Distance: 15.5 miles
Epic walk today so I started at 8:00am. This is the longest walk of the training so far so I took it at a steady pace. I strolled through Moira and into Shortheath - there are a lot of new houses being built and renovations going on. There is a dilapidated sign attached to a lamppost claiming that Shortheath is at the centre of England! Who knows - might be true but .wikipedia doesn't think so...
I walked through Woodville and admired the Victorian houses - they knew how to build beautiful. I called in the very handy Co-op store to buy a carton of juice - just to keep me going. I spotted a lovely mileage marker on the A444 -I wonder if it used to be a toll road? This is such a busy road - the traffic is relentless - lorry after lorry after lorry. I wouldn't like to live in one of the houses even if they are lovely with fantastic open views over the countryside out the back.
I decided to take a detour and headed along Mount Plesant Road into Castle Gresley. This is a great little place now bypassed by the A444 and it was good to have some respite from the traffic. Plenty of churches here and I've just read that there was a large brewery in the village. The best thing in Castle Gresley is, of course, the castle. The castle is long gone but the motte and bailey are still there waiting to be explored. It's a short climb to the summit of the hill behind Toons Furniture store and then you have a smashing view of the area from the top. You can see why the Normans chose this spot - commanding views over the countryside in all directions. Now the view is a mixed bag - Toons, the railway (which only carries goods trains - such a waste - why o why is it not open to passenger trains??), the A444, new housing estates, Burton-on-Trent and the breweries, fields with sheep and cows, Mount Pleasant and, nestling just below the motte and bailey, is a small hamlet with some Victorian cottages, new builds and a pub (The White Lion). During the Second World War there was an oberservation post - there is still a bunker just below the site of the castle which you can explore...if you're feeling brave...
After a five minute break to admire the layers of history all around me, and to have a cereal bar and drink, I headed off towards the bright lights of Swadlincote. I motored along past the large industrial units and stopped off at the Bison depot. They have a marvellous sculpture of a Bison by the main entrance which I've glimpsed as we've whizzed past in the car and wanted to see it close up. I bravely sauntered into the yard and a security guard came out to see what I wanted. After explaining that I wished to have a look at the Bison and take a photo he left me to it. It was certainly worth a closer look (see photos below).
A golf course and hotel are being built just next door - who'd have thought it...in Swad. The ground works are being done at the moment on the site of an old mine (new golf course). I carried on manfully towards Swadlincote past the big warehouses for TNT and a company who make toiletries for M&S and then I was in Swad town centre and...what was this?...the sound of mournful pipes and the sight of American native indians in full feathered headdresses...you just never know what you're going to see on these walks! Swadlincote was v busy as it was market day. I bought some lovely looking lemons for D to make some more Lemoncello - mmmm. Also, called into Greggs - it has to be done.
The rest of the walk was a slog and uneventful. I just put one foot in front of the other and soldiered on with two brief respites: one on the bypass when I left the path and climbed up the hill and watched the lorries trundling past and one in Ashby by the roundabout, again, watching the traffic and the pedestrians. I see Pippa's are having a bra measuring day - the sign says, "Do you know your bra size?". Yes I do actually - I was measured there last year. I can highly recommend it...
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