Monday, 4 August 2008

The Leicestershire Round Leg 2 - Saddington to Thorpe Langton


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As it's the school holidays, Jon was happy to drop me off at Saddington so that I could walk one-way rather than 'there-and-back'. I checked the 1:25000 map to see how this would change my plans. Instead of turning round at Gumley or Foxton, I could now head for the Langtons.

I set off at 1015 from the car park of The Queen's Head in Saddington, took a picture of the tiny Baptist Chapel, then walked south-east down to Saddington Brook. Then it was uphill to the top of Smeeton Hill and up again into Gumley. Last night I discovered that Gumley is reputed to be the site of King Arthur's Camelot. That's quite a claim. It's certainly a charming little place, very quiet on a Monday lunchtime. There's a pub in Gumley where I was once asked if the food I was ordering was part of the Pensioner's Special! I wondered about heading in for a pint but decided it was too early and that it would be hard to stick to a half-pint. I knew that Foxton had pubs and, provided they were open, Foxton would make a good lunch-time stop.

The fields east of Gumley were very pretty, the ripe wheat swaying in the breeze. The LR footpath crosses the Grand Union Canal at a peculiar pedestrian bridge and follows the towpath towards the canal basin. I met some other casual walkers who told me that the pub at the basin was reasonable but that the pubs in the village serve better food. This sounded good. I turned off the towpath and approached the pub next to the church. The landlord was in the car park and told me it was shut. So I set off and did a walking tour of Foxton, discovering that the only other pub, The Shoulder of Mutton, was also closed on Monday lunchtimes. I realise that Monday is one of the worst days in the week to take as a day off, if you're looking for a pub lunch. I was now hungry.

I stood on the canal towpath and opened the packet of mixed nuts and raisins that I bought from Sainsbury's for last week's walk. I had reasoned that they would be a nutritious lightweight snack. I checked the packet. Sure enough, the quarter of the packet that I munched supplied 250 calories.

It was now 1225. I should be able to reach East Langton by 1400. But would the pub there be open? I doubted it very much and decided that last week I had been lucky. I should expect to be eating what I carried.

I noticed that this part of the walk is about as south as the Leicestershire Round goes.

Just over a mile from Foxton, I saw a large roadsign from the fields. "Services". Only when I reached the road did I realise that the sign was at the very familiar junction of the A6 and the B6047, where there is a MacDonalds. I'm not a big fan of the golden arches but 'any port in a storm', as they say. I walked across the roundabout and realised that the traffic was moving at a much higher speed than I'd expected. I certainly wouldn't want to do much walking along fast A roads.

I ordered the special deli of the day, a chicken salad sandwich and diet coke. With the free wifi I logged into MSN Messenger and chatted with Phil.
 
After a half-hour lunch, at 1345, I walked north to East Langton. I could see rain in the near distance and having cooled down in MacDonalds, I decided to put my coat on in preparation. I thought that if I got even slightly wet hoping that the rain wouldn't be sustained, it would be very uncomfortable to put on a coat. Sure enough the rain fell, though fairly gently and only for a few minutes.

In East Langton, I didn't see a soul and, as expected, the splendid looking pub was closed. I called Jon and arranged to meet him in Thorpe Langton. The footpath turned down the side of a house, clearly marked with yellow pegs, but very overgrown. It was then clear that the path ran across the garden of the house. No matter, I could see the yellow markers and the stile into the next field. Then I was set upon by a furious Jack Russell. As I backed towards the stile he was joined by another. I didn't want to shout aggressively in case the owner was in the garden, so I just tried to make my exit as soon as I could. I pulled a muscle in my neck as I hastily climbed the stile, with one of the dogs just managing to tug at my trouser leg.

The twists and turns - and the vicious dogs - in East Langton seemed to have delayed me more than I thought, so by the time I reached Jon in the car park of the (closed) pub in Thorpe Langton, he'd been waiting a while.

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