Ivanhoe Way - Agar Nook to Stanton under Bardon

Saturday 21st February 2009
Today we set off on the next stage of the Ivanhoe Way. We parked in Agar Nook and followed the footpath between houses to emerge at the bottom of Bardon Hill. We crossed the field and instead of walking to the top of the hill, we walked through the woods, and round the bottom of the hill. It seems strange that a trail going around NW Leicestershire should avoid going to the highest point in Leicestershire, but we stuck to the trail this time as we had been to the top before. We crossed the very muddy quarry road, and entered a field. It was lovely and warm by now, so we stopped for a coffee and admired the view. It was strange that last week we were walking in the snow and this week we were overheating in our fleeces. The next path was very wet and we had to wade through several inches of water towards Rise Rocks farm, passing Old Rise Rocks on the way; quite impressive outcrops. We continued to the A50 which was being resurfaced, so was easier to cross than it would normally have been. We crossed the next stile into a paddock and passed some large stables, and then skirted Cliffe Hill quarry, with views of Billa Barra Hill on the right until we reached the road.
We crossed the road and walked down into Stanton under Bardon where we stopped at the Old Thatched Inn for lunch. After a ham roll we walked back up the road and took the path that skirted Stanton quarry. The area has been planted with trees so the quarry was not visible.
As we walked beside the railway a light aircraft went overhead and started to come down very low and disappeared below the hill. We walked beside the industrial park, through newly planted trees, crossed the railway and walked along the track beside Little Battleflats farm. Here we saw the aircraft that had gone over earlier, it seemed an odd place for a runway! We crossed the road and continued on the footpath across fields and past two barns towards upper Grange farm. Here the light aircraft took off and soared over us again.
As we walked across the field we saw a flock of fieldfares and redwings. We crossed several paddocks and passed Louella Stud before recrossing the railway and heading along the path between houses. We finally emerged on the road through Greenhill and then back to Agar Nook and the car.

Ivanhoe Way - Thringstone to Agar Nook

Saturday 14th February 2009
Although it was cold, it was quite bright so we set off on the next stage of the Ivanhoe Way; another section done from home. We left Thringstone and walked along Grace Dieu Road to the point we finished at last time. We set off up the hill, passing the allotments and Grace Dieu vineyard and then through Cademan woods where there was still some snow around. Although we often walk through these woods we followed the Ivanhoe way this time rather than the permissive path we normally take. This area overlies some of the oldest rocks in the country, and many tor like outcroppings are visible on the walk through the woods. After passing High Cademan we followed a path beside a dry stone wall. The footpath was under several inches of water, so we sloshed our way through eventually emerging onto Swanymote road. We had a good view of Mount St Bernard abbey as we walked along the road to the junction, which we crossed and went along the footpath which skirted Ratchet hill. This area had been recently planted with trees as part of the National Forest.
We emerged onto Leicester road in Whitwick and followed the road opposite until we came to another Ivanhoe Way signpost. This led into Holly Hayes Wood, which is an area of ancient woodland which has been purchased by the community and is managed by the Grace Dieu valley project. We had a pleasant walk through the woods and then along field edges leading to Agar Nook. We were intrigued by a melted line in the snow in a field. The line was about 1.5 metre wide and crossed the field at a diagonal. There was no footpath in the field and we could only assume that there was a pipeline running under the field which had caused the snow to melt. The melted area continued on the other side of the ditch. Very strange!
We crossed Meadow lane and followed a narrow path alongside Castle Rock school and emerged onto the road at the bottom of Bardon Hill. We were leaving the Ivanhoe way here and turned down the road and followed a footpath beside a brook at the bottom end of Holly Hayes wood. We found two caches as we walked along this stretch. We then came to a large pond; in the past, the pond area in Holly Hayes wood was an area of great beauty. Unfortunately, the dam was breached and the pond filled with debris in the July floods a number of years ago. After over 300 volunteer man hours, the 'Friends of Holly Hayes Woods' have restored the dam and spillway to allow the pond to be retained again. We sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee, until some lads came along with their dogs, which proceeded to jump all over us.
We continued our walk and emerged in Whitwick, near the colliery winding wheel. From here we followed the cycle path –no 52, as we were intrigued to see where it went. It wound through several streets, doubling back on itself to finally get back on the path running through Grace Dieu woods.
As we walked along Grace Dieu Road a flock of geese in formation flew overhead. There must have been about 100, honking and flapping as they went; it was quite an impressive sight. We returned home from here having walked 11.7 km. It was a shame I had forgotten the camera as there were some good snowy pictures around.

Walking is suspended due to the snow!

We have been hit with rather a large amount of snow here in the East Midlands. It started on Monday, when we had several inches of snow, froze on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we had several more inches of snow on Thursday morning.

Luckily we did not have to go anywhere so we enjoyed a short walk from home and even a walk into the nearest town to do just a little shopping.

Although the roads were clear on Monday, the local council was obviously caught out by the additional snow, as the roads were not salted on Wednesday and so were treacherous today.

The children have not been in school so there has been an explosion of snowmen around the village, and all slopes have been utilised as sledge runs.

