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| Because I'd actually planned to do the next day of my Ivanhoe Walk today, rather than do a spur of the minute decision when I eventually rolled out of bed, I managed to be slightly earlier in getting away from home than I had been for the first day. This was important as I planned to be doing 13 miles today... quite a lot for so early in the season and I didn't want to be hurrying at all. I realised I would need change for the car park by the Royal Hotel in Ashby (where I'd finished day 1 of the walk) and I didn't have any, so decided to stop in Atherstone on the way to buy something. The obvious purchase was to get something for lunch rather than pub it. I plumped for some onion bhajis and a couple of veg samosas. An indian themed picnic. I arrived at the car park in Ashby and was ready to leave by 11am. Not THAT much earlier than day 1 after all with the extra travelling etc. I set off feeling rather tired.. not a good sign when I was planning to do more of the walk than before! I walked up the High Street looking into the busy little shops... the town still seems to thrive with posh little boutiques etc whereas Atherstone is run down with half the shops empty. |
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The Roman Catholic Church in Ashby near The Royal Hotel. |
Ashby takes its name from Alain de Parrhoet la Souche who became first Lord of the Manor in about 1160. The ruined castle was once home to the Hastings family and was a Royalist stronghold in the civil war. Following the discovery of spring water at the nearby Moira colliery in 1805, Ashby developed into a fashionable Victorian spa town and it is from this period of development that the Ivanhoe Baths (1822), The Royal Hotel (1826), and the townhouses around the hotel owe their existence. Walter Scott contributed to the tourist trade by setting the tournament in his novel 'Ivanhoe' at Ashby Castle. At the top of the hill I decided to turn right, before taking the official path down a lane off to the left, and went to have a look at the ruins of the castle. It seems a shame that the official route doesn't include it in some way?? |
I made a slight detour from the official path to look at the ruins of Ashby Castle. |
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Nice old townhouses near the church and castle in Ashby. |
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I retraced my path to the main street after taking photos, and then crossed diagonally over to take the official lane opposite. A short walk along here after passing a mini theatre on the left I turned right through a builders yard and began a lengthy walk behind the houses of Ashby across fields left to nature. It seems a shame that if the fields aren't being used for crops they aren't being planted with woodland like so many other areas around here. As I approached the outskirts of Ashby I made my way along the back of the whole length of the huge McVities industrial unit which would have been hidden better in the summer when the thick hedge would be leafy. At this point I started to gradually climb the gentle rise of Old Parks. This area was one of three medieval parks once surrounding Ashby. A new road, the A511, not visible on my map was in the way, but I crossed beneath it under a new bridge. Immediately beyond the road on the right was the first new plantation of trees for the day. It adjoins an established square of woodland a little further from the road. It would have been pleasant as woodland is scarce in this vicinity if it wasn't for the constant traffic drone. I carried on walking along the track with the established square of woodland, Fox Covert on the right. The ground in this woodland was hummocky and I read on a board just beyond, that the pits and ponds in this wood were formed by the quarrying of stone for the building of The Royal Hotel back at my start point for the day! I sat on a fallen tree just beyond Fox Covert at the corner of yet another newly created section of woodland. 14.5 more hectares of broadleaved woodland created from previously arable fields. I was actually feeling quite weary already so the sit was welcome even with the drone of the traffic behind me across the fields. I decided to eat my two onion bhaji's and have a drink to give me energy! I set off again, still gradually climbing, until I crossed a footpath at right angles to mine running across the top of the hill. At last I got a decent view out across the gently rolling hills of the way ahead. I think I could just about see the Weaver Hills on the edge of the Peak District, if I was indeed looking in the direction I thought I was?? From this point onwards I began to descend through fields at first, and then large areas of newly planted woodland. This area, in the future, will be beautiful and quite secluded, indeed it was pleasant and rural feeling even today as I'd lost the sound of the A511 after cresting the rise of the hill. I hope that as the trees mature around here, they dry out the soil a bit though as it was pretty squelchy walking as I descended the hillside as it seems to have been in all new forest plantations on the walk so far. |
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Finally as I descend the hill of Old Parks the view opens out and I lose the noise of traffic. |
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I descend further into the valley and from lots of new planted woodland look across to the Staunton Harold estate. |
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I stopped at the far corner of yet another new plantation Park Pale Wood. I sat on a picnic table there and ate the rest of my lunch while sitting in the nice sunshine. Its odd to see all the new plantations surrounded by quite high wire fencing, but this is to stop deer and rabbits getting into the saplings and stripping them of bark before they mature. I sat on the table looking back uphill over the new plantation with the mature trees of Black Ditches to my back. I set off again after a short while and crossed the bridge over a stream.. presumably the black ditch of the strip of mature woodland's name. Left: Black Ditch from the high wooden |
