Walk 3 Glooston to Gumley

6th May 2012


"Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me follow, down to the hollow
And there let me wallow in glorious mud"   Flanders & Swann

 

So after a great nights' sleep and fully rested up ready for a day of hard walking I am ready to lead the way across the Welland Valley to Foxton locks and beyond.  The humans on the other hand all look as if they have drunk a bottle of wine each, stuffed their faces with rich food and cake and then got hardly any sleep.  I have no idea what they were up to, but this total lack of professionalism worries me.  Onwards rag tag band, let's see what today brings.   

*Coming up - mud (of course), a train, a car, a barge, a wash, a pub, a sleep.  All these things and more are contained in a walk of just over 9 miles*

The first bit of the walk across to Stonton Wyville is through arable and grass lands

 Pylon

 Path & hedge (or hedge & path)

 
across wide open fields with no one in them

and into the very small hamlet of Stonton Wyville 

 

 Rather wet

St Denys Church

And then off up one of the very few mountains in Leicestershire :)

 

I met Sid here, so if you are reading this - "Hello Sid" and if not don't forget to "Tell Sid".  This is the stragglers climbing up onto the Langton Caude.

So far quite a pleasant stroll a few interesting smells and no nasty stiles so this is a four muddy paws bit. 

And here I am at the top of the mountain.  Behind me is Glooston (left) and Stonton Wyville (right).  Anyway I'm all ready for the off but the humans want a bit of a pause.

And it is beginning to get a bit muddy now we are on top, let's hope that continues as we set off for Thorpe Langton.

 Erm...no idea what is going on here, something to do with boring I understand.  Certainly seems to be amusing the humans anyway. 

 Gillian listening to a bore

Talking of boring, what happened to all those cache things?  Not one to be seen yet so the cache register is still empty.  But wait, speak not too soon Stanley. There is one only a few feet way - erm but Rob has already done this one, so I'm not sure why he is looking at it again, unless it is a biscuit cache... Anyway it was all over as soon as it started but the cache register now stands at one kerching!.

Mud creators

Well they might not look like Hippopotomi but they must like basking in mud, glorious mud.  In fact an outstanding amount, depth and stickiness of mud, glorious mud.  Somehow I found myself in the middle of it so four muddy paws and an extra muddy tail for this bit.

Mud mud mud mud mud

Meanwhile Ev is gradually pulling herself along a barbed wire fence hoping beyond hope not to fall in, while everyone else watches.

Pointer

And then off towards an early bath.  Watch out for the cow pat...oh too late

Ah the tranquil Leicestershire countryside all alight in the sunshine, mind you that water looks a little cold so I think I'll steer clear of that.  For those interested in archaeology it was around here that Time Team did their Saxon Death, Saxon Gold dig in 2011.

Cold water

Cripes alive, I've just been bundled into that water, and I can now confirm that it is seriously cold.  I am undergoing a Saxon cleansing and purification ritual and it is not a great deal of fun.

Bath #1

Minus four muddy paws and muddy tail for the bath I think.

Anyway I am now freezing cold, but at least the sun is out, so I steam off up the path towards Thorpe Langton and a pub.

Hay

Well we seem to have missed the pub, more proof for my growing theory that the humans were all up to something last night while I was asleep.

Church at Thorpe Langton

So now we are off towards East Langton and then down into the valley bottom near Market Harborough.  Lambs gamboling and me on a lead because of the lambs gamboling.

A pastoral scene of Olde England - and the sun is shining as well.

Here we all are walking under a great big sky over towards the rape fields and on to East Langton.

Under a big sky

Arty tree shot

Gillian waiting for stragglers before attempting the rape field.

Sitting on a fence

 Standing in a field

And most of it was yellow

Beautiful bit of the walk, and I met more friends around here, so four muddy paws for this bit.

And now we are in the Welland Valley standing next to a stone that commemorates our last lucky dip win.

Actually "

Lottery's gelded son, also named Lottery, but first called "Chance," won the first Grand National at Aintree, then called the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase, over four miles, which had been reorganized and funded by a new syndicate that year of 1839. Lottery was born in 1829, out of Parthenia, by a Soothsayer son, Welbeck (out of Pledge, a daughter of the famous Prunella). His dam's lineage is unknown, and she was assigned the half-bred family number B-14. Lottery was bred by Mr. Jackson of Thirsk; he was a "mealy" brown-bay color, with a deep girth and narrow, short quarters, standing 16 hands when mature. For whatever reason, possibly linked to his sire's temperament problems, Lottery could not stand the sight of his partner, jockey Jem Mason, and a number of tricks were employed to allow Mason to mount him, although once on, they became an almost unbeatable team over fences.

