Loughborough — Melton Mowbray
Loumel two
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By Hugh Hudson on 17 Sep 2022
Description
LOUMEL 1 is impossible to walk because there is no bridge over the River Soar at its crossing point. This route is a quieter alternative which is walkable - it does have some road sections but I have tried to minimise these and keep it reasonably direct. This route passes through the villages of Walton on the Wolds, Hoby and Frisby on the Wreake, all of which have pubs, and has a safe crossing of the A46 at Six Hills
LOUMEL 1 is impossible to walk because there is no bridge over the River Soar at its crossing point. This route is a quieter alternative which is walkable - it does have some road sections but I have tried to minimise these and keep it reasonably direct. This route passes through the villages of Walton on the Wolds, Hoby and Frisby on the Wreake, all of which have pubs, and has a safe crossing of the A46 at Six Hills
Status
This route has been reviewed by 2 people.
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Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 2
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (2)
There are currently no problems reported with this route.
Downloads - 1
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Loughborough
Grid Ref
SK5434520431
Lat / Lon
52.77876° / -1.19578°
Easting / Northing
454,345E / 320,431N
What3Words
lawn.surely.hips
Melton Mowbray
Grid Ref
SK7527519116
Lat / Lon
52.76443° / -0.88585°
Easting / Northing
475,275E / 319,116N
What3Words
liner.pulse.libraries
Loughborough | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | SK5434520431 |
Lat / Lon | 52.77876° / -1.19578° |
Easting / Northing | 454,345E / 320,431N |
What3Words | lawn.surely.hips |
Melton Mowbray | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | SK7527519116 |
Lat / Lon | 52.76443° / -0.88585° |
Easting / Northing | 475,275E / 319,116N |
What3Words | liner.pulse.libraries |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Ken
05 Sep 2024A most enjoyable walk through the River Wreake valley between the Pork Pie and Stilton town of Melton to the crossing of the Roman Fosse Way at Six Hills. The western half has some pleasant parts and fine views as we climb away from the valley. Pubs in most villages but no shops, stiles and cattle plus some road walking which I feel spoils an otherwise excellent walk on well maintained paths.
I set out from Melton on a fine dry day with sunny intervals. The Market Place which has seats would offer a better meeting place. We dive down an allyway opposite passing the office of the Town Estate owners of much land here which includes the park that we enter. Lock gates remind us of the Melton and Oakham canals that were early victims of the railway era. A safe road crossing leads to the river path and we are soon into countryside although in the near future houses will dominate the river bank and spoil the open view of others.
We pass under a footbridge on the footprint of the former Joint Line which once offered a scenic, if indirect journey through High Leicestershire. The next bridge was the Nottingham to London line which is now used as a test track and recently had London tube trains running back and forth.
A twisting route takes us over the old canal and river at Rhubarb Island and our first level railway crossing. This one has lights to say when it’s safe to cross. The former garden centre is now housing but the plotting remains accurate. We don’t really join the road, diving back briefly into rough countryside.
The route then uses a well maintained, mown path to the rear of the Samworth sandwich factory, it’s staggering to imagine how many sandwiches a factory of this size can produce. Spotters are out to capture pictures of new engine along the rail line after testing on the aforesaid test line. I failed to see it so any pictures will have to be found online elsewhere.
On the approach to Kirby Bellars the fields offer interesting humps and hollows. No services in the village as the inn is on the main road. More grass fields follow so cattle possible. A sign on the door of the shop offered very limited opening but The Bell does do breakfast Friday and Saturday.
A tight fitting kissing gate gives access to more pasture some now having horses. The short cut from the Leicestershire Road was no issue and well used. The level rail crossing here has no assistance lights. There are many level crossing along this line a feature that causes numerous toots from the train horn.
The final approach to Hoby between the cottages is identified by a tarmac surface and comes out alongside the village hall. An inn here but no shop or seats seen. I was perhaps lucky with timing for the next stretch as the crop had been harvested but there were signs that the field edge path is walked. The road here may be an alternative.
Ragdale offers no services and the Health Farm / Resort does not welcome none residents. The Durham Ox at Six Hills is long gone. All a shame as this is half way. The field paths remain in good order and easy to follow.
An easy crossing of the busy Fosse Way but then road walking which after the field paths I found unpleasant. The verge was not walkable although available to step onto but the endless traffic made this a chore, weekdays may also add lorries. I was relived to escape onto the bridleway.
The dead end road was easy and pleasant walking. I frequently find on such roads that the only vehicle to pass is the post van, twice, today I was not disappointed. Walton on the Wolds offered a seat at the entrance and another in the village. I didn’t investigate the church or inn.
More field walking on used paths or headlands. The Natural Burial Ground offers seats just off route, I’m sure residents wont object if we use them. The access track was easier to follow than the right of way to Loughborough Road.
More road walking with poor verges and in places just a faint ancient footway now almost vanished in the vegetation. A welcome pavement on the A60 offers a false hope of safety because the path is narrow and hedges overgrown. The Highway Code doesn’t help (Rule 163 .....allowing at least 2 metres (6.5 feet) of space and keeping to a low speed when passing people walking in the road (for example, where there’s no pavement) because there is a pavement so does the two metre rule apply? It certainly does on the final approach with no pavement or verge only a solid brick wall between me and traffic reluctant to give an inch. I did not enjoy this part of the walk and would not do it again by choice.
