Walk 6 Claybrooke Magna to Burbage Common AKA Bobs Around Leicestershire

22th July 2012

"Sun is shining, the weather is sweet
Makes you want to move your dancing feet"

It certainly was and if not dancing, we were certainly going to move our walking feet.

The sun is shining and John has his hat (and gaiters) on.

First of all we had a bit of a walk to get to "the walk", but strolling down the lane with the sun on our backs we did not really care.  Of course, some of us could not decide if it was going to be muddy or dry, so John took the only sensible step of wearing gaiters and a sun hat.

Bob 2 Stanley 1

Again the observent will notice that although there are six of us this time, Ev is still not with us.  On the right in the photo though is Bob2©. There seems to be a bit of an attempt to change the name of the walk to "Bobs Around Leicestershire", but I shall resist this until I get a free biscuit from a pub landlord (and eat it).  So that's never then.

Memories of days past

Anyway off along Holly Tree Walk and into open countryside.  Suddenly John's gaiter decision looks sensible.  In fact, although it has been ark-building weather for the last 60 or so days, the ground was remarkably dry around the Claybrooks. 

It's easy being green

The grass and associated wild plants, though, had grown like mad and some of the paths were beginning to get a little tight to get through.

Colour in the hedgerow

The Photographer is obviously dragging his feet instead of documenting my intrepid voyage around Leicester. I missed this (must have been grass seeds in my eyes) so I have no idea where or what this is.  Colour in the hedgerow we will call it and move on.

Cacheing in Leicestershire

Ah ha, we are cacheing again.  There is something like 12 on the walk so let's see how the boys do.  More on that towards the end of the walk, but at this point it is "kerching" and the cache register stands at one.

My best side

My other best side

And then it is time for my (now) regular mug shot.  I think one from each side today. And then off we go again.  We are now going back towards Sapcote and then Hinckley and the M69 but first we need to get to High Cross.

Green fields and blue skies

More blue sky thinking

The weather is really beginning to hot up now.  I think I should have lost some of this coat before I set off; must have a word with the powers that be.  I'm down by the hedge in the photo above, interesting smells and coooool.

By the left...quick march

Anyway the ground is as hard as rocks and there is very little shade to keep the old paws cool.  Good job I'm super fit otherwise this one might do an old dog in.

Cow in field, not Daisy

Oh heck.  The Photographer likes taking pictures of cows for some reason.  We might be here for some time.  High Cross is just over the road, maybe we could distract him and move on?

There's a monument around here somewhere

And here we are.  Not quite High Cross, but a road to High Cross.

High Cross, but no shops anywhere

And then just when you thought it would never happen we stumble upon High Cross.  John vanishes at this point to find a monument [possibly a euphanism], returns to tell us (and I quote):

'If Traveller, you seek for the footsteps of the ancient Romans, here you may behold them, for here their most celebrated ways, crossing each other, extend to the utmost bourne' 

He must have had something out of his hip flask.  Anyway the momument is in pretty poor shape but The Core Project is attempting to renovate it.

Ahead of us lay the Fosse Way, so let's go and see what it looks like now.

The way is Fosse

Well, you certainly would not want to march an army down here these days.  

Bugging out

Although there was a bug army out to get us as the combination of heat and wet ground brought everything that could bite out to see if they could find a tasty meal.

Picture of a thistle

No flies on me

There was certainly a lot of colour down the Fosse Way, along with two horses and (I think) a couple of caches - although the Bob1©2© Army was striding out along way ahead of us (until they got lost that is and had to turn round - "it's straight on lads").

The Bob army - Bob1© and Bob2©

And then it was off through Fosse Meadows, and up to Sharnford and our "lunch" break, this time at The Sharnford Arms.  Now this is a story of two halves.  

Half 1

Nothing to eat, but really good beer.

Bob1© 1 Chips 0

And then Senor El Barkeep appears with free chips to go with the beer.  Sort of the Hinckley version of tapas I think.  Seems you get free supper after 8pm as well.  Try as we might we could not figure out a way to get back for 8pm, but seven chips to The Sharnford Arms.  But wait...what is this?  El Barkeep has just returned with two free biscuits for yours truly, well it would be churlish not to accept the hospitality and so this walk is officially the best walk ever and my mark goes up to eight chips. 

