Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.
This morning I met up with Mick and Chris to do a cracking 8 mile circular walk beginning along a ridge overlooking the Vale of Belvoir, passing through Branston, Knipton and then past the Belvoir Castle estate back to the start.
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I awoke this morning to a lovely sunrise – it was going to be a sunny day!
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It was a chilly start and the ground was frozen solid as we set off on a good tree lined path along the ridge.
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Looking to our right we could see way across the Vale and point out distant land marks.
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Leaving the ridge we turned onto a deeply rutted track (Toft’s Lane ) and followed this to pick up the Jubilee Way for a short distance. The sun was shining and there were great views to take in.
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Chris and Mick were pointing out various species of birds along the way, of which there were many – red kites, buzzards in particular wheeling, gliding and soaring majestically in the clear blue sky. The crunchy cracking of the ice in puddles as we walked along accompanied us.
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At the end of the farm track we turned right onto the road to walk up a moderate hill into Branston where we entered a farm and passed through a field of sheep going down a hill and over a rickety/icy bridge followed by a steep climb up out of the valley.
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This brought us to a field where we caught glimpses of Knipton Reservoir as we followed the clear path across.
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Exiting the field brought us on to a road that had very little traffic. This would take us towards Knipton village. The road was white with frost so care was needed when placing your feet.
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We caught another glimpse of the reservoir along the road.
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Myself and Mick have done this walk many times and tradition dictates that we stop at the village Post Office and buy a hot drink and maybe some snacks. We then sit on a bench adjacent to the lovely babbling brook and enjoy our purchases. Today, we both chose a hot Bovril and it went down very well I can tell you!.
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Suitably refreshed we followed the road out of Knipton towards Belvoir castle soaking up more nice frost filled views.
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I think we were probably aware that the weather is changing back to wet and windy over the weekend so it was nice to enjoy the sunny weather today. Soon we were back on the ridge and heading for the cars.
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We all had enjoyed the walk and particularly being the in fresh air and the sunshine. The miles had passed very quickly with the chat speeding us along.
Till my next walk,
Happy Walking 😊!