This gallery is split over several pages. Each page displays pictures from a particular year or years as taken by members whilst on some of the longer walks, i.e. Ramblers and Striders. The most recent are at the top of the page. The links below can be used to select the relevant year.
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2012
For our last walk of 2012 the Medium and Long walking groups joined together
and did a 5 mile walk from Ticknall. The original plan was to do the Anchor
Caves walk but following several days of heavy rain we were informed that
the area was under water and so we decided to find a dryer walk.
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For our November walk, led by Liz, 6 of us met in the charming ancient town of Tutbury. It was a cold but very sunny day and the visibility was excellent. Most of the walk was across open countryside and it wasn’t long before we were appreciating the wonderful views all around us. We could pick out various points of interest and could even see as far as the Peak District. When we reached the Fauld Crater Liz told us a little about the accident that created the crater and we saw the monument erected in l990 to the 70 people who lost their lives on 27th November 1944. Gypsum has been mined or quarried in this area since 1870 and British Gypsum are still extracting around 650,000 tonnes per annum. We left the crater behind and entered a wooded area and as we headed downwards we had to negotiate an assault course as there were several trees that had fallen over across the path. On the final leg we found ourselves walking alongside the River Dove with the 14th century Tutbury Castle standing proudly above the town, ahead of us. Once we had passed the cricket ground, it was only a short walk through the town back to our cars. We had all had a most enjoyable walk. |
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Alison led our walk in October starting from Markfield. The first section was along the Leicestershire Round path as far as Thornton and it was on this stretch that we met rather a number of other walkers. It began with a group of schoolchildren coming towards us, followed by another group and then another. We then found out that they were from the nearby South Charnwood High School and were doing a 13 mile sponsored walk to Bradgate Park – just over 600 of them in all! It was pretty muddy underfoot and most of them were only wearing trainers but they all seemed happy enough and were very friendly too, mind you they had probably only walked about a mile by then! From Thornton Reservoir we headed towards Polebrook Wood and then Old Hayes, walking along some delightful woodland paths. We had to do a slight detour to avoid walking across a newly ploughed field and then picked up our path again through Whittington Rough and on to Little John , finally emerging onto the A50. After a very short while we turned off the main road to join another path through the woods to reach Field Head and eventually back to our starting point. It had been a delightful walk through quite varied countryside and even though it was reasonably close to home, places that we had never been to before. |
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On 7th September just 4 loyal members of the group turned up for the walk from Ticknall, the others being on holiday, on grandparent duty or defecting to Ludlow with the Days of Interest group for the Food Festival. Bob had kindly volunteered to lead on this occasion. It was a beautiful sunny day and we set off from the Village Hall and were soon passing Ticknall church and the cricket ground. The walk at the start was mainly through fields with far reaching views of the lovely countryside. When we reached Foremark Reservoir we decided it would be a good place to sit and have our ‘banana break’. We then took the path through the wooded area of Foremark which led us to Carver’s Rocks, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a wonderful place for wildlife. Once back in the outskirts of Ticknall we entered the grounds of Calke and made our way across to the Stables where we were able to sit down and eat our lunch and have a welcome cup of tea. From there it was just a little over a mile back to our cars. |
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Pearl was our leader on Friday 3rd August for a walk of around 8.5 miles from Barrow on Soar. Once we had all managed to find the correct car park in the village, we set off towards Walton on the Wolds. The walk was mainly through fields and the weather was ideal. When we reached the church in the village it seemed a suitable place to have our ‘banana break’ as we were all able to find somewhere to sit in the sunshine. We eventually got ourselves going again and continued our walk towards Prestwood. As we approached we could see Prestwood Hall and the village church ahead and after passing these we found ourselves in Burton on the Wolds, another lovely little village. We were all beginning to feel hungry by this time but as it wasn’t too far back to Walton we decided to eat our lunch at our ‘banana break’ stop. On the final leg back into Barrow we had a small shower but it had been sunny for most of the walk so it really didn’t spoil it in any way. |
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Near Market Bosworth - Jun 2012 |
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For our walk on Friday 1st June, Brian took us for an 8 mile trek starting from Woodhouse Eaves. We headed first across Broombriggs and then up to Beacon Hill, where we had our ‘banana break’ while getting our breath back and enjoying the wonderful views. We continued on our way towards Charley and then eventually uphill again to Buck Hill, from where we had more wonderful views over the surrounding countryside. We passed through the Outwoods and continued our way back to Woodhouse Eaves. The cloudy skies and the threat of rain never dampened our enthusiasm, and I think we all agreed that we are so lucky to have such lovely walks on our doorstep. |
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On 4th May Roger guided 12 of the Medium walkers on a walk around Osgathorpe to show us part of the route of the 1790’s Charnwood Forest Canal. The majority of it has long ago disappeared but our group photo was taken alongside a part that could be recognised as a former canal bed. After several days of heavy rain we were lucky to have a reasonable day for our walk however the rain had made the going very soft and we were all slipping and sliding at various points along the route. Thankfully no one actually fell over and we had a lot of laughs helping each other over the very muddy areas. At one point our walk took us close to The George and Dragon in Thringstone and the landlady very kindly let us go in, with our muddy boots, for some welcome refreshment. At the finish we all agreed that we had thoroughly enjoyed our walk, despite ending up with very muddy boots and trousers! |
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At the lunch stop during the walk from St Bernard's Abbey - April 2012. |
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On Friday 6th April eight of us set off from Sence Valley Forest Park to do the National Forest ‘Birthday Walk’. This is a 10 mile walk which was launched in 2005 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Forest Company and was designed to link 10 sites created in the first decade of the Company. Our Medium Walk is generally around 8 miles, so we missed out the section through Heather and headed towards Ibstock first and then on to Donington le Heath where we found some benches to sit on while we ate our lunch. As it was Good Friday Sue had very thoughtfully brought along a Hot Cross Bun for each of us, which we all enjoyed very much. After lunch we finished off our walk through the Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve back to Sence Valley. It had been a very enjoyable walk. |
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On Friday 2nd March 10 members of the Medium Walk group met up at Branston
Water Park just outside Burton upon Trent. Lynda was our leader for the
day and had brought along some bird food so we could feed the ducks before
we set off for our walk.
