{"id":3937,"date":"2015-05-30T09:51:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T09:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=3937"},"modified":"2016-07-29T13:54:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T13:54:58","slug":"adventures-in-high-leicestershire-oakham-to-burrough-hill-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2015\/05\/adventures-in-high-leicestershire-oakham-to-burrough-hill-and-back\/","title":{"rendered":"High Leicestershire –
Oakham to Burrough Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adventures in High Leicestershire<\/h2>\n

As soon as I heard of ‘High Leicestershire’ I just knew it was ripe for exploration.<\/p>\n

The name conjures up a certain remote wild fastness that tugs at my adventuring spirit.\u00a0 It brought to mind Edith Durham<\/a>‘s wonderful adventure-travel book ‘High Albania<\/a>‘ and y’know, if it’s good enough for Edith then it’s good enough for me!<\/p>\n

One late Saturday morning at the end of May, I hopped on the train from Ely and an hour later arrived at Oakham in Rutland.<\/p>\n

I headed west out of Oakham and 15 minutes later had crossed the border into Leicestershire and was climbing the first hill of the day (Mill Hill 180m!). I rested at the summit, crunched on a handful of pork scratchings. and took in the view of Rutland Water.<\/p>\n

\"Rutland
Rutland water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My destination was the Iron Age hillfort at Burrough Hill<\/a>, ten miles away.<\/p>\n

I followed public footpaths that took me up and over gently rolling hills…<\/p>\n

\"High
The roiling\u00a0hills of High Leicestershire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…and through fields of oilseed rape.<\/p>\n

\"Fields
Fields of rape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the clouds cleared and the sun put in an appearance, the meadows and fields took on a lush glow, the English countryside at the start of summer, gorgeous!<\/p>\n

\"Lecistershire
Leicestershire looking lovely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The approach to the hillfort\u00a0took me up through the wooded canopy of Dalby Hills.<\/p>\n

\"Dalby
Dalby Hills path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a steep climb I reached the summit of Burrough Hill (2oom), the views were\u00a0tremendous.<\/p>\n

\"The
The view from Burrough Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The embankments of the hillfort are\u00a0well defined and run around its\u00a0entire perimeter.<\/p>\n

\"Trig
Trig point on Burrough Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I walked a circuit of the hillfort, imaging the community that once lived up here.<\/p>\n

\"Fort
Fort walls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s an “artist’s impression” of the fort:<\/p>\n

\"Burrough
Burrough Hill back in the day (image borrowed from www.thiswasleicestershire.co.uk<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fort is now home to sheep and a few cattle. \u00a0I had considered the summit of Burrough Hill as a\u00a0wild camping site but am not so sure now. \u00a0Do sheep bleet throughout the night? And what are the implications for sleeping amongst all those droppings?<\/p>\n

Or am I being a complete wimp?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You tell me.<\/p>\n

\"Burrough
Burrough Hill sheep, will they mind if I camp on their home?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ate my cornish pastie lunch and enjoyed the lofty views. \u00a0Oh, and I took a selfie, as you can see.<\/p>\n

\"The
The lonesome traveller on Burrough Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then it was time to walk the 10 miles back to Oakham, which I was pleased to note is twinned with ‘Dodgeville’, USA, a name right out of a wild west cowboy gunfight film.<\/p>\n

\"Oakham,
Oakham, twinned with Dodgeville<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before hopping on the train back home I purchased a very cold can of Stella, a perfect way to finish a fine day’s hiking in the ‘lonely hills’ of High Leicestershire.<\/p>\n

\"On
On the train home with Ms Artois<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Adventures in High Leicestershire As soon as I heard of ‘High Leicestershire’ I just knew it was ripe for exploration….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,151],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3937"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5510,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions\/5510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}