Watlington, Oxfordshire 26th to 31st March

We set off for our first caravan holiday of the year which was to be at Watlington in Oxfordshire with the Mountain Activity Section of the Camping and Caravanning club. We had a good drive to Watlington in sun, showers and blustery wind. As we drove towards the town a red kite flew in front of the car. We found the rally field without trouble and were greeted by the stewards who were very friendly. The holiday cost us £26.50 for 5 nights! As we pitched the caravan we were amazed at the numbers of kites flying overhead. Dad, who was staying at a B&B in Aston Rowant turnd up as we finished setting up and we set off for a walk into the vilage. Watlington was a pretty village and apparently is used for the filming of Midsomer Murders!
Saturday 28th March
Yesterday was spent visiting friends and so today was our first walking day. We found a parking place near Park Corner and then set off along the Chiltern Way to do the Chiltern Ramble geotrail. Lots of geocaches were found on the figure of eight walk. We first walked past Westwood Manor farm, and then up the hill to a nature reserve which will be lovely in a couple of weeks when the bluebells are out. We continued the walk across fields and through woods to Maidensgrove where we were treated to more views of kites. We continued round to Priors wood where we met another geocacher just as we were putting a cache back. We got back to Park Corner and crossed the road heading down the drive to Park Corner farm and then through more woodland returning to the car after walking 12km and finding 16 geocaches.
Sunday 29th March

We went for a walk with the MAS today. Dad arrived at 9.30 and we all set off at 10am. There were about 35 people in the group. We walked out of the site and started with a walk beside the Mark on Watlington Hill. This was apparently created so that when looking at the hill from the correct angle the local church would appear to have a spire on the top. There was a lot of stopping to admire the view on the way up the hill! Once at the top we walked along the ridge to emerge at Christmas Common. After a short walk on the road we entered Shotridge wood and then passed into Blackmoor wood. We stopped here, with a view of Paul Getty's estate, for a cup of coffee. We then headed into Bowleys wood and past Wellground farm, where there was a cage in the garden containing several boxer puppies. We continued in the woods with the roar of the M40 to our right and then continued onto Bald hill where we stopped for lunch. We were treated to wonderful aerial displays by red kites and also a plane dropping 4 parachuters which we were able to watch floating towards the ground. It was quite cold so after lunch we were pleased to drop down off the top.

We walked through the carpark into Cowleaze woods, where we saw lots of people with radios and Heath Robinson type devices. John asked what they were doing and was told they were radio direction finders. Somebody takes a beacon into the woods and hides and the other members take a bearing and the first team to find the hider wins. A bit like human geocaching!We walked along the sculpture trail and beside Shirburn wood and then walked down a very steep hill onto the Oxfordshire way, the Icknield way and then finally back to the caravan after walking 16 km.

We sat and had tea and cakes and watched about 30 kites exploring our field and taking food thrown out for them.
Monday 30th March
Dad left today and John and I set off for a walk up Watlington hill and then along the ridge towards Christmas Common. We walked along the road and entered a wood via a bridalway. We found a cache - one of the dawn to dusk series and then walked through the wood where we found a nice log to sit on for our lunch. After finding a couple more caches we walked up a hill and decided we had done enough walking so we cut our planned walk short and took a short cut home. We had still walked about 12 km by the time we got back.

