Marmou one

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Walked from Mountsorrel to Markfield. Mostly enjoyable, a bit wet in places and some verge walking. The highlight is the walk through Bradgate Park, which is very popular, and most of the rest is on good paths or verges and pavements.

The route out of Mountsorrel could be shortened easily, either by using the Castle Hill path or the path that goes up right of the church, but in any case the Leicestershire Round path is reached quickly enough. The Round would offer a good alternative for most of the route, but it does take a longer route via Woodhouse Eaves. The cost of avoiding that is a fairly long section of road walking. The first part along Bond Lane and Wood Lane has no pavement, but there is plenty of verge to escape onto if necessary. Swithland Lane has a pavement on the east side, but The Ridings doesn't, though again there is plenty of verge.

Having passed Swithland church we take the signposted bridleway and follow it across Cropston Lane, turning left after the first field beyond Cropston Leys. I didn't investigate the shortcut path just before Bradgate Lane which looks slightly shorter than staying on the bridlepath. There is also an option to take the path left around the Bradgate Park car park rather than walking through it (the car park has a toilet building a short distance off route).

The walk through Bradgate Park is entirely on a wide tarmac lane, there is a little traffic but access is restricted so there is no safety issue. The walk has a variety of scenery and the deer are tame enough to come quite close to the paths. There is also a cafe near the south end of Cropston reservoir, and plenty more once you emerge into Newtown Linford, as well as a couple of pubs.

It is best to cross to the south side of Main Street well before the junction with Markfield Lane. Markfield Lane has a pavement on the south side. The Leicestershire Round path starts beyond the locked farm gate, from which the sign is hidden by the hedge, and crosses a field where there may be cows before entering the woods. It is mostly well waymarked, but there are a few stiles and wet or muddy sections.

I am not convinced that using the Round west of John's Lee Wood is the best or easiest route into Markfield - there is a more direct route that involves crossing the A50 on pelican crossings (see Marlou two). The Round route is more scenic, but the section immediately east of the A50 underpass can be wet, muddy and sometimes overgrown (this was not a problem for me, as the growth had been cut back very recently). The right of way path involves a section on the wide verge of the A50, but a better used unofficial path crosses a wooded section of access land.

Beyond the underpass the route is fenced in, and goes further east than the right of way, but the Markfield meeting point should be reached easily enough with no further issues.

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