Humberstone to Markfield 28/03/18

12.2 miles, via New Humberstone, Northfields, Latimer ward, Belgrave Road, Abbey Park, 
 Abbey ward,  Gorse Hill, Anstey, Newtown Linford, Field Head, and Hill Hole Quarry.

Despite being a week into it, Spring has definitely not sprung when I'm prepped to get walking again whilst in the Old Country to spend the Easter Week with My Parents, providing company and assistance in exchange for hospitality, deciding that it's wise to get busy on the trail before My Sister and family arrive and I need to borrow Dr G to get to do a rebuild job on the raised vegetable bed in the garden which has suffered with rot and partial collapse in the last season. I look to the west for a change in the county of Leicestershire, feeling that I ought to strike for Charnwood Forest again after abandoning it back in 2013 and not having been back that way since, thinking it wise that I ought to link up to that isolated trail out that way before I envisage a year of visits to do the Leicestershire Round over my next three weeks off work in 2018, as I fear that My Dad's holidaying days are sadly behind him. So we set off to our regular start up point at Abbots Road URC, and strike to the Northwest, over the A563 Hungarton Boulevard in the direction of Humberstone village, feeling that I might be running short of unique routes across the city of Leicester already, on just my third trip, arriving by my Old Schools and Manor House gardens, pushing on along Main Street past St Mary's church and its ancient mud wall, and the enduring shopping parade and the village pub that I've still never visited, the Humberstone. The village is departed by the Grange, the Thatched cottage and the Royal British Legion, and the rain comes on as we pace down through the suburbia that has grown all over the grounds of the former Humberstone Hall, tracing Tennis Court Drive and Greenland Drive to meet the estate perimeter at Humberstone Drive, passing that one house that My Parents had thought about moving into in the 80s before choosing to extend their house instead. Move on to meet the estates of New Humberstone, ranked along Wycombe Road, where Mundella college used to reside, where My Dad was educated in his youth, and did much woodworking in the first decade of my life, all replaced by a medical centre now, while the district looks of a mode entirely consistent with the orange bricks and stucco look of Leicester's estates, not seen elsewhere. Run out onto the Portwey - Tailby Avenue, plotted as part of the original outer ring road, but never completed between the A47 and A607, though it still sees a lot of traffic as it leads us to the lower edge of the Northfields estate, where the child-shaped bollards on Hastings Road, outside Merrydale Junior School, seem to have been designed to haunt your darkest nightmares.

Humberstone Grange, my favourite local dream house.

Wycombe Road, New Humberstone.

Terrifying Bollard, Hastings Road.

This has always been one of those useful sneak route across the town, useful for avoiding the A47 and its associated traffic problems, and it gives me the feeling that I might already be running out of viably different parts across East Leicester after only my third trip this way, but there's familiar sights along here, such as the fire station which we visited from school and the factory where a family friend worked and we went to literally every works open day. We have some lost railway interest along here, of course, as we meet the passage of GNR's branch to Leicester Belgrave Road from Marefield junction, mostly erased inside the city since closure in 1962, but the passage below the Midland Mainline is still obviously in place, along with the stub of the connecting chord which linked the two until 1969, though the odd survival is on the other side of the contemporary railway. It's been an enduring mystery as to why the bridge endures on Ulverscroft Road, passing over a void and only useful as a buttressing wall at the edge of the scrapyard beyond, still as active as it was in my youth, on the edge of the industrial district that still endures, though the Bostik factory has lost its distinctive cigar-shaped chimney, the road leading us to the Army Reserve barracks on the corner of Catherine Street, which has one of those unique pronunciations that is only obvious to locals (three syllables with a stressed long I sound). This area seems to lack a distinctive name, so I always called it Latimer ward, after its old nomenclature, but its familiar as a location with flat blocks named after artists and more than it's fair share of cash and carry's, which spread down to Dysart Way on the top edge of the St Matthew's estate, and along the Willow Brook to the Belgrave Road traffic island, which has lost its flyover since I last came this way. The former GNR station terminus used to be here, at the island's edge north of the brook, completely demolished and now partly occupied by the B&M store, whilst the car park used to cover the goods yard site, where there used to be a Sainsbury's store that was state of the art in the 80s and completely inadequate by the early 21st century, and here we pass over the A607 and onwards past the Wolsey factory. Pass over the Grand Union Canal and meet the edge of Abbey Park, and feel happy that the site of the Corporation Bus (and Tram!) depot is finally scheduled for development as part of the Wolsey Island scheme, as the site has lain fallow for far too long, left behind us on the far side of road as we set a path into Abbey Park itself, via the Park House gateway, the main entrance on the 'wrong' side of the park with regards the old city off to the south.