Saturday 14th March 2009
We drove to Billa Bara, a local hill, and parked. It was a nice day but there was a cold wind. We found the Ivanhoe Way and followed the path that we had missed on our last walk. The path went over waste land, then over a disused tramway and finally ran parallel to the road running through Stanton under Bardon. We walked alongside some allotments where every one was starting to get ready for the new season; there were some interesting bird scaring devices on the plots. We crossed a couple of pasture fields which had several rather friendly horses who wanted to investigate the contents of our rucksacks. We had to persuade them to move away from the stile so that we could climb over. We crossed the lane and entered a new section of National Forest called Partings wood, so called because it is midway between Stanton under Bardon and Thornton and was where lovers from the villages parted before returning home.
We walked through more plantations and then along a wide grass path by the side of a large field.
We emerged at the disused railway bridge near to Bagworth. We walked under the bridge and then diagonally across a field and round the bottom of a mound (complete with the first cows we had seen on a walk this year) to emerge at the road in Bagworth. Here we joined the Leicestershire Round. We stopped to search for a geocache in a new plantation and then crossed the railway line. We continued over the bridge at Thornton Mill, which had a lovely display of snowdrops and then walked into Thornton where we stopped for lunch at the Bricklayers Arms.
After lunch we walked along to the reservoir where we searched for another geocache. It was bitterly cold in the wind here. We did a complete lap of the reservoir, stopping to have a cup of coffee in a warm sheltered area. The water appeared to be boiling with the movement of loads of frogs in the water, the ducks were feasting on the spawn. We rejoined the Leicestershire Round for a short distance but left it at Manor plantation and walked through more woodland until we got to Markfield lane. We crossed the lane and crossed more fields until we emerged at the school in Stanton under Bardon. We walked through the village and walked back to the car, passing a big area of gorse giving off a lovely smell of coconut. We had walked 15.5km.

A short walk along the canal

Thursday 12th March 2009
We had planned to do a section of the Ivanhoe way today but as John had chopped down a lot of the hedge yesterday we decided we had better shred it so that it could go into the green bins for tomorrows collection. By the time this was done it was a bit late for doing a long walk.
Instead we drove across Swarkestone bridge and parked by the canal. we normally turn left along the canal when walking here but today we turned right and followed along the Trent and Mersey canal towards Weston on Trent.
It was a quiet afternoon and there were only a few cyclists about but we had a nice stroll watching the ducks, swans and barges.
We walked as far as Shenton lock finding two geocaches on the way and then turned back and headed towards Swarkestone lock.
By the time we got back we found we had walked 10 km, not much short of the walk that we had originally planned.

A day of caching

Friday 27th February 2009
Instead of a planned structured walk today we decided to do some caches. Some of these were very fiendish puzzle caches that we had solved some time ago and then not had the opportunity to find. We drove to Great Borden near Market Harborough and parked near the village green. We first set off to do a short multi-cache called Kiddies Delight, where we had to answer a few questions in the playground and then walk over the railway bridge into pasture where there were about a dozen horses; but they ignored us. We soon found the cache location which was very muddy and thorny, but I managed to get through, find the cache, signed the log book and then continued along the footpath towards Market Harborough. We next found “Where the sun don’t shine” one of the puzzles we had solved last August. We soon found Nasty the Gnome with the logbook placed Where the sun don’t shine! and then continued along the road where we found ourselves at Union Wharf, the location for "Confederate Hideout". The instructions for this one were a bit strange. We sat with our backs to Mr and Mrs Bushby, a bench near the canal basin, the instructions said that “if we pulled the chain it would not empty the canal”. We looked around and noticed a chain hanging from a barge mooring rope. Feeling a bit self conscious, I got up and pulled the chain. It was very long and I kept pulling, eventually a film fixative can emerged, which when opened revealed the log book. We signed the log and returned the cache to the water. We continued into Market Harborough and bought a roll from Subway for our lunch and walked back to the car, unsuccessfully searching for another cache on the way.
After lunch we drove along the A6 and parked in a layby to search for another puzzle cache. This had involved answering questions about 60’s tv detectives. I had managed to do most of them, some with the help of the internet. We found the cache which this time included a cd with clips of 60’s tv theme tunes, which we have to listen to and then answer the questions to find the next cache. We also found the "Hermitage" cache whilst we were here.
We then drove on and parked in Foxton where we found 2 more caches before walking along the canal to do another puzzle cache. Here we found ourselves at a Swing bridge on the canal. As we were trying to work out where the cache was, a barge came along and moored whilst the lady opened the bridge, which involved closing the gates to the road traffic and then swinging a section of the road across. The lady could not manage on her own so John helped. Quite fascinating as we had not seen a feature like this before. After finding the cache we walked along the canal and found another 3 caches. We then walked back to Foxton and the car. We had walked about 14 km and had had quite a fun day finding 11 out of 12 caches.

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.