With Marta. Weather fine, sunny, still a cool wind. Muddy underfoot in places. A flat walk. Lunch at the White Horse, Leire. 9.5 miles.
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| Blue skies as we make our way towards Peatling Magna |
We left Bruntingthorpe along the marked
footpath just after the last house on the road north towards the Peatlings. The path crossed three fields in a north
westerly direction, before meeting a stream and heading due north and then
slighty to the west again. At this point there is a Telephone Exchange building
uphill to the right. We had no problem
following the path here and it brought
us out just before Peatling Magna at a cross roads. We walked into the village, and turned left
just before Postal Cottage.
The drive leads on to an open field, and
over to the right where it meets a hedge.
We followed the hedge west to the hedged track called Mere Lane (note to
self – not Mare Lane!). We turned right
along the track for a hundred yards or so, then turned left towards Willoughby
Waterleys.
We did wander off-track briefly – blame the
way markers for another path which were more obvious – at the time, to us. It didn’t take long to realize what we’d
done, and we entered the village near the church, and followed the path through
the churchyard to the main street.
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| Willoughby Waterleys Church |
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| National Cycle Network Millennium post |
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| They've altered Gibralter |
We went past the General Elliott pub, and Orchard Road and turned right (south west) at the footpath sign.
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| Ha! spot the sign! |
Along the
tarmac path, which led into an open field – again we went slightly off track
following the very clear path straight ahead and over the stream, instead of
turning left. Once again we soon
realized our error and made our way back to the junction of Cosby Lane with the
main Willoughby- Ashby road.
We walked
along the road towards Ashby for about three hundred yards, then turned right
over an almost hidden stile. We crossed
a field and then climbed another stile into the beautifully landscaped area of
the Holly Farm Fishery. A convenient
bench, and our coffee stop chose itself.
In spite of the warm sunshine, we soon chilled while sitting down, and moved on, through the stile on the opposite side of the fishery. Here we met some horses who seemed very interested in us, but were persuaded to move. One of them proceeded to show his contempt by a virtuoso performance of petomania. A most musical horse.
After this we walked over a field, and crossed
a green lane, then carried on south west with the noise from the M1 growing
ever louder. We crossed a small road,
then followed the path alongside and slightly lower than the motorway. We went up a flight of steps, which took us
on to the Ashby to Dunton Bassett road bridge over the M1.
We turned sharp left after the disused railway
line, then headed to the right across the field, and in the next field followed
the right hand hedge. We had to cross the A426, turn left and then right . The
footpath follows the field boundary, then crosses another field before arriving
at Main Street. The church is over to the left.
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| Dunton Bassett |
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| Dragon on roof |
We walked through the village, past the DBA
(Dunton Bassett Arms, and downhill. When the road turns left, we carried straight
on along the bridle way to Stemborough Mill.
This path is indicated with blue way markers
and leads a little north of west alongside large fields, before reaching houses
and ponds.
The path turns left and follows a minor road
south for half a mile or so, then turns right and after another few hundred
yards reaches a crossroads. We turned left into Leire (said Leer) and decided
it was lunchtime. Panini in the White
Horse fitted the bill, and the staff were very pleasant - the salad was fresh too!
Just after the White Horse, we turned right
into Station Lane, past Wales Orchard, continuing straight along the
track. We crossed the disused railway
track and in the next field we headed for the opposite corner and came out on
the road, a little short of the true path – we looked back a few hundred yards
further on, and could see the way markers from the other direction – another very
slight deviation.
From Hillcrest Farm we walked along the road
into Frolesworth village.
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| Almshouses in Frolesworth |
Map and details
