We did a LR round walk today in training for our sponsored walk for the Kent hospices on Sunday. It was sunny but with a cool breeze. We drove to Markfield and set off along Main street to reach a footpath which took us under the A50, the path then went through woodland parallel to the A50. It came out into a nice field that had been planted as National Forest in 2000 and gave good views of Bradgate park, where we were heading. We then crossed a large field towards a wood which was filled with bluebells -it was a lovely sea of blue. More National Forest and horse paddocks followed until we reached Newtown Lynford.
We stopped here for some lunch - we were a bit early but sat and waited for the pub to open. We had a nice break out of the sun and then set off again.
We followed the footpath towards the back of Bradgate park where there were lots of people flying kites. Unfortunately the path marked on the map turned out not to be a footpath so we had to alter our route and continue through the park and onto the road. The woods we had planned to walk through also had no public access so we had to walk along the road and find an alternative footpath. We eventually rejoined the LR where we saw a little yellow frog hopping through the grass. After a short stretch retracing our steps, we diverted off onto a different footpath to follow a different return route which brought us to Field Head where we crossed the A50 and returned to Markfield.
The terrain in the last sections of the LR has definitely been new woodland. Leicestershire used to be known as the greenest county in England but with the fewest trees and least access. This has definitely changed with the advent of the National Forest. This area would until recently been full of coal mines and quarries and it is now turning into lovely native woodland. We walked about 7.5 miles.
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