Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today, the Three Amigos walked another section of the Leicestershire Round. Starting at Foxton, we passed through Gumley, Saddington, Shearsby before finishing in Bruntingthorpe – it was a distance of 9 undulating miles. We had blue skies and lovely scenery along the way.

Leaving the house this morning there was a thick mist enveloping everywhere and it was a chilly 2 deg C. Not an auspicious start. When we parked at Bruntingthorpe we all agreed that it had been a nightmare drive getting there. We took a car back to the start, parking in Foxton. Thankfully, the mist had cleared.

It was a short walk to the Grand Union Canal and Foxton Locks – a flight of 10 locks that raises boats 75ft up the hill. It was built in 1810.

Walking down the towpath to the Locks we watched a boat pass through a swing bridge – the bridge looked easy to move.

Crossing a bridge across the canal we arrived at the bottom of the locks and proceeded to wander uphill.

A boat was in the final lock having travelled up. We asked the skipper had he used this flight of locks before and were somewhat surprised when he said its his first time on a canal boat!

Leaving the locks we had a short walk along the towpath before heading uphill to the village of Gumley. We passed beside St Helens Church.

Leaving Gumley we passed a magnificent copper beech tree standing proudly- it was quite striking. We were headed for Saddington.

We passed through fields containing unusual coloured sheep – mottled brown and white. I wonder what breed they are?

To our left was Saddington reservoir and dam – built in the 1790’s to feed the canal. The reservoir is fed by Laughton brook.

We crossed three footbridges over streams including Laughton brook and the canal feeder, before climbing uphill to the village of Saddington.

The next part of our route was pretty naff it has to be said. The route lies on a new housing development at Fleckney. As we were arriving Chris quite rightly said that the footpath sign pointed left, although the map was saying the route was straight ahead. We followed the map and the route turned out to be closed – the route had been diverted but no diversion sign was at the point of entry into the estate. Most annoying. Chris pointed out ‘that he did say’ 😊

Obviously the housing development is new and maybe the Leicestershire Round will be modified at some point to avoid walking into a housing estate. Every cloud has a silver lining so on the estate we found a bench and had a break. I was ready for my scotch egg.

Delighted to be leaving the housing estate we headed off for Shearsby. A rut filled journey brought us to the lovely village of Shearsby. After the nightmare at Fleckney it was a delight to arrive.

Easy walking brought us past an oil seed rape field with its vibrant yellow flowers just starting to blossom. You don’t see as much yellow in the fields as you did a few years ago.

Finally, we arrived into Bruntingthorpe, the end of our walk for today. It had been a lovely walk apart from the minor housing estate debacle.

There was a fair bit of up so a reminder that Leicestershire is definitely not a flat county!

Hopefully, next week we will do another leg – Bruntingthorpe to Frolesworth -we finished today with two miles left to reach Peatling Magna.

Happy Walking ! 😊🚶