Weston walk

Sometimes I wonder if my posts are a bit critical, but maybe I think too much and over-analyse things sometimes.  This is not always good as it can lead to depression as A (an intelligent person, who writes a deep and meaningful, well-thought out blog, which I would definitely encourage anyone to read),  points out in his blog.  One thing that can help against depression is a good walk on a sunny day.

The Weston walk was a 4 and half mile walk along the footpaths of Weston.  It's purpose was to promote awareness of them, increase the use of them, check that all was well with them and of course to have fun.  It was also a practice, as they are hoping that next year the walk will be part of the Charnwood Forest festival of walking week.  It was a guided walk led by a bloke called Alan who told us a bit of the history or the area as we went round.  For instance the Coopers Arms was used in the civil war to look after the horses.  Apparently, it was never finished and it was meant to be E shaped, as was very fashionable at the time it was built.

When we got to the first footpath off the road, one of the walkers got pulled over by a dog and knocked over the footpath sign.  It was an accident waiting to happen tho as the bottom of the post was rotten and it was held onto the fence with a plastic tie.

We walked in between the new houses and down more footpaths, then across a field of long grass ( which was apparently a footpath although you couldn't see where the actual path went).  This was quite hard going.  We got to the old ferry point where people used to ring the bell for the ferry.  History tells us that the woman running the ferry was a bit grumpy and that if she was having a cup of tea or didn't feel like it, she wouldn't bother to answer the bell and leave the passengers waiting for sometimes a couple of hours before taking them across the river.

On the way back up to the canal we saw the noise monitor for the race track in the field.  Weston is a lovely village, but the one thing that stops it from being absolutely idyllic is the noise from the race track in Castle Donnington, which is on the other side of the river.  The residents really hate it and there is a lot of organised protests in the village.  The noise can be heard in Aston too, but not so loudly.  Anyway, this noise monitor wasn't very well placed as to start with it was slightly outside the village, and also it was tucked away in a field where the noise wasn't so loud.  When we walked up the slope to Weston Lock, the noise was a lot louder.  They should have put it there, it would give a better representation of the level of noise the residents hear.

The walk continued along the canal then past the church back to the village hall for a well earned cup of tea and slice of homemade cake.  All in all it was an enjoyable walk and there is another one next week.  This one will be around Aston.