Leicesterwalk

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LAKE DISTRICT RINGTONE If, like me, you are fed up of hearing the Crazy Frog ring-tone, why not get something ever so slightly more stylish for your own mobile. The "baarmy sheep" ringtone has been produced by the Lake District national park. If you haven't heard sheep bleating to the tune of "Jerusalem" you obviously haven't lived! Watch the video and download the ringtone at www.golakes.co.uk/baarmysheep MAJOR SERVER CRASH 16/04/05 You may remember that I moved the site to new hosting about 5 months ago - having read many excellent reviews and had people recommend that hosting to me. Well - the hosting company appears to have gone steeply downhill. I have had many problems with their hosting - culminating in a server crash last night wiping out the Leicesterwalk site and also another website that I had hosted on the same server. I have now moved to more reliable and permanent hosting - and this will hopefully be our permanent home. The domain (www.leicesterwalk.co.uk) works properly with this hosting - and there is more space and bandwidth allowed. Also - it should be much faster and more reliable (UK Based Dell Linux servers) Unforunately it was a few weeks since I backed up the site - or rather about 5 months! Therefore a few of the latest walks have disappeared. I have these saved as Word documents so it is just a case or re-uploading and formatting them - which i will hopefully get done in the coming days. A couple of information articles may also have disappeared. GROBY POOL CAR PARK - The Current Status 13/11/04 I now pass the car park on my way to Loughborough most days, and from what I have seen it is looking tidy, and useable. There is a substantial yellow gate and height bar, which will hopefully prevent any further access by gypsies. The opening times at the moment are, I believe, 8.30 - 4.30. A sign in the entrance confirms these times - so check before parking. I will say that when i go past at about 4.45 the gates are always locked - so they are obviously very prompt. Hopefully a permanent solution has now been found to this ongoing problem, by restricting night access and access to caravans. 23/5/04 As I understand it, the car park is now open to the public again, but only during the day time. According to Groby Parish Council's February minutes, the plan is thus: "The gate will be locked at 4.30 pm and opened at 8.00 am until 31st March. From the 1 st April to the 30 th September the closing time will be 8.00 pm" As it is now May, I am assuming that the car park is open 8am - 8pm daily. I would appreciate confirmation from anyone who knows if this is the case. (For information as to why the car park was closed, please see "Groby Pool Car Park - Update" below. North West Leicestershire Guided Walks 10/5/04 North West Leicestershire District Council has now published its series of walks for 2004. The walks are designed to offer everyone the opportunity to explore local towns, villages and countryside with leaders to guide the way. A variety of themes are covered by the walks, including natural history, local heritage, ghosts and just 'show me the way' type walks. All are of a circular nature, but vary in terms of length and difficulty. For more information visit http://www.nwleicsdc.gov.uk/walks/ Swithland Footpath Closure - Updated 10 May 04 16/2/04 The footpath from Swithland (near the church) towards Cropston is currently closed (for around another 4 weeks) where it meets Main Street, Swithland. Although there is a notice at the Cropston end, there is nothing at the Swithland end. As usual, nobody has bothered to arrange a short diversion route, and instead it is necessary to walk by road to Cropston. I have contacted the council in the hope that a notice will be put up at the Swithland end of the path, and on a path which joins the closed path near Cropston. The walk which was going to be uploaded today (which uses this route) will now be uploaded in a few weeks time. THIS HAS NOW BEEN UPLOADED... HOWEVER, PLEASE SEEN BELOW! 23/4/04 I have just spoken to Gwilym Thomas, who discovered today that the footpath was still closed. Walking along the bridleway from the Cropston end to meet the footpath, at a junction there, there was a sign at the closure saying "Bridleway Closed" but nothing earlier on the route. It is possible to get between the bridleway and the footpath by cutting across the field, but there is no access to Swithland Village at this point. Gwilym has contacted the council, and I have asked him to let me know how he gets on. 10/5/04 I have just spoken to Gwilym Thomas, who informs me that he has had no reply from the council. I havent had a chance to go to Swithland myself, perhaps anyone who knows whether this is still closed could email me?

Previous News
Swithland Footpath Closure - Updated 10 May 04 16/2/04 The footpath from Swithland (near the church) towards Cropston is currently closed (for around another 4 weeks) where it meets Main Street, Swithland. Although there is a notice at the Cropston end, there is nothing at the Swithland end. As usual, nobody has bothered to arrange a short diversion route, and instead it is necessary to walk by road to Cropston. I have contacted the council in the hope that a notice will be put up at the Swithland end of the path, and on a path which joins the closed path near Cropston. The walk which was going to be uploaded today (which uses this route) will now be uploaded in a few weeks time. THIS HAS NOW BEEN UPLOADED... HOWEVER, PLEASE SEEN BELOW! 23/4/04 I have just spoken to Gwilym Thomas, who discovered today that the footpath was still closed. Walking along the bridleway from the Cropston end to meet the footpath, at a junction there, there was a sign at the closure saying "Bridleway Closed" but nothing earlier on the route. It is possible to get between the bridleway and the footpath by cutting across the field, but there is no access to Swithland Village at this point. Gwilym has contacted the council, and I have asked him to let me know how he gets on. 10/5/04 I have just spoken to Gwilym Thomas, who informs me that he has had no reply from the council. I havent had a chance to go to Swithland myself, perhaps anyone who knows whether this is still closed could email me? Groby Pool Car Park - UPDATE - Updated 10 May 04 Feb 04 Those of you who regularly read this news section will know that since Christmas there have been problems with the Groby Pool car park (see Groby Pool Car Park article below). Driving past there today i noticed that the gates were closed, and that there was a sign saying that the car park was closed. I don't know yet how long this is for - I will try to find out as soon as possible. I also noticed that someone has put some cement blocks across the entrance to Sheet Hedges Wood. While the gate has been kept closed for some time now, it used to be possible to park in front. Now this is not possible. I am not sure why the council have some objection to people parking in front of a gate that is never used, but this action is likely to encourage people to park dangerously on the very windy road between Groby and Newtown Linford. Therefore - please take care driving along this stretch of road. 10/5/04 I am informed that the concrete blocks at the entrance to Sheet Hedges have been removed - unfortunately no news yet about Groby Pool. Note - there is still no access to park inside Sheet Hedges, you can however park near the gates (preferably not blocking them, the council require access from time to time!) New Walk Series A new series of walks around Bradgate and Swithland is being created at the moment - so far there are 4 walks, one of which is ready for uploading. However, I will not put that walk up just yet (see previous article about footpath closure). Groby Pool Car Park Over the Christmas Period, there was a large group of travellers parked at Groby Pool Car Park. The car park was left in a terrible state, and as such we recommend that you avoid using this facility until the mess has been cleared up. To use the walk starting from this car park, park near the Church and join the walk from near the start. At the end of the walk, turn left out of the track onto the road, walk under the bridge, and turn right to return to your car. It has also come to our attention that the car park is sometimes used as a meeting place for "unsavoury activities" at nights from time to time, so we advise you not to use the car park after dark. It is a shame that the activities of a few have, again, ruined a facility for a large number of walkers. New Site Design As you can see, there is a brand new site design. Hopefully over the next few days the rest of the site should be put into this format! Changes to Countryside Code The countryside agency is planning to produce a revised country code, to take into account changes over the last 20 years. This is one of the later stages of the Countryside and Rights of Way act of 2000. For more information, please visit http://www.countryside.gov.uk/access/questionnaire.htm.