INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

I was worried about the high turnout with 30 on meetup and another 8 on WAMM. In the end, I got 19, which was a relief but also slightly annoying. We set off down the road before heading over rugged ploughed fields to Diseworth. There was also a lot of Stiles which a dog walker struggled with. A tip I had previously was to plan the best part of the walk until last, since that's what everyone remembers. Everyone liked the pub stop and the return journey via the airport trail. Eight of us stayed for drinks in the Nag's Head after.

  I couldn't have made the starting location clearer, but, as last time, we were delayed by 15 minutes due to late arrivals. The turnout was 16, which was one of my best. Getting the ugly A46 out of the way and heading by the massive wind turbine into open fields and Cossington meadows. We went into Silby village for a pub stop and back into the meadows. Last few miles by the canal. Great weather, great conversation and great feedback.

  The bad weather forecast caused a few to drop out. In the end we got 10 people, there was some rain but it wasn't terrible. The main challenge was getting through the field before woodhouse as the plantlife was very high. Not far from where the above picture was taken. Stayed a big longer at the halfway point due to one of the group ordering food. She couldn't finish it all so gave me a couple of slices of pizza.  The weather started to look bleak on the way back but it held off.

The time between Christmas and new year is always dead so it is a great time to schedule a walk. I was wondering how many would turn up on a cold foggy morning in Coalville and was surprised to get 22. My highest turnout ever. We headed through the estates before starting the climb. The mud was bad but not horrific. 2 issues included a woman who dropped out without telling anyone and an old man with poor eyesight. The view from the top was none existent but the mood amongst the group was excellent. Many had never been to the top before. The walk down was a lot easier, we had 30 minutes at the Rock where several left early. Then it was an easy 30 minutes back to the start point. My most successful walk to date with a bunch of 5 star reviews. Unfortunately there was an incident the following day that deserves a post of its own.

  Good walk but major problem, the weather forecast was awful. People were rapidly dropping out to the point where I wondered if anyone was turning up at all.  Due to waterlogged ground I skipped the first fields and went down the lane. The weather held off and conversation flowed. We headed through lockington and up the hill near the airport. A half hour pit stop at the jolly sailor followed. I was a bit worried about the fields at the bottom end of Donnington but they were fine. Another good walk despite the poor turnout 

  4 months had passed since I'd done the test walk. It was an easy flat route and good weather so I wasn't too worried. WAMM was in progress of moving off meetup and going onto Facebook. So I could now post my walks onto 2 groups instead of 1. After a slight delay a dozen of us headed in the direction of west leake. The weather, ground and conversation were good. The pub stop was surprising busy then we headed back to the start via Sutton Bonnington. 4 of us went in the cap and stocking back at Kegworth.

  It was a good turnout of around 20 people and great weather, meeting outside the very busy Jenno's coffee house. The walk followed the canal north past the past the tea rooms where we previously had an issue with the owner.  I was hoping that we wouldn't be repeating too much of that walk but we only did about 20% of it in the end. We turned around following an old railway line back for more coffee.

Walking friends put on a 4 miler every Friday evening. Normally I wouldn't attend due to travel time vs length of walk. However I was in town for the weekend music festival so I thought "why not". We met at the train station and proceeded in the direction of Beeston and passed the marina. It was a warm sunny evening with a lot of people.  We went by the river Leen which in reality is a wide brook. Onto the river Trent then back to the train station via the meadows.

I'd not set foot in Abbey park during daylight hours for at least 30 years. So it was more than long overdue... We headed north out of the park doing a loop around Wolsey island before heading south along the canal. Leicester seems to be a strange contrast between the brand new apartment blocks and old abandoned factories with broken windows and pigeons flying out. We went past Frog island following the canal down towards Leicester castle. We stopped for a short break and headed back to Abbey park. 

  Another local(ish) walk this time less than an hours bus ride on the way into Leicester. Starting in Glenfield we headed downhill to the tunnel that I previously didn't know existed. Unfortunately we were not allowed to walk through it. Overall it was a good walk passing Kirby Muxloe castle which I also  previously didn't know existed and was also closed for visitors during the winter. Got a lift home stopping off for a drink at the copt oak.

  It was a rare occasion of having a meetup so close to home and to be fair a walk up Bardon hill was long overdue.  We set off from mount St Bernard's abbey, across warren hills before heading up Bardon Hill. It was a mud bath from the rain, so much so that we choose to do a longer, less steep route back down. At least the rain held off and the view was ok. We back via the footpath by the schools to Whitwick quarry. 

