A (re) visit to Little Dalby

 Tuesday 3rd October

Not really a walk, but we saw the church spire over the trees as we drove, and decided to find it.

Little Dalby is a tiny settlement, and the church is at the end of a very rough track. After driving part way up, we backtracked and parked at the point where the road deteriorates.

There is a grassy footpath up to the church, and lovely wide views over the vale of the River Eye.

When I checked this blog later I was surprised to find that I had been there, on a walk from Burton Lazars in 2013! 

Burton Lazars - Burrough Hill and back

Mon, 2013 Oct 7 9:40 AM British Summer Time

Led by me. With Barry and Gordon. Fine weather, though cloudy. Mostly gentle slopes. Mud in woods, and on path down from B Hill. 10 miles - just.  Elevation gain 723 feet. Highest point - 621 feet/210 m - Burrough Hill.

A walk from Heather MacDermid's book: Foxton Locks to Rutland Water

In Burton Lazars we take Racecourse Road, which goes south from New Road.  And, yes, it seems there was once a racecourse here!   We have to walk right down into the dead end to find the footpath sign, but it's there.

We originally aim for the wrong yellow waymark post - we need the one further to the right. The path crosses one field and the corner of the next before reaching the main A606.  We have to cross the road, and take the path on the opposite side.  It's clear for the first two fields, but next we should have aimed slightly to our right - to the right of a conifer plantation.  A bit of dodgy map-reading on my part.  We find the waymarks again before long.

There's another slightly confusing bit when we find a stile leading up to the side of a pond - no need to take that, we could have stayed at the field edge.  We make for a gate, then cross a field of cows and some very small calves.  At the far end we go through a small gate and pass some rather loud stereotypical grunting pigs.  We are in Little Dalby, and take the book's advice and visit the church, which is at the top of the hill.  We've been aiming for it for the last two miles. It's not open, but impressive from the outside.  

One of the splendid gargoyles

and a green man?

We may have walked less than three miles, but we're ready for a snack, and there's a bench.  
We take the footpath down hill and find the Jubilee Way footpath, which goes behind Little Dalby Hall and crosses the minor road, before making its way over a field, and along a track which climbs gradually. We leave the Jubilee Way and turn right along the permissive path known as the Dalby Hills track - it goes west along the lower edge of woodland before leading along a rather muddy track through the woods.

At the end we follow waymarkers up to Burrough Hill.  I do my ritual touching of the trig point before we head over to the toposcope - three men are flying radio-controlled model planes today. It looks fun.

One day we'll get here and the views will be crystal clear. . .

From the toposcope we head north, keeping the ramparts on our left, then move to our right and find a path which leads downhill through the wood, still more or less north.  This track looks as though it's been used by trail bikes or four by fours - very rutted and muddy.  However, it leads to the road - marked as Burrough Road.  We turn left and take a green lane on our right - this is easy to follow, and we ignore any paths off. We reach Little Dalby Road, and turn right, then left along Sandy Lane (marked as part of Sustrans route 64. 
The lane climbs up, but when we look back the view of Burrough Hill is excellent. 
At the top of Gartree Hill there are fine wide views all around.

Looking back towards Burrough Hill

When we reach the top, I'm so pleased that I almost forget I've promised us another break. It takes only one reminder though - I haven't had my coffee yet.  

We follow the lane downhill until we meet the clearly marked footpath to Burton Lazars. Barry has already seen it clearly on the ground - many thanks to the local farmer for making it good after planting.

We pass some derelict farm buildings and take to the fields.  From here it's simply a matter of following the paths and markers into Burton Lazars.  We pass some old army/air force type buildings, and then walk over the field full of humps and hollows where a hospital for lepers, run by the order of St Lazarus,  was once situated. 

The path takes us downhill past modern farms and cottages to Lime Street, which leads to the A606. Cross this and we're back on the road to the car.



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