for the Ivanhoe way but either we missed it or it has been removed so instead of walking through Spring woods we stayed on the road to the junction and then crossed the road to the footpath to Scotland! We followed the Ivanhoe way towards Worthington and Lodge farm where we managed to find our way through the farmyard, even though the farmer had conveniently obscured the footpath sign, and down onto the road where we turned right to find the way under the A42. On the map the route wasn’t clear so we were pleased to find a tunnel which meant that we didn’t have to walk 500m there and back just to use the bridge. We continued through Worthington Field stopping on a small bridge just beyond a farm for a nice cup of hot chocolate from the flask. John was a bit shocked as I poured it as he had been expecting coffee so was surprised at the colour. There was an escarpment of rock in front of us showing evidence of land movement and stratification. There was red sandstone on the left and grey limestone (possibly granite) on the right. There was also a good view of Breedon on the Hill.

We finished crossing the field and emerged onto the road at Worthington. We meandered through the housing estate and into a field which we crossed to emerge onto a lane where we left the Ivanhoe way for a while and walked across very muddy fields. The footpath was not marked but there was a faint line of footprints that we followed up the hill into a wooded area. We descended the valley, where a squirrel crossed our path, and then crossed over a small stream. As we got to the top and were about to cross into the next field, something ran across in front of us. It was too large to have been a hare, but it may have been a fox or even a muntjak. We emerged onto the road under the A42 again and walked down the road to the Ferrers Arms where we had a very nice lunch.
After lunch we walked through some very pretty cottages in Lount and followed a green lane towards the Ferrers centre at Staunton Harold Hall. We had a look round the craft centre, especially the Victorian moving model shop, and listened to the tale of the 4th Earl Shirley of Staunton Harold, who was the last peer to be executed – 1760 for murdering his estate manager. After a bit of a problem finding our footpath we eventually found it and walked across some very wet fields to emerge at Heath End where we left the Ivanhoe way last time. We walked down the road and crossed to the bottom end of the lane to Staunton Harold. We walked up the lane for a short distance and then crossed into Dimminsdale Nature reserve. This was originally the site of lime kilns, now flooded in the Laundry Pool which is where the laundry cottages for the Hall were.
We emerged from the nature reserve onto the road by the reservoir and returned to the car having walked 12km.

Canal walk at Willington

Wednesday 14th January 2009
It was cold, frosty and foggy today so we drove to Willington and did a walk along the canal. We had done this walk a few months ago but not written it up because it had been pouring with rain and an uneventful walk. We had found a few geocaches last time but more had been added along the route since we walked it. We parked near the canal and started off searching for a cache that we couldn't find last time we did this walk. We still couldn't find it so set off over the canal bridge and found the “Topsy and Tim” cache. We hadn't found this one last time either but it was quickly found today, log signed and rehidden. We walked along the road towards Findern, crossed the railway, and walked past the new marina, it was too foggy to admire the view. We found the “Cats eyes” cache that had been missing last time and then walked through Findern and over the canal bridge onto the tow path. Just before the bridge we passed an Indian restaurant with a motorised rickshaw in the garden and a thatch covered outdoor snooker table, I suspect it might have been a bit chilly for a game. It was still very foggy and all the trees and hedges along the towpath were covered in hoar frost. We continued along the canal passing several barges and finding a few more caches along the way.
We walked beside the bridge which had collapsed the day before we walked it last time. A tractor with a trailer of slurry had tried to cross it and collapsed into the canal. The bridge had been partially repaired and was now wrapped in green netting.
We stopped for a nice carvery lunch at the Bubble Inn at Stenson marina. The canal at Stenson was frozen but clear further down the canal. We then walked on and searched for the nano shasbot cache (a very clever container) and the Icebreaker; both were quickly found. We left the canal and walked along the road and round the perimeter of a field to rejoin the canal at Stenson, walking back along the canal again searching for more geocaches. The fog had cleared by now so we had good views of the power station. We found a few more caches, (one named Shadow of Giants Wive's Dresses - a reference to the shape of the power station cooling towers), but some were hidden too well. We arrived back at Willington at about 3.30pm and walked to the church to find the last cache. We had found 8 out of 11 today and walked 12.5 km. There were no photos taken today because of the fog.

Ightham Mote - Kent

Tuesday 30th December 2008.
We decided on a post christmas walk to shift some of the extra calories, so drove to Ightam mote and parked in the NT carpark. It was -2 degrees when we set off but was a lovely bright day with lots of hoar frost. We walked round the mote and dad stopped to take some photos.



