We decided to do the bit we didn’t do yesterday, Saddington
tunnel and moor at Smeeton Aqueduct, so we set off mid-morning. We wanted to get moored up before the rain
that was forecast came.
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| Inside the Tunnel |
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| Saddington Tunnel |
We were soon at Saddington Tunnel and through we went. We didn’t meet anyone in the tunnel this time
and once through the tunnel, now went under Bridge 72 and moored at Smeeton
Aqueduct, a very long journey for us today, all 1½ miles it!!
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| Coming out of Saddington Tunnel |
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| Underneath Smeeton Aqueduct |
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| Smeeton Westerby Church |
The villages of Smeeton Westerby and Kibworth Beauchamp didn’t
seem to be too far from the canal and there was a footpath to Smeeton Westerby
over the fields. You could get to it on
the Aqueduct, so we set off on the path. It took us through a couple of fields
and over a few stiles, but the path was very well marked as all the footpaths
seem to be in Leicestershire. It was less
than a mile to Smeeton Westerby and we were going to walk the road to Kibworth
Beauchamp but then we saw a path by the church marked Kibworth Beauchamp ¾ a
mile, so we took that, it took us through a field of sheep and past some horses
and through another field with cows in, but they were the other end of the
field so that was good. Over a few more
stiles and soon we were in Kibworth Beauchamp.
It is quite a big village with a few shops, a pub, a post office and a café/deli.
We had a walk around and then stopped in the café for a
drink and a toastie. It was dry when we
set out but during our time there it started to rain, we had brought our
brollies with us, so we didn’t really get wet.
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| Kibworth Beauchamp |
We walked back through the footpath and into the field with
the cows. This time though they were
near the stile and they had calves with them.
I was a little nervous going through them, so I went first and Kev came
behind. One of the mothers didn’t like
us being in the field or it could be that she took a liking to Kev as she
followed right behind him and every time he stopped and turned around,
she stopped, then when he walked on so did she, it was a bit comical and scary
at the same time. I hot footed it across
the field and left him to it!! When Kev was nearly at the stile, the cow went
into the field.
We walked on across the other fields and back to Smeeton
Westerby. We had a walk up the road but
nothing really much there just a few houses so we went back to the footpath and
headed back the way we came. In the last
field, more cows with calves were in our path, they weren’t so bad and we got
past them without any incidents, one of them just started mooing. Over the last stile we went, up the path and
then we were back on the canal.
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| Footpath to Smeeton Westerby |
It was a really nice walk (apart from the cows!) and well
signposted. The rain had eased off while
we were coming back, so that was good.
During the afternoon the rain got harder and it rained all evening, but
we didn’t worry as we aren’t going out again.
It’s a really nice quiet spot here at the Aqueduct and there
are supposed to be several kingfishers around here. We haven’t seen any today, but hopefully we
might see them tomorrow morning before we chug on unless of course its still
raining, then we will be staying put!
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| Moored at Smeeton Aqueduct |
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