Belvoiring about, 21-28 October 2012

We’ve been gallivanting about in the Vale of Belvoir quite a bit recently, much to the delight of the local innkeepers.  This week’s photo of Belvoir Castle is actually from a pre-walk (i.e. a test of a route) which a few of us indulged in while a larger part of the group was down south on the South Downs – and since the route proved largely successful apart from the accidental bit of mass trespass (woops!), it’ll be on the programme in a month or two, so more about that later.

The second of our ambles around the castle was on a day too grey to warrant many photographs, but nevertheless just about dry enough to be a good time to return to a route already popular with both Leicestershire and Lincolnshire walking groups, which is why we ran it as a combined walk.  So, a surprisingly large bunch of us headed up onto the Wolds, along the ridge, down to Stathern for a pint and beside the canal all the way back to Redmile, where we ducked into another pub which proved to have been used as a location setting for Auf Wiedersehen Pet, of all things.  Haway, Andy, wor we gannin’ next?

The Muddy Bottom of Thor’s Cave, 14 October 2012

Wheeling carefully through narrow lanes in valleys still sparkling in frost, we all parked up in Wetton, which was, despite sarcastic forecasts, perfectly dry.  It stayed that way all day, too, with bright sun soon warming us up as we tramped up hills, wallowed in bogs, slid back down again and, with mud-spattered derrieres aplenty, repeated the exercise several times until Thor’s Cave hove into view.  It looked like the most enormous mouse-hole ever encountered, so we did the sensible thing and looped off on a long winding detour, trekking through further scenic quagmires, and eventually chanced upon the cave once more.

The cave - beware of  the Norse deity

Climbing inside a limestone cave worn smooth by millennia of streaming rainwater whilst wearing mud-slimed soles turns out, unsurprisingly, not too offer a lot of grip.  So, having explored the cavern (uninhabited – Thor was out getting hammered), well, you guessed it, down we slithered on murky rears once more.  It was like 10,000BC mashed with an Andrex advert, but the surrounding view of the Manifold Valley was a great distraction.  A truly excellent day out, and good to have a bunch of our Lincolnshire cousins there too!

Thornton 7 October 2012

Louisa’s first walk – OK, not the first time that upright locomotion had been achieved, let’s be clear, but a first time as regards leading the whole shooting match (although it wasn’t a match, and we had no intention of shooting anyone).  Having started out with ice, and fogs sufficiently pea-soupy to be about ready for a topping of croutons, all of that rigmarole soon wafted away, the sun came out and all was well with the world, which is what you want for this sort of thing really.  A sizeable bunch of regulars and quite a few newbies (who we’ll hopefully see again!) ambled off into the suddenly shiny morning, only to be very quickly surprised by a field full of curios left by the local lama-farmer.

The lamas were accompanied by some very loud geese, who were far more territorial than the lamas, although it was quite unnecessary as this early in the walk we were all still fairly fragrant and there was no argument about which flock was best at honking.  Having got past those distractions, navigated a field full of young male cows, and decided that some animals are indeed more equal than others but, on reflection, never mind the bullocks, we strode on over more rolling fields, through some Woodland Trust err, woodland, and keeled-over en masse in a sunlit meadow for early lunch.  It turned out to be the best picnic conditions that we’d had all year.  Back to the pub, via the reservoir, for flagons of Equinox and merry banter until teatime.  What more could a new leader at Ramblers Anonymous ask for?