Burrough Hill

Burrough Hill-Little Dalby-Somerby-Burrough-on-the-hill-Burrough Hill

Thu, 2013 Feb 28 9:47 AM Western European Time

Led by me, with Barry, Gordon, Maureen and Eddie. Sunny, but chilly wind. Muddy underfoot in places. Quite hilly, with 641 feet of ascent in all.  Good views, but not crystal clear. Around 7 miles. 

We can see for miles and miles . . .

We set off from Burrough Hill Car Park, between Somerby and Burrough on the Hill.  It costs £2.50 to park, but there are decent toilets, and a picnic area too. 

I decided this walk was going to be a "save the best till last" walk, and after a couple of hundred yards along the farm road we took the first path signed to the right, down across some rather muddy fields, passing a farmhouse on our right.  We continued to follow the marked path. It can get a bit confusing around here as there are lots of yellow posts! 

With the help of the map we avoided the temptation of the Dalby Hills walk thorugh the woods, and struck out downhill across a field towards Burrough Road, a very quiet narrow lane.  We joined it just after a farmhouse, turning right towards Little Dalby.

Soon after this splendid wall and path, and a sign to Treedale, the road bends to the right, and there is a sign marked "Jubilee Way" . This is our route, across a field, and then joining a muddy track uphill. 

 It passes the other end of the Dalby Hills Path woods, and climbs steeply, eventually reaching a 56-step staircase (Thanks, Eddie) which emerges through more trees to a ridge.  At this point rather than follow the direction of the path over muddy fields we wend our way successfully along the edges, picking up our markers and following them through a swampy section, over a bridge and then up to a narrow path between houses into the village of Somerby. 

Time for our break on a convenient bench near the Stilton Cheese pub.  We decide to keep the walk fairly short, since it's been fairly muddy and hilly. So, through Somerby we go, and pick up the path just after the junction with Field Road.  The path goes left and crosses a field before reaching a disused gravel pit area.  The path skirts this and is then well marked most of the way to Burrough on the Hill.

The path we want is in the far right corner of the churchyard, and we soon catch sight of Burrough Hill itself, looking quite something from this angle. The path is clear - there are a couple of possible routes here and we take the right hand one.

A steep pull to the top of this Iron Age hill-fort,  and we can enjoy the huge view from the toposcope.  Then it's a wander over to the trig point further over, and we're ready to head back to the car park. 

 Leicester University has been excavating sections of this hill, and studying their finds. More info here.

A grand day out.

For more pics and details of the last time I did this walk (almost the same route, though not quite - see here.

Map and details of walk