As planned we did our second leg of the Leicestershire Round on Saturday 2nd April 2016 and were again very lucky with the weather. A couple of days before it had been forecast to be sunny and warm until early afternoon so we planned an early start. On the day we woke up to rain so we delayed the start as better weather was due by 10.00. By the time we had sorted the cars out - one at East Langton and the other at the start location of Bruntingthorpe, it had stopped raining.
Bruntingthorpe to Shearsby
Bruntingthorpe was home to the former RAF Base of the same name. It was operational between 1942 and 1962 and used also by the US Air Force. It is now known as Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and houses an airfield museum and used as a proving ground for high performance car testing with various circuits between 0.9 and 4.2 miles in length.We had a few problems finding the footpath out of the village, which turned out to be down a lane called "Little End" which led into a field of sheep with their lambs and then across farmland.
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| Young lambs at Bruntingthorpe |
As we neared Shearsby we could see the Shearsby Bath on our right. This is a very nice restaurant and events venue that was a former spa. We entered Shearsby village and passed the Chandlers pub which used to be an Indian Restaurant but appears to have changed hands recently and now offer a more traditional menu.
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| Shearsby Village Pond |
Shearsby to Saddington
After crossing the A5199 the route took us through many fields of horses. It was very muddy and slow going
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| Paul with horse on footpath |
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| Pond in field near to Fleckney |
Saddington to Gumley
Saddington is a very pretty village with an excellent village pub which has excellent garden views overlooking the reservoir. We nearly chose this as our pub lunch stop. The route through Saddington Village took us up a drive towards a farm and then along a path between the houses, across Main Street and out to paddocks south-east of the village.This was the most scenic part of the route so far. Stunning views of rolling hills, streams, fields of sheep and lambs and, to our right, Saddington Reservoir, which was created in 1802 to feed the nearby Grand Union Canal.
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| View towards Saddington from Smeeton Hill |
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| Saddington Reservoir from Smeeton Hill |
We climbed Smeeton Hill and found a very welcome seat at the top. The seat was a memorial to Mary Hodgkin, a lady who loved the Leicestershire Round. We were grateful to find this and sat there for a while admiring the view. Thank you Mary.
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| A well earned rest after about 6 miles of our walk |
We then made our way down the hill, passing St. Helens Church and into the village of Gumley. History tells us that King Offa visited here in 772 for a meeting of the Kings of Mercia.
We took a short detour to have lunch at the Bell Inn. This was a lovely pub and we found a table in the sunshine in the garden where it was very warm. The pub gardens have a small fishpond, a bird feeding station frequented by quite a variety of birds and 6 chickens who were strutting around and very entertaining. After a delicious lunch we could easily have sat there all afternoon but reluctantly pulled ourselves away and continue our walk.
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| The garden pond at the Bell Inn, Gumley |
Gumley to Foxton
We rejoined the footpath and walked across fields towards the Grand Union Canal seeing some goats in a field on the way. The footpath then crossed the Grand Union Canal and followed it to the village of Foxton, passing Foxton Locks on the way. There were plenty of narrow boats along this stretch of the canal and a large number of visitors as well.Foxton Locks consist of a 2 sets of 5 locks opened in 1814. There is also an incline plane built in 1900 to overcome the bottleneck caused by the slow process of getting boats through the locks but was closed within a few years of opening as it was unprofitable.
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| Foxton Locks and the Foxton Locks Inn |
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| The Grand Union Canal |
We left the towpath at the village of Foxton, named after the large number of foxes in the area and the route took us through the village via a series of footpaths.
Foxton to East Langton
We left Foxton and walked across grassy fields towards the A6, which we crossed just south of the Langton roundabout and across more grassy fields and under the main London to Sheffield railway line.We crossed a field with a large number of cows and their calves and then over more grassland where we saw a monument in the middle of the field with the words "Lottery 21st February 1886". I searched the internet later and found that this monument is to the horse that won the first Grand National at Aintree which was in 1839. Lottery's final years were spent in this area of Leicestershire and the monument must have been put up some time after he died.
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| Memorial to Lottery - First Grand National Winner |
We continued up to East Langton, passing a very large free range chicken farm on the way and walked through the village to our car which we had parked outside the Bell Inn.
