With the promise of a whole day of sunshine albeit with temperatures only reaching a meagre two degrees, we set off for one of our “Saga Tours”. The plan was to drive to Sutton Cheney – about 40 mins away and a place we sailed past on our trip up the Ashby canal ( see blogs passim). We parked at the wharf, which last time was very busy with boats doing three point turns – now it was all frozen but there were still lots of walkers and cyclists, all gathering at the cafe.
The area is famous for its Battle site – we walked from the wharf, through Ambion woods and up to the visitor centre on Ambion hill.
Splendid walking with rock hard ground – however, one of us is always keen for a walk, no matter what the weather:
We were impressed at the lengths they had gone to, giving presentation boards everywhere. The paths were well laid, making walking easy even in wet weather. This delightful circle had thrones for the various proponents of the battle . . . King Richard III, Henry Tudor etc (well, Earl of Richmond at the time)
The local Council had organised a new dig to find just where the battle really was and they proved that it was further away, over at Dadlington Hill – lots of cannon balls unearthed (see all those black spots in the top right of the left hand panel!)
All this for a crown . . .
We walked on, passing lots more panels and even odd listening points where you had to hand crank them in order to power a short recording.
We walked from the wharf (top right) and did the whole yellow route, passing Stenton railway station – now just a heritage line, running steam trains (also see blogs passim when we visited Shackerstone)
As we mentioned before – all the pathways were well laid and a pleasure to walk
Back down to the Ashby Canal
And on to the George & Dragon in Stoke Golding for lunch! Game pie and some of their excellent beer! Dog friendly, real fires and real ales!