Stanley-Cam

In case you are wondering what exactly I see as we are sitting around, I got my photographing companion to take a quick shot using the new Stanley-Cam.  You will not be seeing Stanley-Cam again as I suspect it will be banned under a new SRL Walk regulation when Gillian sees this one.

Ragwort in Sharnford (and Bob1© and Bob2©)

Here we are striding out from Sharnford into a field full of ragwort.  Oh and horses.  As a dog I do not understand the significance of this but I am told there is one, so go Google it if you don't know. I've got a walk to do.

Warning: arty photo alert.  I thought we had done quite well with the pictures, but there is always a time in any walk where things get the better of The Photographer and these fields were it.  So rather like Gonzo in the scary bit of The Muppet Christmas Carol: "You're on your own folks, I'll see you on the other side".

Lil's around

So this one I can "Bucket and 'alf rope" but that's a Mike Harding tale and 'as' "nowt to do wit' walk." Never did meet a lass who carried a mattress around on her back in case she met anyone she knew - ah well. [Go listen toCaptain Paralytic and the Brown Ale Cowboys if you don't understand].  

Daisy being very precise

The dog (as he is now called seeing as he has left me The Photographer to it) mentioned cows so here are some cows in a rather odd location.  The one at the front is called Daisy, not sure which one Christian is.

The precision logisitics team

I suspect this is a discussion group on the best way to provide precision logistics but the cows were not telling.  Meanwhile the dog is miles ahead.

Knock on any door

And I was thinking of popping up there for a chat.  I wonder what it says on the other side of the door?

Bob2© contemplates a nice cup of tea

The group walk wearily past another closed cafe.  Note Bob2© looking longingly at the canteen sign, he could be thinking of grabbing the blue rope and hauling himself up for a cuppa, but trooper that he is he walked on by.

Anyway Stanley back in charge again (dog indeed).  So on we went getting closer to the M69, but first we had to traverse the black caterpiller field.  There were

Aliens in Leicestershire

thousands of these things all on the nettle bushes - didn't taste too good so I left them and walked on.

Aliens in Leicestershire 2

Bob1© is delighted to prove that his memory is not going by finding a cache he had found before.  Amazing....thinks Bob2©

Down to the camels

Crossing the M69 we began our decent towards Hinckley.  And boy what a suprise - they've got camels in Hinckley [edit: the dog means alpaca].  

It's a camel I tell you

They didn't like me too much so off I went in the lead again.

Overground underground...

It got pretty overgrown here, all that rain plus the even more recent heat had really made things grow fast.  Anyway, Gillian battled her way through to a great vista of the M69.

Stop the caravan

And then past the pylon, much loved of the Round Leicester book that John is using as his bible for the whole walk. I quote his mantra for this walk: "The book says there is a cafe on Burbage Common [the book was printed 10 years ago], let's go and get a cup of tea."

Kissing bridge ahoy

John gets felt up while Bob2© looks on

But first we have long grass, a very tricky (for some) stile, and for the first time today - mud.

Stile marks 0

Is this how you do it?

 

Ermm maybe...

...not (where has that hat gone?)

And then an injury (if you don't like blood, look away now)

aghhhh the pain

OK, so the blood is difficult [edit: impossible] to see, but it was there in torrents.  I need a lie down and a cup of sweet tea and maybe a biscuit.

Where's Stanley the Wally?

 
Instead of which we go through a very underused path indeed.  Actually "path" is not really the right word here.  

And then we were in Burbage and charging over the Common in search of the fabled tea rooms.  Bob1© and Bob2© were by this time cacheing in the woods.

Cup'O'Tea on his mind

John was on an absolute mission to get his cup'o'tea.  Here I am being dragged along at a rate of knots in his search.  But bless, look at his smiley happy face 

John's happy face

when not only tea but also tea cakes appear (Bob1© and Bob2© missed out on this treat, they were still in the woods).

Nearly walked into that - what idiot put that there?

And then it was all over - Burbage Common and the end of the walk.  Sadly the next tea shop closed at 3pm (before we got there), but we will pick that up next time no doubt.

