Distance: Approx. 3 miles, although a shorter version is included
General conditions and accessibility:
Please be aware that children and dogs need to be under close control, as the
road can be busy, and part of the walk is alongside the river. Also please be aware that there are several stiles on this walk, two flights of steps, and a path which can be muddy at times.
Start and finish:
Butter Market, Market Place, Mountsorrel, LE12 7BA
Photo A
Parking: Mountsorrel Memorial Centre LE12 7AG OR Little Lane, LE12 7BA
(To get to the Butter Market from the Memorial Centre turn right and keep walking until you reach the domed building – the Butter Market. From the entrance to Little Lane turn right and walk towards the Butter Market)
Eat, drink and toilet facilities:
Sorrel Youth Cafe (near Memorial Centre), The Green (Mon-Fri 9am-2pm);
Waterside Inn (nr. Butter Market), Sileby Road (Mon-Thurs 12noon-3pm; 5.00pm-10.30pm; Fri-Sat 12noon-11.00pm; Sun 12noon-10.00pm);
Butter Market Cafe, Market Place (Mon-Fri 9am-3pm; Sat 9am-2pm);
Waitrose supermarket, Granite Way, Mountsorrel, LE12 7TZ (Mon-Fri 7am-10pm; Sun 10am-4pm);
There are public toilets in the Library (Church House) during opening hours (opposite the Memorial Centre).
Public transport:
Start / finish points are on regular bus routes: Arriva 127 – Shepshed / Leicester; Winsons X26 – Loughborough / Rothley; Roberts 27 – Loughborough / Asda supermarket, Thurmaston
The Walk:
1) From the Butter Market you will see a stone cross just down the road. Walk along the main road to this point, and turn right into Sileby Road. The Peace Garden (a memorial garden) is on this corner. You can enter it by the side gate in Sileby Road, and sit down and enjoy this quiet spot (Dogs are not allowed inside the Peace Garden). Continue your walk down the road to the bridge by the lock. Care needs to be taken, as the road is often busy, and there is no footpath over the bridge. Access is probably safer on the left hand side (Pass the grey “Riverbank B&B”).
2) Coming off the bridge, turn left onto the towpath, just downstream of the lock, and follow it alongside the river, passing over the first stile at the end of the paver block moorings.
Photo B
There are often cattle or sheep in this field, so dogs should be kept on a lead. Follow the path down to the 1860 Bridge (known locally as Echo Bridge – Stand under it and shout to try it out! – but take care as the headroom is low in parts).
On the far bank (just after the 1860 Bridge) you will see the remains of the old quarry loading site (now obscured by saplings and ivy), where cargoes, including granite setts, were loaded into boats in the late 1800s, for transportation to, amongst other places, London.
3) Follow the path beside the River Soar, passing a drainage ditch on your right, until you come to “Mountsorrel turnover” bridge, No. 26, known locally as “One Man Bridge”. A turnover bridge is a waterways term for a bridge which carries the towpath from one side of the navigation to the other.
Photo C
Although there is a stile, there is currently access beside it. Cross the bridge and double back up the field, so that you are now heading back upstream.
Photo D
Head to the kissing gate and then diagonally to the yellow marker post closer to the Dutch-style Black Hawk housing development.
You will pass the housing development (in spring/summer a favourite nesting place for house martens) and come out onto the main road (Loughborough Road) again.
4) Turn right along Loughborough Road until you reach house number 140 (opposite number 181). If you have children with you, you may like to go down the tarmac track beside No.140 to the children’s playground, which is available for children under 12 years of age. Dogs not allowed within the fenced playground, but can be tied up safely – and there is a dog bin.
5) Choices after the playground: Go back to Loughborough Road then
a) continue the extended walk by turning right see 6) below, or
b) turn left and walk along Loughborough Road (southwards) to return to the Butter Market.
6) Continuing the walk, carry on down the road until you come to a Chinese takeaway (The Rising Sun). Turn right immediately after this, into Betty Henser’s Lane.
N.B. On your left there’s a pedestrian entrance to Waitrose, which, during opening hours, has an indoor / outdoor cafeteria and a toilet with disabled access and baby changing facilities.
Follow the track, most of which now has a hard surface, and go over a stile (dogs on leads).
7) Pass a kissing gate on your left and then follow the wooden fence round the field towards the river.
8) Ignore the gate (on the left) at the A6 dual carriageway bridge over the river, turn right and head upstream, near the river’s edge. You pass through a kissing gate, then a metal gate after which there’s a gate and a stile in the hedge to the right of this gate.
9) The gate gives continued riverside access to Mountsorrel Turnover Bridge (One Man Bridge), while the stile continues the path towards the Black Hawk housing development (mentioned in 3) above).
10) When you reach Mountsorrel Turnover Bridge, cross over it, and follow the footpath back up the field to Mountsorrel Lock.
11) If you need a break, the Waterside Inn is on the lock side, and has both indoor and outdoor seating, and is children- and muddy-boot friendly. Alternatively, you can walk back up the road to your start point at the Butter Market, where the Butter Market Cafe offers drinks, snacks and meals.
Prepared by Beryl McDowall (1st July 2017)