Twyford, Ashby Folville, Thorpe Satchville, Burrough on the Hill

Mon, 2015 Aug 3 9:30 AM BST

With Maureen and Gordon. Fine dry weather, undulating terrain, good views. 8 miles or so.

We set off from the church in Twyford, taking the path at the end of Church Lane. We walk behind houses along a leafy path, with Jack-in-the-pulpit sitting in the hedge bottom. 

Then we cross the main road, B 6047, and take Ashby Road directly opposite. After a short distance we pass the bench honouring Tom Holland's hundred years in the village in 2005, and our footpath leaves on the left near this. As usual Leicestershire's yellow way marker posts are helpful, though there are plenty of stiles along this part of the walk.

We walk through a pasture with a pony and a sheep, who clearly has no fear of humans. A man nearby tells us to slap her on the nose if she causes any trouble. She doesn't.

The route with stiles takes us between fences and round a large house. All of the time we have Gaddesby Brook somewhere on our left.

After the house we cross three fields and walk under a line of electricity pylons. The path continues northwest over four fields, then meets the road into Ashby Folville. 

We look round the village, including the gravestone to Sarah Smalley, near the church door.

Here lies

Sarah Smalley

who was a faithful

servant to

William Smtih

of Barsby

who departed this life

December 6th 1859

aged 83 years.

The weary wheels of life

stood still at last.

She may have her reward in heaven, but her earthly life was surely hard work.

Pargeting on cottages in Ashby Folville.

Beams can be seen on the house near the church.

We go back past the white cottages, and pick up the footpath. It looks as though it goes through a private garden, but the yellow signs reassure us, and we boldly go on. We cross a field with a few cows and arrive at a cornfield. We miss the exact path, and make our way round the edge of the field. It has been walked before, but is quite overgrown with grass and goose grass.  No matter, we rejoin the path - unfortunately a lot of the yellow posts are not visible until we are on top of them. Clearly designed for people walking the other way round! 

The path led us downhill and under the disused railway bridge.

In the next field we could see no yellow post.  Our route was through a gate partly hidden by two fine horses.

From here it was way marked to Thorpe Satchville church. Four miles in, and time for a break.

Our path towards Burrough on the Hill began opposite Thorpe Satchville Garage, and went through a playground area, and a pasture with cows before hitting the dreaded golden oats, wheat and barley oh. Here paths were mostly ok, though not easy.

As we approached Burrough we looked back for fine views of the Charnwood Hills.

A short section of road, then we took a path on the left which soon joined a bridleway. Easy walking, and wide views made this very enjoyable. We took a footpath to the right which led us gently uphill. A pause for water and some oranges, then downhill into Twyford via Hollands Lane.

Thistle seed heads

Ah, it feels like summer again!

Map and details

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