From Black Ditches it was a gradual climb up to Old Parks Farm where a farm dog chased after me barking, ignoring its owner's calls, and then a gradual descent again to another small stream at the bottom of a valley. All around this section was mature woodland, part of the Staunton Harold estate I expect. It was certainly pleasant and is one of the most rural and pretty parts of the whole of the Way. I climbed back out of this small valley heading towards the edge of another square of mature woodland (The Coppice). As I approached this I saw a whole herd of small deer off the left across a field. They ran off through the far hedge as I approached. I also passed a couple out for a walk.. the first people I'd seen walking today! |
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The herd of small deer as I approach The Coppice. |
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Nice to walk alongside mature woodland on this walk! Looking into The Coppice from the field edge path. |
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At the far corner of The Coppice, I turned diagonally right across a soggy field full of sheep heading towards a nice looking house at the far end, turnign right to go through a gate just before it and then out onto a small lane in Heath End. I turned left along the lane. There was a pub marked on my map where I joined the main road and I'd sort of decided to stop off for a pint. Unfortunately the building that I assume had been a pub was one no longer:( I carried on walking along the road and then when it turned left I carried straight on up the first part of the drive to Staunton Harold Hall. A hundred yards or so along this though I crossed the drive and cut across the corner of the parkland to enter Dimminsdale. A wooded valley with a stream at its bottom. This, again, was a pleasant section of the walk with an area covered with snowdrops, though these were nearly over. All around though evidence of spring was abundant, with new leaves of wild garlic sprouting out of the ground. I also found clumps of frog spawn in several of the ditches and streams alongside the muddy path. |
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The disappointingly closed down pub in Heath End. |
The driveway up to Staunton Harold Hall stretches ahead. |
Looking back towards Heath End just before entering the wooded valley leading to Dimminsdale. |
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Carpets of snowdrops. |
Newly emerging Ramsones leaves. Spring has sprung! |
Some believe that the name Dimminsdale is derived from Demon's Dale and certainly the eerie glow of the night time fires here would have seemed strange and frighteneing to many country folk. In fact, industry has had a long history in this spot. Limestone was quarried from Dimminsdale from around 1300 onwards, and over the centuries a number of pits were developed. These are now flooded and form many pools in the woodland here. The stone was burnt in kilns similar to those seen on day 1 of the walk at Moira. The quick lime produced here was mainly used for building mortar. Coal mining was also evident in the area and by the end of the 19th century there was some lead mining in progress. By the 1830s, the area was so heavily industrialised that a branch of the Ticknall Ashby Tramway opened to transport raw materials in and quick lime away. A special furnace was also built to smelt lead ore. In the 1850s a roof collapse in a limestone working caused the decline in Dimminsdale industry and most of the buildings were later destroyed, though the remains of several lime kilns can still be seen. Further limekilns that were at the base of the quarry are now submerged beneath the waters of Laundry Pool. The pool is so named because a cottage nearby seved as a laundry for Staunton Harold Hall up the valley. I actually took a wrong path as I was wandering around the pools and streams of Dimminsdale. Its hard to imagine such a quiet and peaceful spot being a hive of industry only 150 years ago! My wrong turning resulted in me catching glimpse of the electric blue and orange of a king fisher darting along the stream, so it wasn't all bad. I retraced my steps and eventually emerged on a main road, turning right along it to cross a bridge over the end of Staunton Harold Reservoir. There was a bloke taking photos of birdlife on the reservoir as I crossed. |
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The stream running down to Dimminsdale. |
One of the lakes, The Laundry Pool, formed by quarrying in Dimminsdale. |
The end of Staunton Harold Reservoir. |
And again from the bridge over it. |
It was quite a steep climb up the main road around the end of the reservoir, up past the Severn Trent Water car park on the right. I eventually came to a busier road, the B587, and turned left along it briefly before crossing over and taking a lane almost opposite leading to Scotland?? I took a path off to the right just after a cottage and headed up hill again straight across arable featureless fields. There were views off to the NE out over Breedon Hill, most of which has been quarried away through the centuries to leave the church perching rather precariously surrounded by sheer quarry cliffs. Beyond this the conning tower of East Midlands airport could be seen, and even further away the cooling towers of the powerstation near Nottingham. It was another descent after walking alongside a long thin pine plantation at the top of the hill. It seemed to be used as a bit of a scrap heap as all sorts of old farm machinery and scrap seemed to be settled in between the tree trunks? I walked through the farm yard of Lodge Farm and then walked along their drive to the main road at its end. |
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The view North East from my gradual descent to Lodge Farm. |
