I’d discovered Ivanhoe Way existed
because Karen had moved to a village that it passes through, and David
had subsequently bought the official walk leaflet for me. I thought that
at 35 miles it would be an ideal walk to do over the winter of 2005/2006.
It wouldn’t be too long, but it would limber me up for the spring
and summer walking season ahead. Also it is near enough to where I live
to be able to do it in day sections with my mum picking me up from the
end of a day’s walk to return me to wherever I’d left the
car that morning.
The walk is less than inspiringly beautiful, the north west of Leicestershire, being quite flat or gently undulating at best. Until recently much of the area around Measham was heavily mined. This has left its imprint on the architecture here, many of the villages consisting of rows of miners terraces – functional rather than pretty. With the closure of the mines and the setting up of The National Forest over the entire area these industrial hard edges are being softened and the imprint of man will continue to diminish as more and more acres of land are converted to tree plantations and the existing acreage matures. The presence of industry in the area is not all bad, and, without it this walk would be lacking in many interesting heritage sites… Moira furnace, the Ashby Canal etc.
The walk is on the whole well waymarked, and is marked on the National
Forest Ordnance Survey map. The official walk leaflet is available from
the county council, tourist attractions and libraries of the area.
