Fosse Meadows -Frolesworth-Claybrooke-High Cross- Fosse Meadows

Thu, 2013 Mar 7 10:03 AM Western European Time 

Led by me, with Barry, Gordon and Maureen. Weather misty, some light drizzle. Muddy underfoot. Just over 7 miles.

A lot of this route is on the Leicestershire Round.  Most of it is the same as last Friday's walk, but walked in reverse.  

Today has not been the most tempting weather for walking. Indeed it wouldn't have taken much for me to roll over and stay put in my bed.  
Drizzle on the windscreen as we drive over to Fosse Meadows near Sharnford.  Drizzle threatening to turn to rain when we get out of the car persuades me to drag my waterproof out of my bag.  On the positive side, not much wind, and warm once we start moving.  It's not difficult to pick up the Leicestershire Round footpath near the car park - we head  along the path through the children's playground, and a few hundred yards along the path we turn right.  

We keep the woods on our left - and pass a few labels - dragonfly, pheasant and hazel.  We have to go through a very muddy gap in the hedge, and on our right, half way along the next field is another waymarker. This is where we leave the Leics Round for the moment. Our path turns a sharp right - running almost south-east.  Waymarkers are obvious and easy to follow, and when we hit a minor road there's a sign - Footpath to Frolesworth 1 mile.  It really is just a question of following the yellow wood signs, slightly up hill, past fields with horses to Manor Farm, and into Frolesworth.   There's a large pond over to the right, and downhill.

Here we walk along the road as far as White Cottage, where we turn right, heading south,  at the Leicestershire Round sign - through a gate and along a track to the next gate.  The path veers left across a field to another yellow post.   From one post to another uphill past Hill Farm, and round its fields, marked all the way.  We arrive at Frolesworth Lane, cross it, and cross a fairly big field, then turn right along the field edge to the footbridge at Claybrooke Mill.  Our path goes south west and comes out at the edge of Claybrooke Magna.  We turn right to walk along the road for a few yards before turning left to a footpath going due south. This comes out near Claybrooke Hall, in Claybrooke Parva.

We pass the twisted tree, and the primary school and follow signs past Midsummer Barn. At this point the sign points slightly to the right across the mud. The easier route is to walk along the hedge on our left to the point where it turns left. Here there is evidence of a path of sorts heading off diagonally to the right, towards another marker.  This is where the Leicestershire Round crosses a footbridge, and where we wandered slightly off track last Friday, when we met the Parish Walks path.

It's all very easy now we know how!  We head across the fields, led by the markers.  We take a short break in a sheltered spot, then carry on to the (alleged) centre of England.

They say it's the centre of England!

Lions guard High Cross House

Photos are taken, the Latin is not deciphered - too much ancient graffiti and erosion.  We turn along the Fosse Way and walk steadily down hill for a good mile and a half, and at the point where the track becomes road, our path goes through the fields and before long we arrive back at the car park.

Bird hide in Fosse Meadows Park, designed by Yr 5 and 6 of Sharnford Primary School 2006

Map and details of walk

Leics Round 3 - turns into Frolesworth circular

Fri, 2013 Mar 1 9:30 AM Western European Time 

With Marta. Section 3 Leics Round + a bit. Pleasant weather not warm, not sunny, not cold, not muddy. 9.3 miles, including detour for pub lunch at Claybrooke Magna.

Another grey day, slightly damp to start with.  I drive over to Sharnford, and manage to squeeze my car into a parking space, then hop into Marta’s car and make for Frolesworth.

We find the sign for the Leicestershire Round and walk along the track, then miss the next sign completely.  OK, we haven’t seen each other for three months and there’s a lot to catch up on, but we really ought to keep our eyes open.

The long and short of it is that we miss the clearly marked route, and head off west rather than south.  It doesn’t even register when we reach Fosse Meadows Park, which I know is near Sharnford.   We think we’re doing fine when we see Leicestershire Round signs, and follow them happily – emerging in Sharnford.  We’ve walked two miles or so. 

Good job we decided to do a short walk today. No problem – we’ll retrace our steps and pick up the route in the opposite direction from the one we first thought of.

Fosse Meadows has a car park and picnic tables, and is a popular dog-walkers’ venue.  By the time we get back there we declare coffee time.  It doesn’t take long to chill today, so we walk out to the road which is unsuitable for motors – this is the old Fosse Way and takes us right up to High Cross – the point where the Fosse Way and Watling Street (the A5) meet.  It’s also supposed to be the Centre of England. Interesting article on the link - 

There's a fair amount of info on here.  

This monument was erected in 1712 by the Denbigh Family "in grateful as well as perpetual rememberance of peace, at length restored by Her Majesty Queen Anne 1712" It is Grade II listed and was struck by lightning in 1791.

The Latin inscription translates as 'If Traveller, you seek for the footsteps of the ancient Romans, here you may behold them, for here their most celebrated ways, crossing each other, extend to the utmost bourne'

We’re still following the LR markers without any problems until we reach a footbridge over a stream. The marker is there, and there’s a well trodden path across the field leading slightly to the right. We follow – who wouldn’t?  The next marker has no LR symbol, but instead says “Parish Walks”. Suspicious. Hmm Sherlock, what d’you reckon?  It’s as well we know other people have got lost around here.  Serious discussion, consulting of maps, working out that the A5 looks altogether too close.  We hesitate – go forwards, back, turn left? After a couple of false starts we turn left along the field edge, and eventually find another LR sign, near a house called Midsummer Barn.  From here the markers are clear – all the way to Claybrooke Parva school.   We rescue a football, which the kids have ejected from the playground.   An eight or nine-year-old asks us “Are you explorers?”  “Sure thing” I reply. 

Then a right turn along the road, past a twisted tree in a field and we pick up the path again. 

 At Claybrooke Magna we detour for a few hundred yards to the  Pig in Muck pub. We leave our mucky boots outside.   The pub does a decent baguette with salad and chips, plus tea or coffee for around £7. There are plenty of customers today.

We make our way back to the route. It is beautifully marked, and takes us past Hill Farm. There is a row of freshly painted yellow posts here.  The man who's just painted them shouts to warn us of wet paint!  There's no way we can go  wrong here.  Magic!  It continues like this all the way to Frolesworth, and we can’t understand how we missed seeing the markers this morning!  We look back and the route is really clear.

Map and details of the walk