So I have advised the recorder of my adventures that this would have been a four muddy boot walk less half a boot (or paw) off for the overgrown footpaths and barbed wire in Burbage.  So the scores on the doors (the nearest we get to Nuneaton is Hinckley so this is our tribute to Larry Grayson) is three and one half muddy boots.  The transcriber of Stanley's thoughts would add at least half a muddy boot for the free chips (and biscuits).

On the cache front I think the register for the day was another twelve.  Must do better boys, with 2 DNF's.

For those who are counting, the person carrying the GPS walked 9.2 miles.  That makes a total walked distance of 50.5 miles and 50.05 approx miles still to go.  So we are half way.  Are we having fun yet?

As an aside Gillian and Steve went to The Donkey in Leicester on 25th July and pinned on the wall was their LOROS challenge - do the Round Leicester in 4 days.  John would not have got his beer, chips, tea and tea cake if he was doing that!

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Next time: the Ashby canal and from then on it is  22^nd August 1485 and all that.  By my count just 2 pubs :).

® stanley the dog  © 2012

Walk 5 Peatling Magna to Claybrooke Magna

24th June 2012


Here we all are ready and eager for another walk round Leicestershire. Another beautiful day in the offing and we are all looking forward to plenty of fine scenery, good beer and food in our stroll into the M69/M6/M1 triangle.

[Note: Stanley went on holiday and has left us without most of his thoughts on this walk, and so this blog is being to be made up as I go along.]

The thirsty walkers stand outside the first pub.  

Note open door that was closed later on in the day

Actually when I say "all of us" you will again notice that one of our happy band is missing.  This time it is Ev, as far as I understand she had to miss this one because she was learing to read, although I am sure that cannot be right. {Edit - doing a reading}.  It was suggested that her legs had worn down so much that she was worried she might not get over some of the tall stiles, but I discount that one because my legs are not that long but I can do it most of the time.

So anyway, it was pretty dark and ominous as the happy band moved away from the safety of The Cock Inn at Peatling and our resident photograther and transcriber of my thoughts decided it was too dark to take proper photographs so he experimented with the new camera (oh dear).

First up into what appeared to be a series of wild flower meadows.  Although given the amount of rain we have had it could just be that the grass has never been dry enough to cut. Almost immediately we came across some friendly ponies who were more than a little interested in the camera.

Eye see a pony

Happy pony tries to eat Steve's arm

Having fought off the pony we continued on through the meadows towards the motorway.  Here it looks as if our resident photographer was taking a bit of a rest - that's a little bit early in the walk!

Time for a kip amongst the flowers

 Time for a kip amongst the flowers II

Anyway he managed to catch us up as we traversed the first difficult bit of the day.  No suprise that it was going to be muddy somewhere along the route.

Another Long Hot Summer

But it was not long before we were back onto reasonably firm ground.

Now the tradition of kissing gates and kissing bridges is lost on a dog, but it is probably sufficient to say that there were an awful lot of them on this walk.

Oh err...

Anyway...off throught he fields towards Willoughby Watterleys which was neither was Willowey or Watterley as I had expected, but you cannot have everything in life I suppose.  Still they do celebrate the success of the siege of Gibralter.

Frenchie bashing in the Willoughbys

And then off into fields again.  Great fun was had here bounding along and generally being silly.  Experimental photos ahoy.

Dog on the run

the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun

the first one said to the second one there I hope you're having fun

Rabbits on the run

And after that a most astonishing transition from dark to light as the big yellow thing in the sky came out.  Of course, this caused trouble all round as the humans decided to take off their coats.

Rain ahoy folks

Now, as any dog worth his or her salt can tell you, taking your coat off in this the most English of all Summers was just asking for trouble.  But they did it anyway, and so there is only one picture of the next bit of the walk as it went "as black as your hat" [odd saying really I don't have a hat and if I did it wouldn't be black] and we got a little bit wet.  Across fields, through fishing lakes, across fields towards the M1.

Stormy Sunday

On the way Jane went all hippy on us - is that a dandelion in your boot Jane?

Off to San Francisco

[Sorry the photographer could not hold the camera still enough - note rain coat back on].

And then we were there, walking alongside the M1.  The noise had been quite bad for about a mile now, but walking alongside it was incredible.  And then the sun came out again....

