Vale of Belvoir Ramblers: May 2024

From the Dirty Duck (presently closed) Dave's 7.4 mile walk went along the Grantham Canal to Longmoor Bridge where it briefly joined the Viking Way as far as the disused ironstone railway. After following this as far as Belvoir Road, the route dropped down into Denton Village, circumnavigated Denton Reservoir and then went across fields to Harlaxton Wharf for lunch. A stroll took us back along the canal to the start.

Thanks John J for some of the photgraphs.

View of the Dirty Duck through Woolsthorpe Bridge

One of several Sustrans signs on the canal

Locks near the start

Grantham Canal Society's cruise and maintenance boats

Longmoor Bridge

Approaching the ironstone railway along the Viking Way. The railway was used to transport ore away from the quarries around Harlaxton and Harston to the Nottingham-Grantham line at Muston

Coffee stop where the disused railway passes below Denton Road

Grade II listed almshouse cottages in Denton built in1869 by the Welby Estate

Blue-green algae at Denton Reservoir

The Denton Reservoir Loop

Lunch at Harlaxton Wharf

Back along the canal

Bridle Bridge

Twenty two members and guests on the walk on one of the hottest day of the year
Distance 7.4 miles, total ascent 34m!

Sue's 6-mile walk took eightteen of us up to the West Leake Hills along tracks and through Crow Wood, past the golf course and back along a mixture of quiet lanes and field paths.

The start near St Helena's Church, West Leake

The Cuckoo Bush mound is the alleged site for the tale of the Wise Men of Gotham’s attempt at fencing in the cuckoo but is actually a Neolithic burial mound. It is about three thousand years old and it was excavated in 1847