I bumped into the Ivanhoe Way a few times while I was walking the National Forest Way, and earmarked it for future investigation. After several years exploring the Dove Valley, Limestone Way, and Portway, I've finally got back to this part of the country.
The Ivanhoe Way was created in 1984. A very pre-internet leaflet is still available as a pdf online; amazingly, much of it is still reasonably accurate. The route is also marked on OS maps. It's a 36-mile loop that takes in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Whitwick, Moira Furnace and Measham, and it's called the Ivanhoe Way because everything around Ashby is called Ivanhoe something-or-other. That's because Sir Walter Scott named a novel Ivanhoe and set part of it at Ashby Castle.
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| Ashby Castle |
The route doesn't actually go to Ashby Castle, nor does it point out any other literary locations, so you won't miss anything by not reading the book. I actually have read Ivanhoe once and remember it being quite enjoyable. I thought I should re-read it concurrently with the Way, but thus far I've done lots of walking and no reading, so I'm afraid you'll just have to live without my analysis of Sir Walter Scott.
After that introduction: on with the walk! It starts at Shackerstone, which is a small neat village with a stone church, a pub with wagon wheel windows, a village hall, and apple-themed road signs.
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| village hall |
From Shackerstone, I followed the Ashby Canal in a vaguely north-westerly direction. The official Ivanhoe Way comes off the canal towpath after barely a mile and goes along a single-track road and across some fields. I don't know why. It's possible you might be bored with the canal already, but the alternative is just as flat and scarcely more interesting. Plus I got very wet feet in the grass, having come out in trainers rather than walking boots. So I'd recommend following the canal all the way to Snarestone.
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| Ivanhoe waymarkers |
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| field of pumpkins |
At Snarestone there were grand houses, a brick church with adjoining yew tree, and a school which looked like a row of cottages.
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| Snarestone Primary School |
From here the Ivanhoe Way goes along the B4116 for a stretch. That was fair enough in 1984, when there wasn't really an alternative footpath and was probably a lot less traffic. There's plenty of grass verge, so it could be worse; but again, I'd recommend the canal route. The Ashby Canal Association has recently put a waymarked trail along what they hope will someday be the route of the restored canal. It's a little longer than going along the road, but there are some interesting things on the way - as you'll see when I come back that way.
For now, I stuck to the original route. I passed Lodge Farm Shop, crossed the wonderfully-named Gilwhiskaw Brook, and was welcomed to the National Forest.
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| Gilwhiskaw Brook |
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| grass verge and National Forest sign |
At a junction was the Red Bank Brickworks. The path followed around the edge of it, sandwiched between a chain-link fence and some woods.
I was slightly puzzled when I plotted the route on the OS maps app. My return path appeared to be right next to the outward one, yet the snap-to-path feature insisted on an odd little loop to get from one to the other. Surely it was wrong?
Apparently not. Peering into the shrubby woodland, I could see no sign of the other path, and there was no way I could get through the fence and undergrowth anyway. But the funny little loop did exist, labelled as Ashby Canal Path, and so did the footpath I was looking for. It just didn't quite follow the line on the map.
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| definitely a path |
I crossed Gallows Lane and entered a field optimistically signed as Minorca Woods. After this the path struggled through an overgrown and rubbish-strewn hedgerow before meeting the Ashby Canal Path again. The route I had followed was actually the old line of the canal, abandoned due to mining subsidence, but the new path looked as if it would have been easier to follow.
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| one day this will be a wood |
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| coal seam marker |
From here, I essentially did what I said earlier, and followed the canal all the way back to Shackerstone. First there was a dry canal bed; then there was water; then there was an old pumping station, and a wharf, and all manner of interesting things. Including a cup of coffee.
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| pump house |
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| pump beams from the pump house |
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| Snarestone Wharf and lock |
I'm sure that at least one of the canal restoration crew is a frustrated train enthusiast. There's no other reason to have a train signal right next to the canal, or rail signs on something that is blatantly not a railway bridge.
At Snarestone, the canal goes underneath the village in a tunnel. The towpath goes over the top. The recreation ground looked totally different now that the sun had come out.
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| before |
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| after |
As usual with canal paths, it was easy walking, with no danger of long wet grass. I steadily ticked off the miles.
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| old railway viaduct |
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| Ashby Canal mile marker |
Shackerstone had a long line of moored boats. Behind them was a grassy hump that was once Shackerstone Castle.
Right at the far end of the village was a train station for a heritage railway, the Battlefield Line. It was deserted today, but I was able to walk over the footbridge and get a good view of the platforms and the Victorian tea rooms.
And over there is the Leicestershire Round, heading off on its own 100-mile loop. Perhaps a project for another day. For now, I was keen to get out of my wet socks.
Ivanhoe Way: Shackerstone to Measham
12 miles / 19 km 14 September 2026
blue line = route walked
yellow line = Ivanhoe Way
orange line = suggested alternative route
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