Today’s earworm is one that I chose. I know that’s not how earworms are meant to work, but, well, tough. It will become clear, and does make sense, I promise.
My spirits were lifted almost as soon as I set off in the car to the start point. It was the first time that my sat nav application has recommended going west around Leicester rather than east – I pivotal moment, I felt. It also meant that I didn’t have to deal with the roadworks a mile or so from home going east. So, I made my way up the M1 and the A46 to Hoby, to The Blue Bell Inn, and parked up.
After leaving Hoby, going through a very picturesque disused mill, I came to Rearsby. This was where I recall we stopped for lunch when I walked this section with the Scouts. A gorgeous little village with a ford at its centre – a point at which I’d stop on the return journey. Now, here is where things went slightly wrong. I made the error of making an assumption and not using my compass, and I paid for it by walking about a mile out of my way. In fact, my error was so great, I later realised I’d all but double backed on myself.
When I was going in the right direction, I passed through another picturesque disused mill, but one with more signage encouraging walkers not to stray from the path or loiter in any way shape or form. Then from there over the A46. This was a challenge. It brought back memories of when I walked this with the Scouts – the horror of attempting to get three 11-13 year olds across a road where the traffic is travelling at speeds of seventy miles per hour and possibly over is something that is emblazoned on my brain forever more. But, I crossed without incident (as we did with the Scouts, just so you know).
After the A46 there was the long walk along the track behind Ratcliffe College, which turns into a road, which turns into another track, which turns into Blackberry Lane, which takes you all but into Cossington. Cossington is another very attractive village, and, as with Rearsby, the Round goes right through the centre. From there, it heads through Cossington Meadows and along the River Soar to Sileby Boat Yard. This is where I ended up stopping for lunch. This was because of another navigational problem, this time not of my own making. The options for getting to Mountsorrel from my position were either to cross the A6 (not something I overly wanted to do) or fight through what was effectively a hedge to get to the underpass under the A6. As I remember, we had great difficulty finding the official Leicestershire Round path out of Mountsorrel last time, so I’d imagine it doesn’t get a lot of use.
The main difference with yesterday came after the halfway point though, and was the reason I was a lot more chipper when I finished. I put my iPod on and listened to music on the return journey. I think the problem with the previous days has been that I’ve had nothing but my own gloomy thoughts to listen to while walking back to the start point. I’ve felt tired, got gloomy and then because I’ve got nothing else to focus on, I focused on feeling tired and being in pain. Listening to music, I had something else to focus on. I still had the pain, but I was distracted – Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd was just finishing as I came into Hoby, so the climax of Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast coincided with my arrival at the pub, which was wonderful. I also met some very pleasant people along the walk – one group gave me a fiver in sponsorship.
Tomorrow then sees me going over the halfway stage.
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