Bluebell Hill

Saturday 31st January 2009
It was a lovely bright day so we went for a walk with dad, Jenny and Brian. We picked them up and drove to Bluebell Hill and parked at the picnic site on Common Road. We set off along the North Downs way through some pretty woodland emerging onto a path running parallel with the busy A229. We followed the path until it emerged onto the old Bluebell Hill. Here we were a bit confused by the guidebook but eventually found the path that dropped down to the fields below. In the corner of the field was Kits Coty, a neolithic burial chamber.

We walked along the edge of the field and then through some woodland onto the road. We crossed the road and walked along the Pilgrims way for a short distance and then turned off along a track, with a view of Little Kits Coty (the Countless Stones), and some oast houses in the distance.
A short distance along the track we crossed into a field containing some horses, and then across a very muddy field. The farmer had reinstated the footpath by driving a tractor across to mark the position, so we could see where we were going but the tracks were very muddy, we all struggled with heavy boots and were glad to get to the end of the field. We used a wire fence to scrape some of the mud off our boots and then crossed a wet, but not muddy field. We should have crossed a stile halfway down the field, but it was broken and on the other side of the fence was a very large puddle. We decided to continue down the field rather than cross the fence, and found a way out at the bottom, a bit further along the road than we should have been. Unfortunately Jenny had a fall here, but apart from muddy gloves was ok. We followed the road into Aylesford. We had a drink and bag of crisps at the Little Gem, the smallest pub in Kent. This had been John's and my favourite pub, 25+ years ago and we were pleased to see it hadn't changed much, although it didn't do as many real ales as it used to.
After our break we had a walk along the street and a view through the houses to the river Medway. We then climbed some steps, leading up to the church and walked beside the churchyard to emerge onto the Centenary Way. The path went around a large chalk quarry and then across a field, and beside woodland, until we entered fields, newly planted with (possibly)grape vines. From here we could see where the cars were parked, on top of a steep chalk cliff. The Centenary way emerged into Eccles and then we took another footpath which passed through woodland and then a very steep climb to emerge onto the North Down's way again on top of the chalk cliff. John and I had a quick look for the Found View cache. We hadn't been able to find it when we looked at christmas, but this time it was quickly found, log signed, and then we drove home. We had walked 11 km.

Ivanhoe Way - Worthington to Thringstone

Saturday 24th January 2009
It was forecast frosty but sunny so we decided on a stage of the Ivanhoe way. We left Thringstone at 10.15 and walked along the footpath behind Thringstone primary school. When we have walked this route before the path has been very difficult to walk with brambles and nettles, but it had been cleared and was a pleasant walk. We crossed the road and into a field where the large puddles had ice on, we continued across several fields and behind the sewage works and a large garden before emerging onto Sparrows road heading towards Osgathorpe. I discovered here that my camera would not work, possibly because of the cold weather, so no photos in this blog. We walked through the village, the steep hill was treacherous with ice, and then crossed a bridge over a brook to join a footpath across more fields and through a little bit of woodland where we stopped for a cup of coffee. We crossed a few more fields and then out to the road. We crossed the road and walked down Bull hill and into Worthington where we found an Ivanhoe way signpost, stating Gelsmoor 1mile. This is where we left the trail on our last stage. We crossed the stile and followed a line of pylons across the field. We walked along a hedge to the end of the field, only to discover that there was no way into the next field and that the path was on the other side of the hedge. Luckily there was a gap in the hedge about 20m back, thus saving us a long walk back. We crossed a field of sheep with a very inquisitive ram, and stopped for a cup of coffee on the other side of the stile.
The fields here are very varying in colour. The one we just crossed was very red in colour and the field ahead of us is black, with small pieces of coal visible.
There were 3 horses in the next field, one of which rolled over onto his back and had a really good shake before getting up and continuing eating.
We arrived at the road towards Griffydam which we crossed and after a short diversion, continued on the Ivanhoe way. We crossed a bridge over a stream and stopped to finish our coffee. There was a small pool full of bullrushes and bluetits singing in the trees. We climbed a short hill into Griffydam. The footpath sign on our side of the road pointed straight ahead, but there was no sign of a path on the other side of the road. We went to investigate further and a sign on a gate suggested that the position of the path had been changed. However, it still went through the garden of the house. The gate had netting across it suggesting that there are normally dogs in the garden, so we gingerly opened the gate and walked between the shrubs along a gravel path and past the swimming pool! We left the garden and crossed into more fields leading to a road and a sign stating that the footpath was closed. We read the notice and decided that the time period for the closure had expired and so we crossed into the field. The field was very boggy but we managed to get across and emerged onto Talbot lane. We crossed the lane and followed the path, through a field and onto Jeffcoats lane. The signpost here in placed at eye level, so that as you cross the stile,you are in danger of impaling yourself, very dangerous. (I reported it to Leicestershire footpaths, who are investigating).
From here we walked around a paddock and climbed the path, past the remains of Whitwick colliery, and onto Redhill lane. We followed the footpath towards Whitwick and emerged near the Oaks pub. We descended Dumps road and through City of Three waters to the signpost to Swannymote road, where we will pick up the Ivanhoe way next time. A short walk bought us back to Thringstone. We had walked 14 km.