The GNR Leicester Branch passes under the Midland Mainline.

The GNR Bridge still carrying Ulverscroft Road.

The GNR's Leicester Belgrave Road station was here!

The Leicester Corporation tram & bus depot awaits redevelopment.

The formal park, on the eastern bank of the River Soar was laid out in 1882, as Leicester's first significant public park, home to the much-lamented former Music festival of my younger days and it's still thriving to this day, through the funfair set up at the moment is unlikely to be doing much business in this gross weather, and that passes into our wake as we follow the Victorian era perambulation paths to meet the riverside by the flood management basin, passing over the bridge that looks ancient but actually only dates to the 1926 expansion of the park to the western bank. This is where the ancient Leicester Abbey lay, famously the last resting place of Cardinal Wolsey, and still rather approximately laid out inside its ancient walls off to the north, but we'll be passing it and the Pavilion cafe to cut down the west bank of the Soar to pass the playing fields and that paddling pool from my distant youth to pass out of the park at its southern edge, through Abbot Penny's wall and under the A6 St Margaret's Way and into the vicinity of the old GCR line and its viaduct remnants over the Soar and in the traffic island on Abbeygate. Familiar territory from my last trip in Leicester, as is the passage through the commercial district along Ravensbridge Road, as the worst of the day's rain comes and goes, meeting Blackbird Road and the pub that it has named, and continue to Anstey Lane, which cuts its way through Abbey ward, where 1930 suburbia grew right up to the edge city without terraces having ever entered the landscape. It seems that there's a lot of tree surgery going in in these parts again, just like last year, as the suburban avenues look to have taken a severe shearing recently, confirmed as we meet the men armed with cherry-picker and saws as we pass English Martyrs RC school, and a few steps on, past the Gorse Hill urban farm, we can feel like we've already run out into the countryside, as green fields arrive on both sides of the road. Not that it doesn't still feel urban as the level of traffic feels pretty berserk, as Anstey Lane forms a rat run for city motorists wanting to make the shortest possible run to the A46 western bypass, so the roar of that continues as we pass by the fields and hedges that conceal the Beaumont Leys college and estate, as well as the extensive Gilroes cemetery site, from view before meeting the covered reservoir and the few house that predate the 1970s that sit by the edge of the A563 Glenfrith Way, the crossing of which marks our second passage over the Outer Ring Road for today, which sure makes the city of Leicester feel small after only 60% of today's distance has gone down.

Abbey Park, bridge, pavilion and Abbey precinct wall.

The GCR viaduct over the Soar, again.

Anstey Lane, with recent tree surgery.

Gorse Hill, with Gilrose cemetery and Beaumont Leys both well hidden.

Between the CAMHS Valentine centre, and the well concealed Beaumont Leys industrial district we get first sight of Old John, looming above Bradgate Park on the western horizon, a long time coming if we're being honest, whilst moving into Charnwood district and taking care to keep to the old road alignment of Anstey Lane as the new road swings south to meet the A46, re-encountering suburban spread as we roll down to pass under Leicester's western bypass. Meet the outer edge of Anstey pretty quickly, passing its knot of sports clubs and cursing the rain as it comes on again, before finding that Severn Trent have gotten the road up for emergency drain repairs and dodging the diggers and the unsecure alternative paths seems somewhat sketchy before we can alight on Leicester Road and set course for the fascinating ancient feature of the village that all local folk should know well. I speak of course of the Packhorse bridge, over Rothley Brook, five arches and 50+ feet long and dated with some certainty to at least the 17th century, it's a great companion to the one on Aylestone Meadows and worth detouring from the road to pass across before we meet the village centre, as busy as any suburban enclave around this city, while still maintaining its distinctiveness. We follow the familiar route towards Bradgate Park, as the less well known roads to Groby, Cropston and Thurcaston will have to wait for another day, pass the Hare & Hounds and St Mary's church to pass through the most picturesque corner of the village, where the URC still sits, familiar from various church-based trips into the wilds of Charnwood Forest from my distant youth, which might count among my earliest walking experiences. I've certainly taken this path before past the green around the pinfold below Green farm and Manor farm, untouched by the spread of suburbia, before hitting the incline of Bradgate Road towards the edge of the parkland that every Leicester citizen will have visited so many times, leaving the village in our wake as we run close to the perimeter, wishing we'd had a better day to look over the park and its hills. Nonetheless it gives us a fine elevated horizon that provides opportunities to test the telephoto lens to photograph the Old John Hill top before we run into the edge of Newtown Linford, where the parade of expensive suburban houses all seem to have been designed to give the best possible views over the park, and a pause or twelve has to be made to observe the grazing deer hidden in the rough pasture, and also to admire the tree stump that has been carved into a photo-realistic deer's head, which wasn't there when we had a morning's pre-festive exercise out here, last Christmas Eve.

