24/01/2014 Foston Church to Peatling Magna and back app 4 miles

We arrived at Cosby Village Hall car park, the weather was dry but overcast and a band of heavy rain was forecast to arrive at midday. A quick decision on where to go for the walk was made;  Foston Church to Peatling Magna, a short walk through the country along a gated road. Unfortunately, the pub in Peatling Magna does not open at lunch time so it is necessary to turn around and come straight back to Foston Church.

Foston Church ( this was taken in 2012.)

Sixteen walkers took part in the walk including one new walker.

Outside Foston Church

Foston Church and farm are all that remain of  Foston village. There is a very good web site on the church at http://www.foston-church.org.uk/.

The sky was very grey when we started off and it did not change all morning. Well, it is January and there is no snow but it is so wet and the fields are not very pleasant places for walking at the moment.

Reaching Peatling Magna we did a quick tour of the village and then set off back to Foston on the same road as we came.

We stopped for a while while Willie and Sheila had a look around.

This is a better view -  bit prickly though !!!!!!

Willie and Sheila won't be here next week as they're going on a cruise -  apparently to the Isle of Wight !

At the end of the walk we all drove round to the Garden centre at Countesthorpe for coffee, tea and a great selection of cakes.

See you all next week.

Friday 17th January 2014 Dunton Bassett to Ashby Magna and back approx 5 miles.

The Church and Churchyard at Dunton Bassett

No pictures of the actual walk are available so we've included pictures of the the village churches and of a tree viewed at an interesting angle.

Approximately eighteen walkers had an enjoyable walk from Dunton Bassett to Ashby Parva.  There was still a lot of water lying in the fields but our route was all hard surfaced which made the walk very pleasant in the sunshine.

Ashby Parva Church

Unfortunately, we were a little too early for coffee at the Holly Bush in Ashby so we made our way back to our cars at Dunton and decided to have coffee at our village café in Cosby. Some of our walkers were disappointed at the poor of choice of cakes but apparently the toasted teacakes went down a treat!

St Michael's Church, Cosby

Route between the two villages

Friday 10 January 2014 Walk around Draycott Water app 5 miles.

It was a nice brisk clear morning as we gathered at Cosby Village Hall car park for our walk. It was planned that we all go to Draycote Water which is situated on the other side of Rugby. Sixteen walkers turned up and we soon sorted ourselves into cars for the journey there.

There is a  fairly flat five mile tarmac road all the way around the reservoir which is ideal for a brisk walk.

On arriving at Draycote we decided which way we were walking around the reservoir and got on our way quite quickly.

There is a lot of wild life on the water which is great for bird watchers.

An interesting fact dug out of Wikiepeidia -  The embankment here was for a time the second largest dam in the world - only the Aswan dam of Egypt was larger. The reservoir is filled by water that is pumped uphill from the river Leam at Eathorpe village and also from a supply at Stanford reservoir north of Rugby.

The alpacas grazing in the fields around Draycote now number over two hundred.

Sensory Garden -  new last year

Happy walkers

There is a very nice refurbished restaurant where we all went for tea and coffee and quite a few couldn't resist the cream scones.

Ah well !

Willie and Sheila enjoyed the walk and were very impressed with the boating facilities.

Before we departed they took in the fabulous views from the side of the reservoir. 

 We all enjoyed the walk, the weather was very good and everybody is looking forward to next week.

Friday 3rd January 2014.Start and finish Enderby Leisure Centre - round walk of 4.6 miles

A happy and healthy New Year to all our followers.

Early morning the weather was atrocious but it had stopped raining by the time seventeen walkers met at Cosby Village Hall car park - you just have to get out and brush those cobwebs off!   We set off for Enderby Leisure Centre and parked our cars there.

 As the rain hadn't seemed to have stopped for a couple of weeks the decision to keep out of the fields was quite easy.  It would be folly to go wandering across fields, ankle and sometimes knee deep in mud. Locally, there are a lot of flooded fields caused by small innocent streams turning into torrents of water over night; much better to wait until it all settles down again.

Setting off from the Leisure Centre we made our way through Enderby village towards Seine Lane via Cross Street. This is the older part of Enderby and some interesting facts were related by some of the walkers who live in the village.

Cross Street 1950

We made our way to a disused railway line known locally as 'Whistle Way'.  This branch line used to link the now disused Enderby Warren Quarry with the Birmingham to Peterborough Line approximately 1 km southwest of Narborough railway station.

On to Whistle Way
  

We walked the full length of Whistle Way to Narborough.

Our tea/coffee break was at the Narborough Arms -  jokes were the order of the day - cold outside, warm inside.

Walking back to the Leisure centre it was agreed that if the weather is kind we would walk round Draycote Water next week.

Maps and Technical.

Willie and Sheila will be back  next week after their Christmas and New Year holiday in Hampshire.