I would happily walk again along the delightful paths between Melton and Six Hills but from there we need a better route, which will inevitably be longer but safer. I’ll end as I started. A most enjoyable walk through the River Wreake valley between the Pork Pie and Stilton town of Melton to the crossing of the Roman Fosse Way at Six Hills.
Hugh Hudson
17 Sep 2022 (edited 18 Sep 2022)This is quite a long challenging walk, and is not suitable for any form of wheeled transport because much of it is on unsurfaced field paths with stiles. I walked it from Melton Mowbray to Loughborough, so in reverse, and found it very enjoyable, but having walked it I made a further change to the part east of Walton on the Wolds - I used the footpath but decided it had too many awkward stiles, and since there is an easy alternative remaining on the very quiet Six Hills Road, I used that in the submitted version.
I will describe the route east to west, since that is the direction that I walked.
From the Melton meeting place, take Park Lane down to the park and follow the path round the edge of the part to a bridge, which we cross and head up to Dalby Road. Use the pelican crossings to cross Dalby Road and Leicester Road and take the path along the Navigation just before the bridge. This path along the Navigation and the river Eye is unsurfaced but easy to follow.
Just beyond the railway bridge we follow the path across a footbridge onto Rhubarb Island (a name to conjure with) and follow the right of way path over two more bridges and a level crossing to Badger Avenue, a fairly new housing estate. Walk east along the avenue to the signposted path up to the A607, leaving it right before the main road is reached.
The next section is a little up and down and overgrown, but the path is well waymarked and easy to follow. The path passes between the railway and a garden centre and emerges onto open fields, and leads easily (not without a few stiles) to Kirby Bellars, where we turn right and follow another open field path left just before the railway which takes us to Frisby on the Wreake, where there is a shop and a pub.
At the T-junction near the east end of the village take the Leicestershire Round path straight on, and follow the path, which disappears in places as it crosses grazing fields. After running parallel to Rotherby Lane for a while we come to a decision point. I chose to take the direct path across to Hoby, which is a little overgrown and actually forks right from the Leicestershire Round path about 50 meters beyond the junction, or you could stay on the Leicestershire Round as far as Hoby, which is slightly further. A level crossing (no lights, so take care) takes us over the railway, and a field path crosses the Wreake and a grazing field and climbs up into Hoby. The shortcut path up from Back Lane could easily be mistaken for a garden path as it is not labelled, but follow it up between the houses to Chapel Lane.
Our route goes right (east) past the pub and follows Chapel Lane to its end. From here a succession of fields takes us up a gently rising hill to Ragdale. Note that since the fields have been harvested this is easy in mid-September, but I can't vouch for the quality of the path when the crops are high. In Ragdale we turn left up Main Street, and at the last house we follow the signed path right - this takes a direct and usually well cut line across to the Six Hills junction.
The footpath across the wood beyond the A46 slip road has steps and is probably not worth using, so my preference is to stay on the verges. Beyond the bridge under the A46 we turn left onto Paudy Lane, signposted Barrow upon Soar and Seagrave. This road has no pavement but does have a verge which can be used as necessary if the oncoming cars are too fast.
Just beyond Walton Thorns farm we take a signposted path through a gate, following a wide grassy strip along the edge of the field then left through another gate onto the unsurfaced part of Six Hills Road.
After half a kilometer there is a choice - when I walked the route I took the field path right, but it has a lot of stiles, some of them rather awkward due to overgrown hedges, and when I walked it there was also a field of frisky bullocks, and on balance it is probably better to stay on Six Hills Road, which is very quiet as it is a dead end which only serves a few farms and houses.
This leads easily down into Walton on the Wolds, where we pass another pub, following Loughborough Road out of the village to a path that leads right along the edge of a field to a footbridge over Walton Brook, where we follow a well cut field path (which is actually neither the right of way nor the path shown on OpenStreetMap but is in between. Go straight on up the hill at Barrow Road and turn left at the end of the field, emerging on Nottingham Road, which we follow right.
A signposted path turns left and follows field boundaries round to a natural burial ground. The right of way eventually leaves the burial ground track to cut through the wood towards farm buildings, and we follow the farm track past Burton Bandalls farm up to the B676. There is a narrow but overgrown pavement along the north side of this road, but it is probably easier to walk on the road as far as the footpath sign, where we leave the road for a while to follow the field edge parallel to it. The west end of this path is a little overgrown. Take care on the next part up to the A60 junction, where there is no pavement and some cars are fast.
The A60 has a pavement on the north side throughout apart from a short bridge over Hermitage Brook, but there are a few places where brambles and other overgrown plants force you onto the road. Since this is a long route with plenty of other obstacles which make it only really suitable for fit walkers, I have no problem recommending using the shortcut steps that lead straight down from the railway bridge into the station car park which is the Loughborough meeting point.
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Hugh Hudson
05 Sep 2024Thanks Ken. If you can think of a better route I'd be happy to test it.
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