Lottery was slow to mature, and did not start until age four, when won a minor flat race at the Holderness Hunt meeting. After that was put up for sale at the Horncastle Fair, a long-established sales venue for hunters and jumpers, where he was purchased by John Elmore, a steeplechasing enthusiast, for 120 guineas. His first race over fences was at Finchley in December of 1836, where he fell. He came in third in the St. Albans steeplechase in 1837, and after that he started to win at meets all over the country, including the Cheltenham Steeplechase in 1839 and 1840, the Daventry Grand Steeplechase in 1838, and steeplechases at Maidstone, Barnet and Stratford. For most of his career he was trained at Epsom by George Dockeray, and ridden by Jem Mason, who became Elmore's stable jockey, and later his son-in-law. In 1839 Lottery won the Grand National (Grand Liverpool), then a race for even weights. In 1840, within the span of a month, he ran six times in steeplechases held in widely separated areas of the country, to which he was walked; all the races were over four miles, and he carried 12-0 in all but one, Cheltenham, where he carried 13 st. - 3 lbs. Of the six races, he won four, at Leamington, Northampton, Cheltenham, and Stratford; the other two were Fakenham and Liverpool, where he fell, as did several other horses, at the stone wall. A very tough and game horse, his career spanned eight seasons, during which he won five hurdle races and sixteen steeplechases. He was so successful that course clerks wrote rules to specifically cripple him with handicaps, such as at Liverpool in 1841 and 1842, wherein it was specified that the winner of the Cheltenham Steeplechase of 1840 (e.g. Lottery) would be required to carry an additional 18 pounds (in this race was pulled up). At Horncastle the race was "Open to all horses except Mr. Elmore's Lottery." Lottery's attempts to win the Grand National in 1842 and '43 were also unsuccessful; he was pulled up in 1842 (won by Elmore's Gaylad, by Mandane's son Brutandorf), and ran seventh in 1843, the first time the race was handicapped for all horses (won by Mandane's grandson, Vanguard, by Belzoni), carrying 12-6, the last time he ran in that race. The last race of his career was at Windsor in April, 1844. For some time after his retirement, he served as his trainer's hack. Later, he was sent to a Mr. Hall, who had a pack of harriers at Neasden, and it is said he was put to ploughing when he was "too much played-out to stand cross-country work." He was buried at Astley Grange Farm stud at East Langton, Leicestershire. " [Thanks Rob]

The last win

As we got nearer to Market Harborough the footpath was blocked by this piece of wood which we all had to crawl under.  Here am I squeezing through the wire to get onto a footbridge over Langton Brook.

Blocked footpath

The bridge was pretty rotten and we crossed it one at a time always waiting for someone to plunge through it into the roaring torrent below.  Sadly no one felt willing to do their Indiana Jones bit, so on we go.

And here we are at the main London - Leicester (and beyond) railway line.  A nice bit of muddy water to splash through.

Paddling

Despite the train, this bit was somewhat dull, and the lack of dog gates made the going pretty tough when we hit the stiles.

In training

So I had to take a little detour along the road at this point with John and Rob.  The rest braved the Harborough by-pass to continue on the route.

Green Cross Code

Did someone say bones?  The glue factory near Harborough is pretty close to the footpath.

Dem bones dem bones dem dry bones

Caution you are now on the Leicestershire Round.

A dangerous bit of the Leicestershire Round

Here we all are at a very scenic part of the walk. Just above the A6 roundabout and just below the Grand Union canal of which more later.  Really this bit was just about getting us towards Foxton and was a zero muddy paws part of the walk. 

And not a customer in sight

It began to cloud over at this point, but although the going was really heavy over the next couple of fields at least it was fairly dry.

 Towards Foxton

Even so there were still some obstacles to overcome, such as how I was going to drink this water without poisoning myself.

Time for a quick half

Now you may think that it has all gone slightly quiet on the cache thing side.  But no folks there is one coming up.  So contain your excitement we will get there in good time.  First though some acrobatics are in order.

After doing the splits Rob vanishes to get another cache.  So now the cache register stands at two. Will he find anymore...can we stand the collective excitement?...will the sun come out again?...is there really a pint of beer at the end of the rainbow?.  Read on to find out.

*Did you like that?  I've been lying in front of the idiot box a bit too much recently and have noticed a trend in TV shows to tell you what the programme is all about in the first five minutes and then in the last five minutes to repeat everything you have already been told so I am trying it out.

This chicken is really glad that Sandra (aka The Chicken Killer of the Yorkshire Dales) is not doing the Leicestershire Round with us.  So it lives to lay another egg and peck around for another day at least.

  A worried chicken checks to see if Sandra is in the party

The chicken is at home in Foxton and so are Foxton locks, so we are off there next.  Three muddy paws for this bit - a bit too flat for my liking.  The water tasted good though.

Through Foxton and down onto the Grand Union canal for the home stretch.

Grand Canal Gromit

Arty Tree II

And here we are at Foxton locks.  Much discussion went on here about getting a drink which left me wondering why they did not take the opportunity when I did at the puddle a few fields ago.

At your convenience

Anyway a decision was made which left me with a few minutes to grab some much needed sleep.

The humans resorted to liquid refreshment.  Not John Smith's (a local Langton brew) but certainly extra smooth.

One pint

Well at least the humans are enjoying themselves here...crikey!

Enjoyment is etched on their faces

And then we are off again, the last 1km to go, but do not panic there is still excitement aplenty to come.

Muddy waters

Yes there is a cache!  I will not spoil it for anyone else doing the walk but it is in this photo somewhere.  So the cache register now stands at three.

The end in sight and here we are walking in single file across the field with Gumley up on top of the hill.

Towards Gumley

Lamb tree fence

And here we are the end of the walk

 It's down there

  
And time for a well earned drink (or not - by order).

Two pints please bar keep

And so that was the end of the walk.  A beautiful and mostly sunny day which given the current weather (rain-rain-rain) was quite astonishing and very welcome indeed.  I'll give it five muddy paws with an extra muddy tail becuase of the mud.  If the weather God(s) is/are listening more of the same next time please.

So the cache register stands at three for this walk and seven in total so far.

The bath register stands at one half way round the walk and a 40 minute luxuriate when we got home.  So two baths in one day!

Download the gpx file from here (please use a virus checker).

*In the next walk - a sewage works - an airfield and vehicle proving ground (must be where they test the lastest in yeast based autos) - some earthworks - 18 (yes eighteen) caches.  

And coming soon a dash across the M1.

c. Stanley The Dog, May 2012