The sunshine
from Saturday didn’t quite last until this morning, but the day at least dawned
dry, and warm enough to feel like spring had properly sprung. So, out to another walk.
Mt. St.
Bernard is just on the far side of Shepshed, although it’s a gentle hillock
rather than a ‘mount’ in any sense that the Ordnance Survey would
recognise. It is, however, named after
the great reformer of the Cistercian Order, and that bit’s apt enough as the monastery
here was one of the first Roman Catholic abbeys to be constructed in the country since our own Reformation and the long hiatus that followed it.
Of course,
we were there just to use the car park, paid for by making a small offering,
and head off on a nicely varied hike through rolling hills. As several first-time walkers got into their stride,
we encountered the usual range of wildlife and farm livestock, from some
inquisitive pigs to a herd of impressively-horned cattle – who nevertheless didn’t object to sharing their field with us for a moment.
Lunch at the
back of a pub, complete with old-school park play equipment (OK, some of us
went for a ride on the swing horse) and back to the abbey in time to visit the
visitor’s café – for cream tea, fruity scones, and of course a fruitless
attempt to decide how to pronounce them.
A classic end to a good day out.
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