May blossom

• Walked: 6 May 2007
• Distance: 16m
• Terrain: some inclines
• Summary: Packington, Normanton, Snarestone, Moira, Ashby
• Time: 6 hours overall

This is the same route as Ivanhoe Way (part of) (part 1). I wanted to try it clockwise this time to see how how it felt - I can't decide which way round my attempt on the IW should be. If I did it clockwise, then the second half of this walk would be the last few miles of the full 36-mile walk.

This is one of the most colourful walks that I can remember. Along the way we spotted wisteria, laburnum, lilac, clematis of various colours, as well as fields of rape. This photo looks a bit grey and murky, but the flowers were so bright yellow that it hurt the eyes.


These bluebells were just by Swepstone church (see previous posts - the minister is Patrick Stewart) and not only do we have the albino white ones, but pink ones too - quite a display of colour.


Unfortunately, the weather wan't kind to us. It didn't bucket down, but the long wet grass has cunning ways of soaking your feet, even with Gore-Tex boots and gaiters! Actually, I think that my 'breathable waterproof layer' has been breached in at least one of my boots. If there's a boot manufacturer reading who'd like to sponsor my offensive on the Ivanhoe Way this year by providing a decent pair, then please let me know.
The trade off is the beautiful way that that the beads of water stood up on the grass like diamonds.


Measham has this intriguing mosaic sundial, which is a tribute to Joseph Wilkes. Note to self: find out who Joseph Wilkes was.




Absolutely everything is out now, in leaf if not in flower. I did have to shout 'Wakey Wakey!' at a few odd trees which were being a bit lazy. I noticed that they were all the same type, which I'm now sure is ash (see below). I'm sure Dive will put me right on this in the comments. Even the most reluctant of these were showing some signs of life. I've heard some talk on the radio this week about the old proverb "Oak before ash and you're in for a splash; ash before oak and you're in for a soak". This apparently helps you to forecast the weather, depending on which tree comes out first. As the oak seemed to have the head start, I assume that we're in for but a mere splash of rain in coming weeks, and I think we had most of that today.


Check out this fantastic may blossom, which almost obscured the green of some hedges.


This picture shows just how parched the ground is at the moment. Hard and cracked like crazy paving. This pic also shows how excellent some farmers can be at keeping the public rights of way open!


I'm still not sure which way to tackle the long walk. anti-clockwise means a very long slow climb at the end of the 36 miles, but this way means coming through Measham quite late in the evening - apologies to those who live there, but the tough climb does seem better.

The route above was generated using Meander.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.