The Packhorse Bridge, Anstey.

The Pinfold Green, Bradgate Road, Anstey.

Old John dominates Bradgate Park's horizon.

New Deer carving, Newtown Linford.

Touch base with the Bradgate Park entrance, its Tardis, and All Saint's church, the start of 2013's abortive trail and hopefully the beginning point for this year's long distance circular trip, before pressing on through the village, that would surely be super desirable if it wasn't so damnably expensive, giving us much to admire in its thatched cottages and buildings in the Charnwood forest style, passing the pub the Bradgate, and ponder the thought that there used to be more watering establishments out here in the past. At least we get sunshine appearing as we meet Markfield Lane, and the suburban ribbons at the roadside end for a while as pass Lane End Farm and Cooks farm shop, but don't get many dynamic views despite the rising road as old woodlands creep up to the roadside, illustrating why the National Forest was plotted to this corner of the county as an excess of additional planting doesn't really need to be done here. The suburban ribbon edge of Field Head is met soon enough, drawing us on to the pub and hotel complex that looks like a farm, the Field Head, naturally, taking a short detour to cross over the A50, the prime route north out of the city to the M1, before joining the bypassed section of Leicester Road, where Markfield's suburban spread has grown along its southern side, while still retaining a rural face on the northern edge up to the dual carriageway. Pace on, past the cemetery an up the half mile to meet the top of Main Street and the Queen's Head inn, where I bailed from the trail five years back on my tour of Charnwood Forest's peaks, and could end the day here now, but I recall having missed a local hill here back then, so aim to right that wrong by continuing along Ashby Lane to Hill Lane and tracking south to meet the path into the Hill Hole nature reserve, developed around a former quarry that has been out of use for more than century. That still presents an impressively deep and flooded pit, that the modern world really doesn't want you getting too close to, judging by the aggressive fencing, but we can pass through the bowl of the quarry to meet the rising path that leads up to the 207m trig point, where from the toposcope a fine view across the elevated hills of Charnwood Forest can be gotten, blessed by proper spring weather at last, as well as looking back the city, with the King Power stadium clear as day, and the impression that the highpoints of Worcestershire and Shropshire ought to be visible on a good day. Roll down, pleased with the conclusion to meet St Michael & All Angels church, passing the former board school and the village green to join Main Street again, passing Trinity Methodist church to conclude the day at 2.50pm at the southern end of the village this time, with the #29 bus not too distant away, thankfully run by the same company that will get me back to base in East Leicester, not nearly as far away as I'd thought it might be.

Newtown Linford does Desirable and Picturesque.

Forestry and Suburban Ribbons on the road to Field Head.

The Top of Main Street, Markfield.

Hill Hole Quarry, and nature reserve.

The 207m trig point, and the view to Bardon Hill

The Bottom of Main Street, Markfield.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3175.7 3179.7 miles
2018 Total: 67.2 miles
Up Country Total: 2887.9 2891.9 miles
Solo Total: ????.? 2900.7 miles

Miles in My 40s: 1773.5 miles

Next Up: After the seasons's weak start, April has to Mean Serious Business!
EDIT: Nope, the wheels are stuck and spinning again, explanation to follow.