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I turned right along the B587 for a hundred yards or so before crossing over and going under the busy A42 on a farm driveway. The drive started to descend into a small valley as I walked past the pleasant Worthington Field Farm. Just after the valley bottom I began to climb up again, crossing over a bridge over a dismantled railway line. I crested the hill in afield of winter wheat and saw the village of Worthington straight ahead. By this time the sky had clouded over and it was looking like rain. Disappointing after such a beautiful start to the day! |
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I approach the village of Worthington. |
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After walking through the village of Worthington the path turns south and follows the western side of a shallow north south running valley. This part of the walk wasn't particularly exciting as the fields were large with few hedges. its a pity there isn't lots of tree planting going on in this part of the walk if you ask me. It also started to rain on and off as I walked along here which was less than inspiring! After about a mile or more of walking along the valleyside, having passed the beginnings of the houses up on the right in the village of Newbold, the way descended into the valley bottom, the village of Griffydam visible off to the left on the far valleyside and beyond that the high ground of the walk ahead with Bardon Hill, the highest point on the walk and indeed in the whole of Leicestershire at its furthest end. |
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The village of Griffydam on the far valleyside as I descend and beyond |
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After crossing several fields of frisky horses - not my favourite passtime as anybody who knows me is aware - and a marshy area the path climbed up past the derelict old school and emerged onto the main road in Griffydam. My map indicated that there should be a footpath to take straight opposite and a waymark on this side of the road indeed pointed straight across. the only thing opposite was two driveways belonging to two houses one with a gate and a barking dog behind it. I stood looking lost until an old man came out of the higher house to the left. I asked him where the footpath went and he told me that it indeed did go through the gate of the house next door despite there being no waymark and a barking loose dog! Sigh.. I am aware that its unfortunate if a public footpath goes through your garden, but its not my fault.. why make life difficult. I opened the gate and made my way past the dog who was obviously a barker not a biter luckily for me and made my way down through their garden feeling quite uncomfortable and tresspassy with no waymarkers evident at all. Finally at the end of a long garden I found a stile in the bottom right hand corner and crossed it to follow a field edge path. Shortly afterwards waymarkers resumed. Reading the walk leaflet later I realised that the directions tell you to turn right along the road in Griffydam and then take a path off to the left after about 100 yards. This would avoid having to walk through someone's garden I presume even though the official footpath does go through there? I left the houses behind and descended on arable field edge paths to cross a lane. The houses on the edge of Thringstone came into view across a small shallow valley. The area around here has been a centre for coal mining for nearly a thousand years! |
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The derelict engine house of Whitwick Colliery. |
After crossing another lane and then another, the path went by the side of houses to emerge in a small area of common land, Swannington Common. It crossed this area to reach the embankment of a disused railway line. It was the Leicester and Swannington Railway and was built by Robert Stephenson to serve the coalfields of Whitwick. The first train was pulled along the line by the Comet in July of 1832. A branch line was constructed in 1833 to the Snibston colliery, then owned by George Stephenson. This has now been opened as the Snibston Discovery Park, a museum of Leicesterhire's industrial heritage. |
Instead of going up onto the footpath that follows the old railway line, I turned back on myself across the common and over a footbridge over a stream. Off to the left was a solitary reminder of the coal mining that had existed in the area for so long - the derelict engine house (built in 1877) which serviced the mines in the area until Whitwick Colliery closed in 1986. As I climbed up from the wooded stream there were good views back along the small valley with Breedon Church standing on its chiselled away hill in the distance. |
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Looking north west up the shallow valley as I climb up the valleyside from Swannington Common towards Thringstone. |
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As I climbed up the valleyside I encountered another walker coming down the hill the other way... a rarity on this walk so far! By this point it was starting to drizzle quite earnestly and I was really getting quite tired. I'd told my mum that I was hoping to reach Agar Nook, much further along the path at the base of Bardon Hill. I crossed a steep sided little valley to reach School Lane on the edge of Thringstone, and while doing so sort of made my decision that i would stop here for the day instead, having done about 11 miles more of the walk, especially if the pub marked on the map at the end of School Lane was open. When I arrived there, The Oak was indeed open, and so that was the deciding factor in my calling it a day. I cleaned my boots off as best I could on the triangular green in front of the pub, rang mum to tell her I was ready to be picked up from a different location than planned and then went in for a well earned pint! After about half an hour mum and dad arrived and drove me back to my waiting car in The Royal Hotel car park back at Ashby de la Zouch. |
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