Skip to main content

National Forest Way: Final Thoughts

As you may have gathered from my blog posts, I've really enjoyed walking the National Forest Way. I found myself eagerly anticipating each walk, and happily inking the route on the map when I'd done it.

The National Forest Way is an ideal starter long-distance walk. There are no enormous mountains or exposed cliff edges. The route is never too far from a village, a car park, or a cafe. But there are some lovely views over sunny fields, some beautiful patches of woodland, and some industrial history along the way. I very rarely found it boring.

 

An advantage that I didn't appreciate when I started is that the Way forms a giant zigzag. This means it fits 75 miles of path into a relatively compact space, making it easy to reach all of it. From my home in south Derbyshire, every section was within a 40 minute drive. The distance between Beacon Hill and the National Memorial Arboretum is only about 25 miles.


The countryside is lovely, and generally overlooked in favour of the Peak District. I often went for miles without seeing another person. There are exceptions (don't do Bradgate Park on a Bank Holiday like I did!) but usually it's very tranquil. Of course, you can join the crowds if you like; Calke Abbey, Conkers, Rosliston Forestry Centre, and Foremark Reservoir are all popular attractions en route.


Finally, but very importantly, the directions for the National Forest Way are excellent. The free downloads cover each stage in both directions (many paths assume you will only walk one way). They include a chunk of the OS map with the route clearly marked. In general, the waymarkers on the ground are obvious, too. Occasionally one has disappeared. I often found the directions useful on the short sections through village streets, where the arrows were less common. But I almost never had a problem finding the path.

There were only a couple of minor quibbles. Firstly, as someone who likes paper maps, I found it annoying that while most of the route was on OS Explorer 245 (National Forest, obviously!) I then had to buy two more maps to finish - Leicester and Loughborough. However, I do realise that all sensible people have gone over to apps now. And if I wasn't so keen on plotting my route with a Sharpie, I probably would have just used the downloads and not bought the extra maps. Still, I might complete the Leicestershire Round one day...

The only other disappointment was the lack of starting and finishing signposts. There are some very nice information boards along the way. So it was a surprise to get to Beacon Hill and find nothing, not even a waymarker with "START/END" underneath it. I don't remember anything at the Arboretum, either, although that was a long time ago. Both places are owned by separate organisations; perhaps that led to difficulties in putting up signs.

It's hard to pick highlights. Jacksons Bank and Gresley Woods were both beautiful. I would like to go back and walk around Thornton Reservoir on a sunny day. Netherseal, with Sir Nigel Gresley's grave, was interesting, and the miners' memorial at Bagworth unexpectedly moving. And of course, you can't beat Beacon Hill.

So, if you've ever been wondering about trying a long-distance route, I would recommend the National Forest Way as a great place to start. It's not too strenuous, it's easy to get to, you'll see a lot of trees... and if you want company, I'd be happy to do any of it again.

All the posts:

Beacon Hill

Bradgate Park

Ratby and Martinshaw Wood

Bagworth and Thornton Reservoir

Ellistown, Bagworth, Nailstone

Normanton le Heath - Ellistown

Ashby - Normanton le Heath

Calke Abbey - Ashby de la Zouch

Hartshorne, Foremark, Calke Abbey

Overseal - Hartshorne

Rosliston - Overseal

Rangemore - Rosliston

National Memorial Arboretum - Rangemore

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Enthusiasm and cynicism

Some while ago I heard a sermon on the story of Zacchaeus. I forget what the point of the sermon was - usually for this Bible passage it's something about Jesus saving everyone, even the unlikely people. But I remember wondering, did Zacchaeus really give all that money away? Image by Alexa from Pixabay You may remember the tale: Zacchaeus is a corrupt government official who is rather short. When Jesus arrives in town, Zacchaeus wants to get a look at him. So he climbs a tree to see over other people's heads. However, Jesus spots him and tells him to get out of the tree and go cook Jesus some dinner. I assume Jesus phrased it a little more nicely than that, because Zacchaeus is delighted, and moreover, promises to change his entire lifestyle. "Half of my possessions I give to the poor," he declares with the enthusiasm of the instant convert, "and anyone I've defrauded, I'll pay back four times over." The surrounding crowd are the cynics: Jesus, th...

Limestone Way: The Three B's

This walk on the Limestone Way takes me to three villages starting with B: Ballidon, Brassington, and Bradbourne.   Parwich to Brassington The weather forecast says it's fine, but as I walk out of Parwich some light rain starts, which persists for most of the walk. It's not enough to make me properly wet. Parwich sits in a large bowl; the kind of landscape where you can see where you're heading, where you came from, and the next hill you are going to have to climb. The area has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years .  A short climb up a field takes me to Highway Lane, which I follow down again, and then bear left across the fields to Ballidon. I can see the chimney of Ballidon Quarry, and a building which looks like an old chapel. I assume it must now be a private house, but when I get there, I discover that this is All Saints church, now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. What a nice surprise! I'm intrigued by the Creed and Ten Com...

Working on sunshine

Freeeee electricity!  No, seriously.  This guy came and knocked on the door one day, and I don't usually pay any more attention to random strangers trying to sell me something at the door than you probably do, but I guess he must have said "free" enough times to penetrate my consciousness, so I found myself agreeing to have someone check our house's suitability for solar panels.  And another guy turned up, and measured; and another one, and we signed; and a few more, and put up scaffolding and panels and meter boxes and cable; and suddenly, if we're careful, we can avoid paying for any electricity during daylight hours, because it's all generated right up there above our heads. Of course, we have the British government to thank for this, which probably means we're paying for it somewhere along the line.  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (presumably it's actually against climate change rather than for it, although you never know) has...