Walk 11 Mountsorrel to Hoby

Sunday 27th April 2014

Well, I make that some 540 days between walk 10 and walk 11.

As you will see, sadly not all of us made it through the long months of not walking but hopefully, with an able replacement in apprentice news hound Pip, we will do the rest of the walk in the next couple of months.

And so to a sunny day in Mountsorrel.  The weather forecast is awful, so after a quick group pic (that's me bottom right - not quite used to all this standing around just yet) we are off down a new bit of the Round Leicester footpath. 

And the first smell of bacon.  Bacon...bacon...bacon, I was told we would not be getting breakfast because it was Sunday, but I can smell bacon guys...

[Ed: new sign for the new bit of the footpath, down Sileby Road and turn right at the Waterside Inn...who were cooking the bacon]

That's where they were cooking bacon (on the right), but all the group seem to want to do is get in the way of the guy pulling his boat along.  Looks like bad news on the bacon front though with mutterings like "too early to go to the pub", but I've been up for hours...ah well, let's get out of this guy's way shall we?

Right he's gone.  Rob's gone back, something about a geocache whatever that is, but the rest tramp forward.  Certainly looks like there are no bacon sarnies in the offing.  This crowd I am walking with seem a bit serious though, can't stop for bacon...hmmm.  Wonder if I am going to enjoy this as much as I thought I would?

Although Gillian looks as if she is anticipating a bit of fun here.  It took some time to get through the kissing gates on this part of the walk.  There were (I am told) too many to count.  Not sure what's wrong with Dad though; looks like a "bulldog chewing a wasp" here, maybe he fancied a kiss too?

Here's another, although Gillian looks like she is already losing interest.  I'm told that this bit was "a nice bit of walkin' Pip", not sure about that though, no mud and I was promised mud, and I'm on my lead so no chance of diving in the water either.  Hey ho, on we go.

Sileby Mill and Marina.  We waited around for a horse to come along to try the jump, but had to move onwards in the end as I am told "the pub is calling Pip lad".

Heck, like a bird on a wire, or one bum note.  Odd the pictures they take on these walks.  

Following the River Soar we go onwards

Big bugs around as the sun comes out [Ed: out of focus one top right]; just hope they keep their nashers to themselves.

And off the leash at last!

Good to get a bit dashing about in before going back on the lead.

And then onwards towards Cossington Meadows (see Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust and The Wildlife Trusts for more information).  I'm told these are disused gravel pits and the such like, dogs on leads everyone please!

And then on into Cossington itself, where they appear to have a swimming pool for cows.

 
Still on my lead I was not allowed to leap into this pool either.  After the fun of racing about before Cossington Meadows things have gone a bit ponderous.  Still, rumour has it that there might be a pub nearby for lunch and all that.

Here we all are, happy at the thought of a drink.

But no, what is this, there is no pub in Cossington?  So we are told, and so we turn left at this white house and head off into countryside again. [Ed: apologies, of course, to The Royal Oak, 105 Main Street, Cossington, Leicestershire LE7 4UW for in any way suggesting that you do not exist].

Over something called a railway line for the first time in this walk, this one is the Midland Mainline.

No trains though...

And off to Blackberry Lane with several caches in it (sorry, I was racing around so much I forgot to keep count of the caches found; must try better next time).

And then it's Goodbye Blackberry Lane with its nasty road junction which caused more than one of our party to suddenly sprint across the road.  Onwards and now looking upwards for signs of rain. And cows.  And still no lunch...

Onwards to Ratcliffe College, and it is getting darker... and no lunch yet...

and the traffic is getting faster as we cross the A46.  Still crossing a dual carriageway was a piece of cake compared to getting through the next field of rape.  Cake would be nice mind...and still no lunch.

The footpath crossed this field in a straight line.

Here's Rob on the footpath pointing the way.

And here's John in his own version of "Where's Wally" (clue: you will not find him although he is there). 

So covered in rape pollen and with boots and paws full of the stuff we move on for the (as I understand it) essential sheep photograph. And still no lunch...

And then yet another railway line.  This time Leicester to Melton (and possibly the other way too).

And we still have not had lunch.  Looks a bit like rain guys.

Told you so.

Well, they managed to find a pub at last.  Here they are at The Horse and Groom in Rearsby. Being a bit young I had water while the others had coffee or indeed something stronger.  Ham looked very good, but I only got biscuits.  Chips were excellent.  A rating of eight chips out of ten.  So that's good then.

At least it only rained while we were at the pub.  As soon as they all got dressed in their waterproofs, it stopped. 

And yet another kissing gate.  Here I am looking lovingly, but no kiss.

And after that we were almost in Hoby again.  Just time for one more run round to show that I am not tired at all...

  
We are arriving at our destination just in time judging by the sky.

And then it's time for a well-earned drink and lie down.

And so the scores on the doors for this one?  Eight muddy paws I think, less one muddy paw because it was not muddy.

Time for the technical details.

