There’s no business like snow business - Shepshed, 20 January 2013

Firstly, before we forget, OSB has to issue major thanks for the planner of today’s walk in the snow - it was a bit of a stonker.  OK, that’s an understatement...

Due to snow-related contingencies we were technically without an official leader today, but having found the relevant map and declared an anarcho-syndicalist commune for the day, we set off into the white stuff.  The world looked like one giant meringue, and squeaked every time we stepped on it.

Frosty the Snowman

Bonus credits have to go to the first LRWGer to set out on a route in cross-country skis – and he completed it in them, too.  That gives you a clue just how much snow there was!  But, for the rest of us, standard walking gear was just fine, and with a fluffy carpet over frozen ground it was even easier terrain than some of the muddier walks of recent weeks.

Making rapid time through Leicestershire’s suddenly surprisingly Arctic scenery took us quickly to Long Whatton, where the awesome pub had just opened.  The decor looked so much better with a pair of skis parked inside, and since we were bending a few rules today we paused for a spot of Lebanese grub – that may sound an odd choice for a snowy day, but it definitely hit the spot.

Frosty surveys the scenery

By the time we’d finished attacking the houmous and chips (oh come on, why not?), there were even more flurries of snowflakes floating from the clouds, so we stopped after another couple of miles to build a monument to Frosty the Snowman, decorated with Five-A-Day and some headgear you may just recognise.  Then most of us strode, and one of us slithered, all the way home.  What a day!