Ivanhoe Way Day 2 Measham to Lount

Date 06 August 2011
Area :Leicestershire

Walk : Ivanhoe Way Day 2

Start At : Measham

End At : Lount

OS Sheet : Explorer 245

Start Grid : SK3347 1209

End Grid : SK3994 1847

Distance (M/k) : 12.9 / 20.7

Ascent (ft) : 764

Descent (ft) : 718

Route

These notes are provided to enable the walk to be plotted on a 1:25,000 map.

The Ivanhoe Walk is clearly marked on the map. Leaving the car park in the middle of Measham walk down the High Street picking up the track to Donisthorpe and follow the Ivanhoe Way through Moria, Ashby De La Zouch and on to Heath End where we went off route to Staunton Harold Hall up to the B587 and along the road to the car park at the New Lount Nature Reserve.

Journey

What a difference a week makes, the first third of our three sections walk around the Ivanhoe Round, last week, was a very rural walk with big fields and long views. In this second section we seemed to spend a lot of the walk plodding between two lines of trees with few chances to see much beyond them. This was a great shame, as what we could see was attractive. I am definitely not advocating mass tree removal, but the occasional glimpse to the countryside would be nice.

Large parts of the walk are in the old Leicestershire Coalfields, as well as the New National Forest. At the end of the rail path we entered an area of new woodland covering what was the old spoil heaps and lagoons of Donisthorpe Colliery. Having seen several old pit sites in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire before reclamation I am well aware of how awful some of these areas were. Now to see the new young woodland where so much mess existed is truly wonderful.

I have to say, I was never a supporter of the pit closures and despite the very obvious and wonderful improvements to the scenery and the atmosphere I cannot help but  feel that the closure of all those pits was at best premature, at worst unnecessary.

Having read the notice boards at the entrance to the Donisthorpe Woodland Park, together with the very detailed descriptions from the web pages of another walker, Matthew, I know that the the reclamation of this area was a mammoth piece of work with several major muck shifts, engineering works, new footpaths and much planting. Its impressive.

From Donisthorpe we went on along the way, turned a corner and stepped into a super little area containing a land locked section of the Ashby Canal, the remains of the Moira Furnace, a bank of restored Lime Kilns and a Museum all set in a very pleasant area of open grass land, almost a park, it was busy and attractive. On the canal tow path we saw a short black post which I assumed was an old mile marker for the canal. Only, on stopping we could see it marked the Mine, the seams worked and their depth below where we stood, it made us think.

We will have to come back here and have a good look around and hopefully take some better photographs than on this fleeting visit.

Crossing the canal we walked down the towpath, across the road and into a short section of woodland coming out in Moira, where the railway passes under the Ashby Road and walked towards Norris Hill. Eventually, we turned south off the Ashby Road and into an area of new woodland, which had sheep in it, before we trundled over the fields to the outskirts of Ashby De La Zouch.

The walk down into Ashby was fine and quickly the town centre came into view. It was noticeable that after the quiet of the countryside just how noisy the place was. On this stretch as thoughts of lunch loomed, I realised that although I had packed the food and brew kit in my rucksack, I’d forgotten to pack the coffee and milk. Black looks and hard words were duly received.

A plan was hatched, we would stay on the main road through Ashby, missing out the backside of the industrial estate, stop off at Tescos, for elevenses and I could do the necessary shopping.


Refreshed and provisioned, we did a bit of map jiggling and were quickly back on course, from here it was a lovely walk through new woodland and open fields passing Old Parks Farm. We eventually stopped for lunch sitting by the side of the path. When, just as the water boiled and I was juggling cups and hot water pot, spoon and sandwich, the only walkers we saw all day stopped to chat.

Reaching Heath End we left the Ivanhoe Way and swung right, south east, toward Staunton Harold Hall with its garden centre, tea room, art galleries toilets etc. had a look around and a spent few minutes sitting in the sun, out of the breeze, eating ice cream.

We walked on through the estate from Staunton Harold Hall to the road junction on the B587, north of Lount where we passed under the A42 into Melbourne Road and along to the car park at the New Lount Nature Reserve where we had parked my car on our way to Measham that morning.

Ivanhoe Way Day 1 Bardon to Measham

Date : 29 July 2011

Area : Leicestershire
Walk : Ivanhoe Walk Day 1

Start At : Stanton under Bardon

End At : Measham

OS Sheet : Explorer 245

Start Grid : SK4688 1115

End Grid:  SK3347 1209  

Distance (M/k): 13.3 / 21.3
Ascent (ft): 429

Descent (ft): 762

Route

These notes are provided to enable the walk to be plotted on a 1:25,000 map.

The Ivanhoe Walk is clearly marked on the map. From the small car park to the north of Stanton under Bardon walk south to Bagworth, east to Nailstone, Odstone, Shackerston then north west to Snarestone and north to Measham.

Journey

This was a walk like no other I’ve ever done; miles of fields, almost no roads, no woodland, a handful of small, picturesque villages, no hills to speak of just slight rises and falls in the landscape with long gentle slopes. The most prominent features were the lines of electricity pylons and the steeple of Nailstone Church.

The way marking was excellent, clear and well placed, often indicating the name of the village it was pointing to and sometimes the distance. In thirteen miles we saw no walkers, two cyclists and two horse riders and in all this ruralness we only walked across two cow fields, one horse field and one sheep field. We counted 12 different crops growing, walked under two railway bridges and over two canal bridges, saw a number of moored canal boats plus one chugging quietly along and saw bits and pieces of farm machinery churning away in the distance. Naturally there were an inordinate number of stiles and gates to negotiate, and several little plank bridges to cross.

The very fact that we have retained these statistics marks this out as a boring walk, far from it, to our own amazement we were never bored, although the frequent long straight lines of the paths and tracks did get a little tedious. However, there was plenty of interest along the way, the crops, a building in the distance, a glimpse of a lake, seeing a bridge, birds, wild flowers and smoke on the horizon, the villages and the houses in them.

All this was contained within what we could see, as the dullness of the day made the far distance obscure so that, throughout the morning, as we walked across the higher land our views were limited to about two miles. This limited horizon coupled with the straight lines and relatively uniform slopes of the large fields created, a sensation we both experienced, where everything we could see appeared to be a very long way away. I guess that’s how walking in a desert might feel, it was certainly odd.  

This walk is on part of the Ivanhoe Way a walk that encircles an area of South Leicestershire. The Ivanhoe Way is 35 miles long, the official/start finish is I believe in Ashby De La Zouch, but I guess you can start anywhere and walk it in either direction. Because this bit looked flat and boring, in comparison to the rest, we decided to do this bit first. We parked one car in Measham then drove the other to the small car park just above Stanton under Barden and headed south.

While we saw several pubs on the way round we did not see any shops so if you need to take food and drink with you. As I've said the route is well signed, however between Bagworth and Shackerston it shares signs with the Leicestershire Round with the LC seeming to take precedent.

The Ivanhoe Way routing from the Ashby Canal outside Shackerston to Snarestone was a bit of a let down with a long road section and some scruffy fields. Should I walk this bit again I would stay on the canal as far as Snarestone and then possibly further to avoid the nasty walk along the busy B4116 from Snarestone to Measham and the poor walk around the perimeter of Hansons Brickworks on a narrow concrete path with speed humps every few hundred yards, after 13 miles I was tired and managed to trip on a good few of the humps.

We are now planning the Measham to Calke Abbey or a bit further section of the Ivanhoe Way.