The M1 traverse begins

Ahh, dingly dell...and if I'm not mistaken a kissing gate [though I don't fancy my chances with the next one through the gate...]

Go on give us a kiss

So here we are about to climb up to the bridge that we will be using for our traverse today.  And here is the source of the noise (no not John..) below.

Quiet day on the M1

And so a quick stroll across the fields towards Dunton Bassett and the reward of lunch and a swift half (or so).

Cow and Calf (but no Yorkshires in sight)

The weather is not looking to clever but the pub has a covered area outside so we are OK if it does rain.

What...no food?

As it happens there is not a drop of rain in sight so we can sit in the sun.  As it also happens the pub staff seem to have missed the course on customer service, and so no food!  Seems that they were unable to put a slice of meat from the carvery into a bun and make a huge profit on it.  So walkers beware, don't go to Dunton Bassett on a Sunday and expect food, you'll just end up looking as happy as the face here

Another happy punter in Dunton Bassett

zero chips to The Dunton Bassett Arms (even the beer was pretty ordinary).

So we prepare to leave Dunton Basset behind and go in urgent search of food.  Next village is Leire over a mile away.

Welcome to Dunton Bassett, Leicestershire's friendly village

The path out of Dunton Bassett was glorious (possibly becuase we were leaving), and there is no doubt that it was beginning to warm up.

Dreaming of food

Did I mention caches?  Well there is one around here somewhere, but without the cache finder general on the case I'm not sure if we will ever find it. Kerching..I've actually forgotten how many there were by this stage.  I'll say four and hope i am right.

Daisy or Poppy

And on into Leire. The first pub was not only closed it was for sale...that bodes well we thought as we walked on.

Pub! So eight chips to the Queens Arms in Leire.  The conversation went something like:

"Do you do rolls or sandwiches?

Sorry it is Sunday lunch only.

Oh

But we do have some rolls, we could make you some if you would like"

Jane considers chicken, or chicken considers Jane

And here we are spending our money in Leire rather than Dunton Bassett. 
All except Stanley, of course, who is like the Queen and never carries money.

Time for a bit of a kip thinks Stanley (I need a holiday thinks Stanley)

Of course, beer has a funny effect on "the girls"

Oh heck a kissing bridge, and I've just had my lunch

And after Gillian comes Jane.  The beer seems to have had an effect on Jane's legs, now Jane knows what it like for Ev to scramble over these stiles.

Too much beer

Yet another mountain to climb

And off we go to Frolesworth.  Not much to say about the place except it seems to have been knocked down and rebuilt.  Still at least it wasn't raining, even through everyone is still fully prepared with coats, water proofs and sun hats at the ready.

Looking back towards Leire

The sun finally begins to shine as we leave Frolesworth behind and head across towards Claybrooke Mangan and the end of the walk.

The end in sight

Claybrooke Magna is on the horizon (that's the bit between the sky and the land for non technical persons) in the photo above.  But, oh no is that rain I see?

The grass is still long across these fields too.  I'm glad it was not like this throughout the walk, my poor little legs would have been very tired.

And now some photos of this bit of the walk [edit: the only bit of the walk where there was enough light for long enough].

John and Jane bring up the back of the peloton

John and Jane have fallen so far behind even Stanley leaves his new "best friend" [Rob] to go and have a look for them

Come on guys the pub will be shut if you are not quick

And then suddenly here we are, the end of walk 5 and Claybrook Magna.

So without Stanley to advise me I will give this walk three muddy boots.  Nothing special it has to be said, but even so better than doing nothing.

On the cache front I think the register for the day was twelve. 

For those who are counting that walk was 9.98 miles.  That makes a total walked distance of 41.3 miles and 59.25 approx miles still to go.

Just time enough to leap in the car and go back to Peatling Magna for a swift half before travelling home. [Edit: or not as the case may be, pub was closed.  Sunday in the UK is not like it used to be!]

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Next time.  High Cross Roman Road, and also early barracks of the Leicestershire Militia, a duck (honest), the M69, land of my fathers and some of my forefathers, two more ducks and then we get very Common indeed.  Oh and only one pub!

c. Stanley Dog 2012