We turned left along a bridleway and quickly discovered we had gone wrong. We had made the same mistake last time we did this walk so returned to the lane and walked further along before turning left at the next bridleway and passing some Hoppers cottages. The path was beautiful as it was so cold, frosty but sunny, the path was frozen solid so was good to walk on. We were followed by a guided tour from Ightham mote but we turned off the path and climbed a steep path onto Birchet green where we walked through an orchard where the trees had lots of dropped apples on the ground. The blackbirds and jays taking advantage of them. We continued on the bridleway, through apple trees until we reached Stone Street.

We walked along the road for a short distance and then took the footpath between the vicarage and Stone house and climbed a steep hill into a Beech woods. We emerged at Seal Chart and took some time looking around the pretty church and churchyard. We then followed a narrow bridleway down to the A25 where we stopped for lunch at the Crownpoint Inn.

After lunch we bravely crossed the A25 and followed a permissive path through woods and behind the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Oldbury Hill. We crossed the lane and climbed the path around the hill fort at Oldbury Hill. We went round the top and then down to the lane recrossing the A25 and into Fishpond woods. Here we passed a man who was sweeping leaves up. It seemed a thankless task in the woods but it seemed he was collecting the leaves to put on his borders. We had a chat with him and then climbed the steep sandy track up the valley onto the ridge and then down a steep path back to the road and back to Ightham mote. We had walked about 12km.

This was our last walk of 2008 andwe had managed 1208 km, slightly better than last year and not bad considering the disrupted year we have had.

Ivanhoe Way - Ashby to Heath End

Friday 19th December 2008
We had planned to park in Tescos carpark to walk a section of the Ivanhoe way today but on the last Friday before christmas was not a good idea. We drove a little closer to Ashby and found a side street to park in instead.
We walked towards the town passing a bunch of young Santa Clauses - it must have been the last day of school at Ashby Grammar! When we reached the town we turned along North Street and found an Ivanhoe Way signpost pointing into a busy haulage yard which wasn't a good sign. We eventually found the footpath behind a lorry and set off behind some houses. The path was muddy and continued across rough ground and then alongside the McVities biscuit factory and under a road bridge for the busy A511. The path opened out a bit here as we crossed Old Park Pale woods and then a cross road of tracks and continued through new plantations of trees. This area was one of three medieval parks once surrounding Ashby. The plantations had been fenced off to keep the rabbits and deer out.
We saw a man looking at his map here and he warned us there was a very boggy bit coming up. His wife then appeared and told us it had taken her 15 minutes to negotiate about 20 yards. John was not wearing his boots today so we thought this was going to be interesting! We walked through the small wood and crossed a bridge over a stream and then found the boggy bit. We managed to cross it without too much trouble, I suspect it was easier because we were walking it uphill whereas they had been doing it downhill.
We stopped for coffee and christmas cake at the next stile and then continued past a farm where we were chased by a flock of geese. They gave up when they were reminded how close to christmas it was!
The path continued to a lane which we followed to Heath End, a small hamlet where we left the Ivanhoe way. There should have been a pub here, which was marked on the map, but we could not see it (when I checked when we got home, there are mentions of the Saracens head, but it closed several years ago - presumably it is now one of the houses we passed). We walked along the road and then discovered we were off course, so we retraced our steps to find the footpath.
We crossed a bridge and then walked towards some woodland. The ground looked reasonably firm here but just before we got to the stile John found a wet bit and his foot went through the mud to the calf filling his walking shoes with muddy water -yuck. He shook his foot and we managed to get to the stile without further misshap.
We walked through a very nice stretch of woodland and approached a very slippery stile. As we crossed we saw some people approaching. They were the same couple that we had seen earlier. They commented on the muddy state of our trousers but said that the rest of the path was ok. We continued and crossed a large area of grassland which had a very strong smell of curry. We could only assume it was coming from the distant farmhouse but it was very strong. It started raining here so we stopped to put up hoods.
We followed the path round the farm and ended up on the busy A511. We had obviously missed a path somewhere. We walked beside the road for about 200m and then saw a footpath sign up the embankment. We climbed the embankment and a fence to put us back on the footpath and off the road.
The path passeed parallel to the road and then towards a farm. A man parked his car at the junction and let his dogs out to walk but they proceded to chase us down the road despite him calling them. John roared at the horrid yappy thing which turned and went back to its owner. We walked round the farm and emerged at the crossing of tracks that we had reached earlier in the walk. We had planned to do a circular extension to the walk here, but bearing in mind the mud and that we had parked closer to Ashby than originally planned we decided to retrace our steps along the Ivanhoe way. We had walked 14km.