According to the GPS track that was 9.5 miles, with 40 good walking minutes spent in the pub.  Making that a total of 95.07 miles walked in 820 days.  A quick calculation here suggests that they started this walk before I was even born, and they still have not finished.  Note to group: get a move on guys.

Next time:  A longer sleep before the walk, Hoby (pub), Frisby (pub), Gaddesby (pub), Ashby Folville (pub), Thorpe Satchville (pub). And we finally begin to head towards home.

c. Pip The Dog April 2014

Walk 10 Newtown Linford to Mountsorrel

Sunday 21st October 2012

Cripes!  It's a bit cold and foggy and me without a coat.  Anyway here we are again Rounding Leicester as Autumn closes in on us.  Not sure it is quite the day for your poorly roving news hound to be out in the cold and damp [cough..cough..cough] but having been forced out of my nice warm bed at a crazy hour on a Sunday here we are.

You will notice that we are one short - Ev decided to stay in bed and keep warm, but the rest of us are ready to go.  This being Bradgate Park there are two OWP in the team today with Jane also carrying her camera.

And heavens above there seems to be an awful lot of people walking the Round Leicester already today.

The park looked as if it was cut in two by the fog, to the right bright blue sky and to the left nothing but fog.

By now we had lost OWP1 who was more interested in photos than walking.

So we left him behind and hoped he would not catch us up.

Which, sadly, in the end he did

Meanwhile we had lost OWP2 who had spotted ruins and was off.

These are the ruins of a Tudor house and was the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey.  For more information on Bradgate Park go here.  Turning round there were deer everywhere.

Soon we were heading off towards Old John and what looked like a blue sky day.

Here we are striding across the moors towards Old John (hidden by cloud or wearing red), Rob meanwhile was in the trees looking for "Oh Dear" (not sure if that is a nice way of saying something else or not...).

The climb up to Old John is possibly the toughest on the whole of the walk (look for an update after Borrough Fort).  91m up to 207m in just about a mile, so not Everest but steep for Leicestershire.

Past expensive sheep and onwards towards the summit.

Here we are taking a bit of a breather near the summit.  It seems Rob has found one cache already.

Straight ahead is our final destination (and only 14 miles away), however we needed to go right from this point.

Not a still from a 80's pop video just Old John.
 
Going down away from Old John your befuddled news hound got even more confused than normal and went off with another group of people, which caused much hilarity and ended up with me being put on a tether.

Sadly after Old John the weather closed in again, the blue sky vanished and we were left with a bleak greyness.  Even so the humans cheered up when they walked past a pub...and after a short debate decided to enter the hallowed portals.

As you can see it would be better to say almost all of them cheered up...the chairs were slightly damp after the fog.

Still we were close to the beach, and although skinny dipping should have been out of the question I still did not have a coat.

Here I am all excited about going on the beach...once again I have fallen for dastardly human humour.

Whilst drinking beer Jane even managed to get this photo of the OWP...

Although there seems to have been a thumb print on the lens, ah well maybe next time :)

After a pint and crisps (humans) or nothing (Stanley) we set off again towards Swithland Reservoir awarding three chips out of ten as we went. It was pretty bleak with almost full cloud cover but at least the ground was not too muddy.

As we walked the sun gradually began to break through again.

And this is the photo looking back to Woodhouse Eaves.

From here we began to get back onto the clay soil that made walking so muddy early on in our walks on the Round Leicester.  Through a maize field we began to slip and slide towards the Great Central railway.

As we got to the railway we heard a whistle and so we waited for a train (sad or what?).

 

I am too young to know what a steam train is, but you would have thought some other people should have known better.

 Eventually the train arrived...

and went again...

 Was it all worth it?  And so that was the end of the excitement and on with the walk.  Next stop - water.

 and near the reservoir another cache.  Here I am doing my best pointer impression, and John and Rob are doing their best "ignore the dog" impression.  Walk on.

Swithland Reservoir itself was as still as a mill pond.

And offered the OWP's another photographic opportunity.  So here we go...

So with that all over it was time for lunch 

 
and a final stroll into Mountsorrel along tarmac roads.

Looking back across Swithland Reservoir from the top of Mountsorrel.
 

A happy band finally arrive at the promised bench (about 2 miles beyond where they were told it was).  After that it was just a short walk back to the car parked in Mountsorrel.

A walk of thirds this one.  The Bradgate part was worthy of five muddy paws; the Woodhouse Eves to Swithland four muddy paws, and the remainder three muddy paws.  So let's say overall four muddy paws for the whole walk.

There were five caches in total dotted along the walk.

So that was 8.54 miles, bringing the total to 85.58 miles walked so far.

For the first time we have a walk profile that is not almost entirely flat.

For the gpx track of this walk go here (to download the gpx click on actions and then download - make sure you run a virus check before using the gpx file as it is held on a public server).

Next time: The A6, Cossington (pub!), A Roman road (the A46), Rearsby (pub) and no doubt lots of mud.

c. Stanley The Dog 2012