Keymel three

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Walked from Keyworth to Melton Mowbray on a mostly fine winter day after a lot of rainy days. No major show stoppers, but it is quite a tough walk with quite a lot of rough and slippery ground, awkward stiles and places where the correct lines across fields are not well marked. Overall I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who can handle the more challenging sections.

The route from Keyworth to Wysall is shared with LOUKEY 2. From the Keyworth meeting point we head west up Church Drive, take the path left beyond the school field that leads to the park and Elm Avenue, then follow Selby Lane and Main Street, going straight on down Lings Lane where the road turns right and becomes Wysall Lane. Just before the bridleway forks, follow the footpath sign right past a pool and through a series of fields and across Fairham Brook and a rather curious overgrown old lane to reach Wysall through Tuckwood Court.

We turn right onto Widmerpool Road, and take the footpath lwft past a building site (note that this path is now further west than the right of way line on the OS map). This leads past a garden and a field to a T junction of paths where we go left. The field path is not always marked on the ground, but navigation is not difficult. It crosses Kingston Brook and takes a shortcut over a small hill, then crosses the brook again to join the path from Widmerpool. We continue alongside the brook across more fields and stiles, and eventually cross a large field upwards to the left to reach West Thorpe, where we go left a short distance and take the field path right that leads to Willoughby Church (part of this path was under several inches of unavoidable water when I walked it). The bridge across the brook has a few steps. Beyond the churchyard we follow Church Lane right then left to pick up a surfaced path that leads to another Church Lane. Our route takes another surfaced field path, the main branch of which heads left to a park - our route goes down a narrow slightly overgrown older path from the corner. We turn right at Widmerpool Lane and left along Main Street, which we follow around a long right turn to find the signposted bridlepath along Bryans Lane. Our path soon leaves the bridleway to head right over a rather dilapidated stile and another small field to a large field (usually full of sheep in summer) which we cross diagonally to join Back Lane. This road has no pavement but does have wide carriageways and verges, so I had no safety concerns about walking on it. We take the right branch over the A46 bridge.

On the far side, we pass a go-karting centre and continue along Station Road. The path right has no fingerpost and the small footpath marker could easily be missed. The path crosses fields on a fairly well marked line, but the final field before Nottingham Lane has a couple of challenges - the right of way line crosses a drainage ditch on a small plank bridge but the exit from the field is slightly further south/uphill than the OS map would suggest, and involves a slightly awkward overgrown stile. We head right up the hill, then left along Longcliff Hill and right down Debdale Hill, a gated road that leads steeply down into Old Dalby to emerge at the Crown Inn.

Our route takes a surfaced path right just before the inn which passes the pub garden and emerges on Chapel Lane. We turn left and follow the lane to the junction with Main Road (noting the bench and village sign. We continue a short distance along Main Road and turn right onto a narrow path between garden fences that reaches Paradise Lane down a short flight of steps. We go left and find the field path right and crosses fields to join a track that leads up the hill. The OS map suggests that the right of way deviates from this track in places but it is easier just to stay on it all the way up to Six Hills Lane.

Here we go left a short distance then follow the footpath right. This stays on the east side of the hedge and crosses a gate tied with string. Our route follows a line of trees into a wood, where the path is fairly clear but does not take the straight line suggested by the right of way line - it does follow the black footpath on the OS map around the edge of the wood (in one place a partly fallen tree creates a chest high obstacle that taller walkers may find awkward. On emerging from the wood we cross the field and take the path that goes through the garden on the right hand side of the farmhouse to join the lane. A short distance further we take the signposted path right which follows the edges of fields. The final field is awkward - a large clayfield which has no marked line across it in winter (I have done this path at other times of year and there is sometimes a more visible line). Other walkers seem to have followed the right hand edge of the field all the way round, which adds distance. One way or another, you should emerge at the corner of Ostler Lane just to the right of the house. We follow the lane right to the T junction in Saxelbye, where we turn left and follow the road out of the village to another T junction where we go left again onto Saxelby Road. Beyond the first set of farm buildings the signposted bridleway goes right, then crosses more clayfields to emerge on a semi-surfaced road which emerges on the road opposite the electric substation (or subtation according to the sign).

We go left a short distance then right down Welby Lane, which is narrow and has no pavement but is fairly quiet. This emerges at a T junction by the industrial estate where we cross and follow the pavement left up the hill. Our route takes the shortest road route into Melton, but this involves two roads that lack pavements (anyone nervous about this may prefer the less direct line staying on St Bartholomews Way). We follow Welby Lane right and then left, noting the private path reserved for MoD personnel that runs parallel to the road. Beyond the junction with James Lambert Drive there is a pavement on the left (north) side of our road. Lower down we cross to the right hand side and follow this down to Nottingham Road, which can be crossed on a pelican crossing just right/south of Welby Lane. We follow Nottingham Road as far as the junction with Norman Way, which is crossed on three more pelican crossings, some of which are slow to respond. Beyond this crossing the route down through the market place is obvious.

Overall I enjoyed this walk, but it is not one to be undertaken lightly as it is quite long and is definitely not suitable for any wheeled transport or for anyone who has trouble with constrained stiles. In my opinion it is still the best of the three KEYMEL routes and it is difficult to see how it could be improved much.

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