Walk 9 - Shackerstone to Sutton Wharf

We did this section of the walk on Sunday 27^th November 2016.  It felt a little cooler than the previous day as the wind was a bit stronger.  One very noticeable aspect of this walk was that we saw many other seemingly serious walkers on the route.  Usually we only see other walkers near to villages where they are walking their dogs or in touristic areas.

 

Shackerstone to Market Bosworth

We left Shackerstone at 10 am after checking out of the Bosworth Hall Hotel.  We took the temporary permissive path that has been put in place due to the footbridge over Shackerstone station being closed.  This took us back to the Leicestershire Round and we made our way towards Carlton.  This part of the route was quite muddy as we crossed or went around newly sown crop fields.  We had a tremendous fright when approaching Keepers Cottage on the Congerstone to Barton in the Beans road when we must have disturbed a male pheasant who must have been taking cover near to where we walked.  He flew up immediately in front of us making a very loud noise while flying away..  This was followed a few seconds later by the female. 

Keepers Cottage, alongside which we had
the encounter with the pheasants

While recovering from this we crossed the Congerstone Road , walked over more crop fields eventually finding our way into the village of Carlton.

Carlton is a small rural parish which had a population of 305 according to the 2011 census.  The village has a strong community spirit, and there are regular parties and fundraising events for causes such as the church.  The villagers get involved in other events such as the annual "spring clean litter pick" which has taken place since 1992 where they clear all roads and verges leading up to the village to welcome spring. The village pub is “The Gate Hangs Well” and the village Church is St Andrews. 

Main Street, Carlton

We continued across the road in Carlton and back onto the fields towards Market Bosworth.  The fields eventually changed to grassland onto what appears to be a golf club which has been closed for the winter.  We think this is Kyngs Golf and Country Club which has its entry in Station Road.

We made a slight error and, due to the waypost not specifying the Leicestershire Round,  missed the turning which would have taken us up to the school and into Back Lane so entered Market Bosworth near to the church.

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Market Bosworth

Market Bosworth is a pretty little touristic village with plenty of thatched cottages and Georgian houses, famous for its proximity to the Bosworth Fields battleground in which King Richard III was killed.  There is evidence of a settlement here since the Bronze Age.  The name “Market Bosworth” dates from 12^th May 1285 when it became a town by common definition.  The two oldest buildings in Bosworth, St. Peter's Church and the Red Lion pub, were built during the 14th century.
The Battle of Bosworth took place to south of the town in 1485 as the final battle in the War of the Roses between Richard III and Henry Tudor.  Richard III was defeated and Henry Tudor when on to become Henry VII of England.  Following the discovery of the remains of Richard III in Leicester during 2012, on Sunday 22 March 2015 the king's funeral cortège passed through the town on its way to Leicester Cathedral for his reburial.
The War Memorial in the town square honours 19 local men who died in the 1^st world war and 11 in the 2^nd world war

There was a seasonal market going on in the village square.  One stall was selling some nice looking pies.  Rather than buy then and carry them around in rucksacks for the rest of the day, we returned on our way back and bought some then.
 

Market Bosworth to Sutton Cheney

 

We left Market Bosworth where the route took us through the large country park, past the small lake and into the arboretum which is open to the public throughout the year. 

 

The lake in the park

 

The walk continued through woodland and past 2 other lakes, one named “Looking Glass Lake”. 

 

 

Looking Glass Lake

The woods at Market Bosworth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left the woodland and then crossed open fields across to the village of Sutton Cheney which we reached at a nice looking pub/hotel called the Royal Arms, one of 2 coaching inns in the village, the other being The Hercules.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sutton Cheney had a population of 538 at the 2011 census.  The village church is St. James’s and it is believed that Richard III attended mass here for the last time before his death at the battle of Bosworth Fields.  King Richard IIIs funeral cortege also passed through Sutton Cheney.

 



Stone cottages next to the church

St James's Church, Sutton Cheney

Sutton Cheney to Sutton Wharf

The Leicestershire Round left Sutton Cheney at the entrance to the churchyard and then followed Bosworth Road for a while until we turned left over fields towards the Bosworth Fields Heritage Centre which is a museum to the 15^th century battle site.   We stopped there for a coffee and snack in their tea rooms before the final stretch of the walk to Sutton Wharf. 

Battle of Bosworth Visitor Centre



Bosworth Fields

We then walked the short route from the Heritage Centre down through Albion Wood and then alongside the Canal before reaching Sutton Wharf and our parked car.














Albion Wood in the late afternoon sunshine

Sutton Wharf is on the Ashby Canal and has car parking and a café/restaurant.  It is popular with those wanting to make the walk up to the Heritage Centre and Battlefield Site, to the steam trains on the Battlefield Line at Shenton Station or to just go for a walk alongside the canal.  There are narrowboat rides on the canal from this point.




The Ashby Canal at Sutton Wharf

 

Distance

We walked a total of  8.18 miles

Next Walk

The next walk will be from Sutton Wharf to Burbage, planned for Sunday 4^th December 2016.

  

Walk 8 - Markfield to Shackerstone

We did this section of the walk on Saturday 26^th November 2016.  We had booked a weekend break at Bosworth Hall Hotel who had a very good offer on so did this walk on the Saturday and the next part of the Round on Sunday. Although quite cold at about 7 degrees C, we had a fair amount of warm sunshine during the early part of the walk.  We were expecting very wet and muddy conditions after the very heavy rain earlier in the week but it turned out to be a fairly easy walk, mainly through woodland or grassland.  We planned a shorter than usual route as it is fast approaching the winter solstice and the days are getting shorter so need to ensure we finish before the light fades.

