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.