Friday 8th November 2008
After what seemed like weeks of dull, dingy, drizzly weather, it promised to be fine today and so we decided on a proper walk. Having finished the Leicestershire Round a few weeks ago, we now embark on our next project, the Ivanhoe Way - a 35 mile walk around NW Leicestershire.
After what seemed like weeks of dull, dingy, drizzly weather, it promised to be fine today and so we decided on a proper walk. Having finished the Leicestershire Round a few weeks ago, we now embark on our next project, the Ivanhoe Way - a 35 mile walk around NW Leicestershire.
We drove to Shackerstone and parked. This is home to the Battlefield line which runs from Shackerstone to Shenton and is also where the Leicestershire Round joins the Ivanhoe Way.
We set off towards the Ashby canal and headed along the towpath.
Ashby canal carried coal from the pits in Moira and Measham. It closed in 1846 but there are plans to re-open it along the stretch to Ashby.
We saw a heron take off in front of us and several ducks splashing about in the water. We also heard the whump-whump of swans taking off. The canal was very autumnal with leaves falling from the trees into the water. We left the canal at bridge 54 and took the footpath towards Newton Burgoland, but soon left the path and joined the narrow road towards Snarestone. We passed a large house with crowns on the gate and later discovered this was part of Gopsal park which is owned by the Crown. We left the lane just past Shackerstone Fields farm and then crossed several fields to arrive in Snarestone. One of the fields contained a maize crop which had not been harvested. It looked a bit sorry but had lots of cobs, so we wondered why it had been left. At Snarestone we walked to The Globe which although it was 12.15 appeared to be closed. As it was early we decided to continue the walk and try the pub in a later village.
Ashby canal carried coal from the pits in Moira and Measham. It closed in 1846 but there are plans to re-open it along the stretch to Ashby.
We saw a heron take off in front of us and several ducks splashing about in the water. We also heard the whump-whump of swans taking off. The canal was very autumnal with leaves falling from the trees into the water. We left the canal at bridge 54 and took the footpath towards Newton Burgoland, but soon left the path and joined the narrow road towards Snarestone. We passed a large house with crowns on the gate and later discovered this was part of Gopsal park which is owned by the Crown. We left the lane just past Shackerstone Fields farm and then crossed several fields to arrive in Snarestone. One of the fields contained a maize crop which had not been harvested. It looked a bit sorry but had lots of cobs, so we wondered why it had been left. At Snarestone we walked to The Globe which although it was 12.15 appeared to be closed. As it was early we decided to continue the walk and try the pub in a later village.
We left the Ivanhoe Way and walked down a footpath between houses and into a field of sheep. The ram was particularly interested and was starting to come closer as we got to the stile (all his ladies had run in the opposite direction). We continued through large areas of National Forest. These plantations of small sapplings, did not seem to be very diverse as the majority of the trees were oak. As the latest fungal disease to hit oak trees has been sighted in Leicestershire it seems a bit short-sighted to have an almost mono-culture. We climbed the hill towards the church at Swepstone and then headed down the road towards Newton Burgoland. The fields here were particularly wet and boggy and we had to cross a large field full of charolais? bullocks. They had a look at us but then continued grazing. We arrived at Newton Burgoland and diverted off to the Belper Arms for lunch- a baguette and very good glass of Hobgoblin. We didn't want to leave as it was so warm and cosy but it was getting late so reluctantly we set off to walk the last 2 km. We followed a footpath past a large pond with lots of geese - possibly being prepared for christmas, and then through a field of dairy cows, through the very boggy area beside the stile and out onto the very muddy lane towards Shackerstone. We got back to the car at about 3.30pm having walked about 13.5 km.
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