 

Markfield to Thornton

We left Markfield at around 10 am, somewhat later than usual, because we had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel before starting out.  After what seemed a very long walk down Main Street, Markfield and then through a housing estate, we eventually left the village and walked across fields and under the M1 motorway.  

Stone cottages in Main Street Markfield

Young woodland in Browns Wood

 

 

 

We went through newly created woodland areas which are part of the National Forest scheme.  One of these, Browns Wood, was initially planted in the winter of 2001/2 and the Heavy Metal Band, Iron Maiden, arranged with the Carbon Neutral Company to plant enough saplings to offset the carbon dioxide generated by their “Dance of Death” CD released in 2003.  Any mud underfoot was covered by the recent autumn leaf covering giving dry and comfortable walking conditions. 

 

 

 

 

On leaving Browns Wood we got sight of Thornton Reservoir although only walked along the very narrow north west point of it before entering the village.  The reservoir is no longer used for drinking water and was opened to the public in 1997 by Severn Trent Water. 

 

Thornton Reservoir

Thornton is a linear village lying along a scarp overlooking the Reservoir and means a settlement walled by strong hedges – thorn hedges.  St Peters Church dates from13th century and the village pub is The Reservoir Inn.

Thornton to Bagworth

We saw little of Thornton village and crossed the main road, down through a housing estate and past some small houses with paddocks of horses across grassy fields where there were still signs of the lovely autumn colours in the trees.  


Paddocks and stream on leaving Thornton


 





Autumn colours in the trees























Ivanhoe Line Phase 2

We crossed the former Leicester and Swannington Railway which was opened in 1832 and provided Bagworth with its own station.  It was closed to passenger services in 1964 but continued to be used for transporting freight.Since the 1990’s,there have been plans to reopen this part of the line, including Bagworth Station, as phase 2 of the Ivanhoe line, phase 1 of which runs from Leicester to Loughborough.  Phase 2 would extend the line from Leicester to Burton on Trent.

 

After crossing the line we entered Manor Wood, a 25 hectare wood first planted in 2002/2003 on land that was formerly used for crops.  The woodland continued into Bagworth Heath Woods, a more mature woodland before reaching the village of Bagworth, which has an entry sign on a very large rock saying “Bagworth – Village in the Forest 2003”

Sign on entrance to Bagworth Village

Bagworth to Nailstone


Unusual seat on the route near Bagworth, dedicated to "Sylvia"

Again we saw little of Bagworth except for a short walk along the road from the church out of the village and back onto farmland.  We then went through another very young woodland – Underhills Wood – planted in 2005/6









After this there were some really nice views of the surrounding countryside.  Gaps in the clouds gave some stunning sun rays shining through in the distance.  

View south over countryside showing sunrays through cloud gaps
 

We entered the village of Nailstone by All Saints church, a grade II listed building dating from the 13^th and 14^th centuries. 

All Saints Church, Nailstone

Nailstone had a population of 514 in the 2011 census.  We then made our way to the Bulls Head for a lunch stop only to find that it does not serve food so we decided to continue on towards Odstone. 


Nailstone to Odstone

The route out of Nailstone took us on a track to the north of the village and across the busy A447, Hinckley to Ibstock road.  We continued across grass and farmland with autumn sown crops to the small, very pretty hamlet of Odstone.  Odstone appears in the Domesday Book as Odeston which means either Odds Farm.village or a settlement on the protruding piece of land. Oddr is the old Norse for “point” so has a Scandinavian origin.

Houses in the hamlet of Odstone

 Odstone to Shackerstone

We walked down Hall Lane and passed Odstone Hall, a Grade II listed Country House with Elizabethan origins.

Odstone Hall

 

 

The last of the bikers continuing towards Odstone

The route then continued down a wide grass track which was heavily rutted by farm vehicles.  The ruts were very muddy, leaving just narrow strips of grass to walk on which made it rather difficult walking.  Whilst on this track we were surprised to suddenly see 3 motorcross bikes coming towards us riding in the ruts. They kindly stopped to allow us to safely pass them

From Bagworth the Leicestershire Round had shared the route of the Ivanhoe way and we found the waymarker signs mostly showed both routes but sometimes only one or the other which caused a bit of confusion.  We continued to follow the signs for the Ivanhoe way and turned left into a field which led to Shackerstone but then found that this was where the routes diverged and we should have continued for a bit longer where the correct route would have taken us into the village via the Ashby de la Zouch canal tow path.  The route should have taken us across the footbridge at Shackertone station but this was closed and an alternative route in place.



The nearest we could get to Shackerstone Station

Shackerstone is the home of the Battlefield Line Railway, a preserved steam and diesel museum, that runs trains to Bosworth Battlefield. The railway came to Shackerstone in 1873 and continued providing passenger services until 1931 after which only freight ran on the rails of the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway. The line was finally closed in 1970 at which point the railway society restored the station and reopened the line to Shenton which is the terminus for the Boswort Batlefield and Heritage Centre.

Shackerstone also hosts a large family festival, usually in the first week of September that covers everything from vintage cars to aerobatic stunt planes.

The Ashby de la Zouch canal at Shackerstone 

 

Distance

We walked a total of  10.63 miles

Next Walk

The next walk will be from Shackerstone to Sutton Wharf on the following day, 27^th November 2016.