  Due to the heatwave I can honestly say I wasn't looking forward to this. It was only a short bus ride from Coalville to Thornton which made a change from the usual. We headed south to Bagworth heath woods, which offered some welcome shade. Looping up to the main road. There was an option for some of the group to cut the walk off early which 2 or 3 did. Then we did a lap of Thornton reservoir, another example of going somewhere I'd never been before despite being only a few miles from home. It was easy and flat with some welcome breeze from the heat. Has a quick drink a local pub while waiting for the bus. 

 I'd been here before and it was only a short walk but I had a night meetup later on in Nottingham. For saying it was good weather I thought the turnout was very poor with only 5 people. Still it was good conversation and a fairly easy walk up the Ace walk hiking area before heading back to the park.

It's almost criminal that I'd not been to Bradgate park for the best part of 3 decades. I don't count the bit where I walked by the outskirts a few months ago. Predictably we headed up to old John and the war memorial stopping for a coffee at the Deer Barn. The thick fog put an end to any good scenery pictures but it was an excellent walk in good company. We stopped for a couple of drinks at the nearby Bradgate pub before going out own separate ways. 

  Another venture into South Leicester this time half way between South Wigston and Glen Parva.  The first mile was not good along muddy slippery paths constantly watching my footing. Thankfully we came onto more solid bridleways for an easy flat walk. As usual it did have a "this would be great in summer" feel about it, we had another muddy mile via the canal path towards the end. Had a drink at the very historic Glen Parva manor pub, bonus got a lift back into Leicester !!!

  I'd never been to a meetup in the South Leicester area and it was a welcome change of scenery. Great Glen was a nice village to start off in. We headed out to Stretton hall and past a small airport, (I wasn't aware Leicester even had an airport). We did have a navigation dispute at the halfway point as the organizer was following a list of instructions instead of a map.  It was a nice steady flat walk overall, finished off with a social drink at the Greyhound.  

 Missed the bus so ended up cycling to the start point at woodhouse eves. I actually got there a lot quicker than waiting around for a bus connection in Loughborough. It had been years since I'd been to the top of Beacon hill and never by this route. We headed along Brook road to Deans lane before heading off road to the final climb to the top of the hill.  It was downhill all the way back going on a footpath parallel to Beacon road. We turned right and went across some fields before heading back to woodhouse eves.  Then it was the uphill ride home.

  A week earlier I'd been diagnosed with post viral fatigue and wasn't still feeling good. However I needed to get out the house and this walk was a lot shorted than what they usually do. Typically I had a choice between spend 2 hours on a bus waiting for connections or walking for about an hour from Markfield via the edge of Bradgate park. I chose the walk and actually spent more time walking to the start of the walk than the actual walk itself. It was a loop of less than 4 miles and we were back to the carpark within an hour. Short, simple and with how I was feeling glad I didn't go any further. Got a lift to the Badgers Sett pub in nearby Cropston others had food but after paying a hefty 3 pound 15 for a diet coke I waited until I got home. A woman from the walk also gave me a lift to Glenfield and dropped me off at the bus stop 2 minutes before the bus arrived.....

 I didn't enjoy the majority of this walk, nothing to do with the route or the people of course but the hot weather. I'd been on afternoon shift so it was a late finish followed by an early start which didn't help. I'd never been to Market Bosworth before so as usual it was walking on unfamiliar ground. We followed the path down towards Sutton Cheney. Then up a few hill that wouldn't have been a problem in normal weather to the battlefield visitors centre. We had a well needed pitstop where I felt much better after food and drink. We headed to the canal which I thought was the best part of the walk.  A lot of boats and a lot of people were also walking but a few questioned us for doing that distance in that heat. We walked to the north of Market Bosworth crossing what looked like an old golf course before heading back into town.  It was more than enough, thankfully I got a lift home. 

  Another weekend another walk, this time a 2 bus ride to Melbourne. We met and walked down the cloud trail again covering a lot of ground I'd never walked over in my life. It seemed to be an older crowd this week for some reason but we all still managed the short but steep climb to the top of breedon hill. It was a bit windy so we chose to stop and eat when we got back down. We headed back across farmland towards Melbourne Hall pictured. Then is was back into town where I has a nightmare getting home as I missed 2 connections.