Wednesday 17th May 2017 Diseworth - Ashby-de-la-Zouch - 14 miles
Well, the day dawned grey and wet with the forecast dismal for the entire day! We'd planned a longer section for today plus a shorter section for the next day, so even if we swapped the route around we were going to get wet! And of course there were no guarantees tomorrow would be any better! So, over an excellent breakfast, we decided to go for it anyway! Hindsight is a wonderful thing!!
So, slightly later than planned, what else, we set off for Ashby to leave a car before heading back to Diseworth to resume at The Plough. Parking at Ashby proved challenging, but we finally found a long stay provision next to a hotel not too far from the High Street.
It was still raining as we arrived at Diseworth, but another quick coffee and off we popped, all swaddled up in our waterproofs!
Following the lanes out of Diseworth, you take a farm track before heading off across fields.
This now meant that we were getting wet upwards from the grass as well as downwards from the rain! This was then improved by having to cross several fields of head high oil seed rape!
Yes, there was a path of sorts, but foliage has a way of spreading out! As we finally crossed the stile out of the offending fields we realised we'd lost Irene! Peering back over the stile, there was no sign, but a little voice answered our shouts! She'd slipped over and disappeared totally - losing all sense of direction as she stood up. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt!
Past the village of Tonge, the route was a cycle track, a former railway track. Cheered by the easy surface, we rattled along, only to realise we'd gone too far and had to retrace our steps! We finally made it to the lanes that take you into Breedon-on-the-Hill - the church perched high on an inland cliff top!
And yes the route takes lanes and then footpaths to CLIMB up to the church!
We stopped at the church to gather ourselves after the climb (still raining!) and to look at the 8th/9th century carvings incorporated into its structure!
We followed the lane down from the church, meeting a woman in a car frantically looking for her dog that had run off. We took her number just in case. We then had to pick up a footpath across a golf course, which was rather unclear, but more by luck than judgement, we arrived at the right place! Over a few more fields, boots now getting rather heavy with mud, and then we picked up a track which turns into a path by Melbourne Pool.
This leads you past Melbourne Hall, to the parish church and out into the village of Melbourne itself.
We would have stayed longer here to explore, but time was ticking away, and the weather wasn't conducive to exploratory strolling (still raining!). You leave Melbourne relatively quickly, taking footpaths that bypass the town to head for Staunton Harold Reservoir. This is quite a well developed site, nicely landscaped and well maintained with a visitor centre and sailing club. The climb up and the lashing rain made the visitor centre a welcome sight, and we stopped for coffee and a snack. By this point, we were seriously considering calling a taxi to take us on to Ashby as we knew we had at least another 5 miles to walk - Linda by now was totally sodden! However, a slight easing of the rain and feeling a little refreshed, we decided to carry on.
From Staunton, you follow round the lake, through trees to head towards pools and woodland on the Calke Abbey National Trust Estate,
taking you all the way to the house itself. From there, the route follows the driveway through the estate, right out to the hamlet of Calke.
You then follow the road until you pick up the the Ivanhoe Way, which will take you all the way to Ashby. This made the route easier to follow, but it was still dis-spiriting to pick up a marker saying Ashby 3 miles! We all felt it should be closer! Never mind, we all plodded, literally, on and finally made it into Ashby despite having to navigate a footpath diversion!
Fortunately, the circles we had driven in, trying to find parking in Ashby, gave us the familiarity with the area to cope with the diversion! Everything happens for a reason! Still trying to work out why we had to get so very wet though! But we did enjoy our evening meal and drinkies once we made it back to the hotel; and had dried out a bit! Our rooms looked like laundries - there were bits of kit everywhere!!
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