Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today myself and Mick did our second leg of the Leicestershire Round – Mountsorrel to Hoby-10 miles. It was a really lovely walk, taking in the river Soar and some beautiful villages along the way. The walk started and finished in sunshine, and in between, we had heavy rain. It was a chilly day with a cold north wind blowing.

Having parked our cars at either end of the walk we set off from The Buttercross in Mountsorrel.

We passed a replica of the 15th century market cross.

Following the Sileby road we reached the Waterside Inn and then took the towpath along the river. I was admiring the narrow boats that were moored up- it would be nice to win the lottery!

Passing under the A6 then by a weir and crossing a bridge we headed for Sileby marina. I was enjoying walking by water, I don’t know what it is but it is just nice.

At Sileby Marina we saw a great little weir that was very bubbly – I wondered if this was a way of oxygenating the water by creating turbulence?

Leaving the Marina we headed towards Cossington Meadows – a nature reserve created from old gravel pits. I spotted a narrow boat with a lovely display of flowers on its roof.

Passing through Cossington village our route took us past Ratcliffe College, a co-ed Catholic public school. It started to rain. We crossed the school playing fields and arrived at the A46 dual carriageway. It took a while getting across because it is very busy and the cars/lorries were travelling at 70mph. Eventually there was a gap in the traffic and I was glad to get across safely.

The rain was persisting down (light showers according to the weather forecast – you could have fooled me!). Sheep were sheltering under the trees – sensible animals.

Our boots got very muddy crossing one of the fields but soon cleared crossing grassy fields. We saw some white cows which I thought were quite rare in these parts.

We came to Rearsby Mill and had to decide whether the path took us up the front drive of this beautiful large house – it did, but as there were no signs I couldn’t help worrying that some irate owner would come out and berate us for trespassing.

Further along we crossed a mainline railway line which we thought was unusual for its traffic light system for crossing.

We arrived into Rearsby and I was delighted to see a wonderful example of a packhorse bridge, which was built in 1741.

The bridge is listed as an ancient monument. According to village records it was built by six men in nine days at a cost of just over £11. Fifteen loads of stone and 21 quarters of lime were used in its construction.

The heavy rain started again so we sheltered under some trees leading to church. The rain eased slightly so we set off passing the church of St Michael and All Angels.

Annoyingly, we missed our turn in Rearsby because the sign was buried in shrubbery. A sixth sense told me to check the GPS so we didn’t go too far adrift – funny how you sense things.

We crossed a field containing a now wet crop and we both got very wet legs/feet from it.

Fortunately, the sun made an appearance and helped dry us out slightly as we made our way to Hoby, our destination.

We made a note of where to resume our next leg of the Leicestershire Round- Hoby to Thorpe Satchville, hopefully next week.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶‍♂️