It's been a while. Soggy ground, a new kitchen, a rugby trip to Clermont Ferrand and Christmas all conspired to stop us going away. However, armed with 2 brand new front tyres, we have finally managed to get away and tick off another county in the UK. The Camping Club Site at Conkers in Leicestershire it was then - but only just. Another 200m and we would have tripped over Derbyshire so wouldn't be able to claim Leicestershire as one of the counties in the UK where we have spent at least a night in the van. Not a bad site, clean and well laid out, but as ever the Camping Club seem more eager to invest in glamping tents/pods than they do in renovating their tired and dated shower and toilet blocks. Clean they may be, but a tiny shower cubicle closed off with a tatty cold shower curtain is not what you expect for the fees they charge. Anyway……
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| Camping and Caravanning Club Site |
On Tuesday we arrived in good time and had a quick 5 mile walk around the area to orientate ourselves. First impressions were that the area of the National Forest is nice, but there is still an awful lot of housing and not particularly attractive villages. At least there were plenty of pavements to walk along.
The following day we walked to Ashby-de-la-Zouch (11.5 miles), which is a fairly alright sort of place. Unfortunately the castle, famous for being featured in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, was closed. The town certainly makes the most of the Ivanhoe connection, desperately clinging to any chance of fame with Ivanhoe College, The Ivanhoe Way, Ivanhoe Football Club, Ivanhoe Hair studio etc etc. I'm sure Ivanhoe wouldn't have thought that leaving a trail of various piles of dog poo on the muddy track to the Castle was a particularly chivalrous thing for the locals to do though. Avoiding the ubiquitous Wetherspoons, we did enjoy a very nice lunch in the Bulls Head. What a nice place! Built in 1598 with Timber framed walls and ceilings and a lovely atmosphere - and a lovely pie and pint to match!
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| Ashby de la Zouch castle |
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| Ashby de la Zouch |
On Thursday, after a very cold and frosty start, we thought we'd have a shorter walk (8.5 miles) into Swadlingcote, which sounds much nicer than it actually is. The route took us up a long, long hill through some pretty uninspiring housing. The Wetherspoons in town was packed, and awful, so we stopped for a coffee and cake in a little tearooms before heading back as swiftly as we could.
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| Swadlingcote |
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Albert Lake
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On Friday morning we left Leicestershire, pleased that we'd bagged it, and probably in no rush to hurry back.
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| Counties where we have spent at least 1 night |
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