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The Swannington Hokey Cokey In Feb 2012, our Long Walks group was the first group to undertake this walk, one of several recently published by Swannington Heritage Trust. The walk constantly twists in and out while never being more than a couple of miles from the centre of Swannington. We explored the area around the sites of 12 mines, 2 churches, 2 horse drawn railways, the first steam railway in the English Midlands, a restored mill and an isolation hospital. |
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On a February Friday with the temperature hovering around minus 4 degrees, thirteen of us set off for our walk from Smisby. We walked across several fields to reach Pistern Hill where we admired the view across to Calke Abbey. We carried on through Calke Park and took the road down to Dimminsdale to find the snowdrops were just beginning to come into flower. Despite the cold it was a beautiful day; there was no wind and not a cloud in the sky and everything looked so lovely covered in frost. We sat down to eat our lunch in the sunshine and then finished off our walk through South Wood and back into Smisby. |
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The weather was perfect for a January walk – cold and frosty at the start but lovely and sunny. Ten of us met up in Worthington and our leader this month was Jane. We started off along the Ivanhoe Way which eventually led us to Priory Golf Course and then into Breedon. After a short distance we took a footpath that led us directly up to Breedon Church. It was a short steep climb but we had lovely views to look at every time we stopped to get our breath back! After a ‘banana break’ in the churchyard we took a path downwards and eventually found ourselves back on the golf course. We walked through Wilson village and shortly afterwards joined the Cloud Trail and stayed on this all the way back to Worthington. It was a nice easy walk on the trail, a former railway line to Derby, but there were interesting sights along the way - a couple of unusual pieces of artwork, the old Tonge and Breedon station now converted into a lovely home and the remains of the Tonge and Breedon railway bridge. |
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2011
For the final outing of 2011, the Medium and Long Walks Groups joined
together in Newtown Linford on 2nd December. Les Unwin had kindly agreed
to lead the walk by fourteen members from both groups. On a sunny morning,
we walked in and around Bradgate Park for approximately 5 miles, keeping
up a brisk pace. It was all very enjoyable.
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On the 4th of November the Medium Walks group awoke to pouring rain and
a doubtful forecast, however, after a few telephone calls, it was agreed
that we would still go on our walk, which was to be led by Sue. We met
up at Sutton Wharf and set off along the canal towpath, and were immediately
struck by the high level of the water. We then came away from the canal
and walked through Dadlington village, past St. James Church where many
of the dead from the Battle of Bosworth were buried. It was granted a
Chantry Foundation in 1511 which was later suppressed in 1547 by King
Edward VI. Shortly afterwards we were walking through Stoke Golding village
which led us back to the canal. After passing under a few bridges we set
off across several fields to reach Shenton where we stopped to eat our
lunch. We continued on to Shenton Station and into the Bosworth Battlefield
site. We walked up Ambion Hill and admired the new sundial feature. The
path then led us to the canal once more and very soon we were back at
Sutton Wharf. No one was in a rush to hurry off so we enjoyed a well earned
cup of tea in the little cafe there, and congratulated ourselves on not
listening to the weather forecast.
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On Friday 7th October Rose Westram led us on an 8 mile walk around the
Swithland Slate Trail. As we started our walk we were struck by the chill
in the air after the wonderful weather of the past week but it wasn’t
long before we started to shed some of our layers of clothes. We walked
through a couple of fields of cows (!) to reach the Great Central Railway
line, just as a steam train was passing by.
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February 2011 |
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2010
December in Bradgate Park. |
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November leg of the Charnwood Round. |
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September leg of the Ivanhoe Way. |
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June leg of the Ivanhoe Way. |
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Some scenes from the May leg of the Ivanhoe Way. |
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Some scenes from the second leg of the Ivanhoe Way, Mar 2010 |
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Scenes from the Ivanhoe Way |
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2009
Some more views during the walk at Eyam in Aug 09 |
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Some views from Apr 09 |
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Dovedale March 2009 |
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2008
Taking a breather in Dec 2008 |
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A well-earned rest, walking Ulverscroft to Whitwick |
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