- Walked: 6th October 2007
- Distance: 5.6m
- Terrain: 90m ascent over 3 miles and the same descent
- Summary: Park at the Ferrers craft Centre, through South Wood, along Ashby by-pass, back to start along Ivanhoe Way
- Time: around 2 hours start to finish
I didn't want to do anything too strenuous today, so this short walk fitted the bill. It's close to home with some nice views.
Someone's been busy replacing stiles with these horrible industrial-style gates. Are we still in the countryside? What next? Hand-rails up Tryfan? A railway up Snowdon? ... Oh.
This is the type of stile I like - they take a bit of effort to get over, they're often nice and rickety and pose a health and safety risk, and you have to take care not to get stung if your ankles are showing.
The highlight of the morning was seeing this chap (or chapess) casually walking away as I approached. (Click the picture to see him better).
There are some lovely long views on this walk. Unfortunately, they never photograph well (or I don't know how to photograph long views well). The view compensates for the climb - it's quite a long uphill.
I do find the autumn foliage a little bit depressing because it heralds a long dark, cold few months. There's no denying that the trees and hedges become more beautiful in their reds and golds.
This path goes alongside the Ashby by-pass. The down-side is the traffic, but the upside is that the path has some of the best views around. Again, the picture doesn't do the view justice. I could see the ancient and modern landmarks of Ratcliffe power station and Breedon church, but neither are really visible on the photo.
It's easy to pick up the Ivanhoe Way which takes us (downhill) back to the starting point. On the way I saw this wonderful display of sloes. Not nice to eat, but mmmmm... sloe gin....
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.
3 comments:
Woohoo! A walk that I have actually done part of!
I'm with you on the stiles, Pea.
The stupid Health and Safety Executive have started painting all the ones round our way bright yellow! Icky!
This walk brings memorys to me also. Those metal gates are awful,there is nothing like a rickety wooden one to climb over, and who cares if there are nettles or brambles it's all part of the countryside. love the pic of the deer, I always feel so honoured to stand and watch one. A good walk especialy now there are changes in leaf colour.
Thanks, both. Yes, you're right, we did 'enjoy' this part of the by-pass, and I seem to remember re-creating the 'Monkees' walk on video!
I work for a council, so I probably shouldn't say too much about H&S, but yes, bright yellow stiles seems well OTT. You can see from the picture that Leicestershire paints the tops of its wayposts bright yellow, and I have to admit that it's often very helpful with the navigation.
I have yet to find a crooked sixpence, but
I agree that there's something special about seeing a deer. It was closer than it looks in the picture, and I think there were two to start with, the other being a bit quicker to run and hide.
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