This route has a very pleasant path with great northward views but it’s trapped between long sections of road walking. Cattle and stiles grass and crops, paths not well used perhaps because of road walking to access them. I did search for the plotted old road route but no sign of it so go up to the lights. The road is not unpleasant to walk along but does need care and after turning at the cross roads there was once a pavement but it’s long since that it was maintained and it’s also overgrown in places which forced me to cross the road to walk facing oncoming traffic....

Ken

A byway (little more than a footpath) leads us uphill through another wood to a clearing with a large granite outcrop, where a little path left takes us down to the footpath. Eventually we reach the edge of a field and turn sharp right, then left across three fields on a well marked footpath to Oaks Road. We then follow a footpath right uphill and left through fields with a couple of stiles to reach the entrance road of Mount St Bernards Abbey - even if not using the facilities Ken mentions it is worth a detour to see the church. We follow the access road back to Oaks Road and go right a short distance (both verges are walkable) to the signposted footpath to Shepshed via Blackbrook Reservoir. A short stretch through a grassy field takes us to the edge of the reservoir, where another fenced muddy path takes us right to the wider and better surfaced track that crosses the reservoir on a causeway/bridge and continues to Charley Road....

Hugh Hudson

Beyond the houses we turn right again and follow a roughly surfaced lane out to Hill Lane, which has a pavement on the far side. We cross and turn right, then go left and right at Ashby Road to continue up Whitwick Road. We cross Copt Oak Road (the shortcut across the junction doesn'r seem to work but in any case it is easier to cross at the traffic lights), We cross the M1 bridge and immediately turn right on a signposted footpath. At Ashby Road West we turn right for a few meters, cross and turn left across a field and through a wood, another field and over an old railway to Rockingham Close....

Hugh Hudson

If cycling be aware that the path from just after Garedon Park to the bridge over the M1 (outside Shepshed) is quite gravelly so care needs to be taken....

Ignatius the Slow

I agree with Ken that it might have been more sensible to plot the route through Belton so that it passes the pub and the shop, but the line along Presents Lane and School Lane is easy and we are soon out in the fields. I lost concentration here, missed a turn and went almost a mile along the footpath that continues to the west, but the mistake was soon corrected and it was easy enough the get back to the right route using a shortcut path. Where the path turns right to head up to School Lane, I struggled to find the way into the field - there are gates but these were securely tied with string, so I explored around the corner and found what appeared to be a better gate, but failed to spot the low barbed wire fence beyond it and it tripped me up. No serious damage done, the rest of the path to School Lane is fine. We use the shortcut path to cut the corner on the way down, which is steep and does not follow the right of way line into the quarry!...

Hugh Hudson

We go straight on through the Market Place then left up Chapel Street and right along the edge of the village along Oakley Road, past a park and straight on where the road becomes a farm track. Beyond the road we go straight on across another field to New Brickyard Lane, then straight on along London Road, east on Whatton Road (a short section lacks a pavement) then up an alleyway that leads to the meeting point in the Market Place....

Hugh Hudson

Starting at Loughborough station, we cross the car park and walk along Nottingham Road to the canal, where we descend steep steps to reach the towpath. In normal circumstances the canal is a good route, as long as no shops are needed, but untoftunately a fairly long section from Nottingham Road to the bridge on Canal Bank was temporarily closed....

Hugh Hudson

Using sections of a cycle route, then following the Black Brook before a short section of pavement walking and using the canal towpath to reach Loughborough rail station. I guess that turning right on the cycle route would offer a step free link from Shepshed to Loughborough. Meeting Black Brook cross over Stonebow Bridge and take the footpath on the north bank....

Ken

There is a mix of well walked and lesser used paths plus a section cycle route along a quiet lane. Beyond here most other walkers have found an alternative route and we are left to follow the plot on invisible paths across large fields but clues are found along the way so don't despair. Here the plot misses a trick and ignores the inn and convenience store in sight but just off route, it could go via the church and Market Place. From here it's a cycle route which on my map looked to be an unmade lane but is now a good surface so it does attract some traffic....

Ken

Mount Saint Bernard Abbey offers loos and benches about half way. Exit this by an enclosed path followed by a short section of road with no pavement but a verge if required. Take a detour of 400 metres left here to a tea shop or right and along the Abbey approach road, no entry after 7pm. The exit route offers good views north, stiles on the path can be avoided as a visit to the Abbey is a detour which you could miss using the road. This leads to a massive bridge over a not too busy road before a section on the pavement alongside a busy road into the former mining town that gave it a name....

Ken

A walk of three parts, to Long Whatton excellent walk no stiles. South of Long Whatton a mix of stiles and gates then narrow fenced and a bit overgrown south of Mitchell's Spring Farm, keep to the footpath at the mast, not the track....

Ken