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COUNTY BAGGING: Rutland - Empingham (7 miles)

Sunday 24th June to Tuesday 26th June 2018

I said I'd be back so back I went.  One mile.  One more mile is all I needed to be able to claim the County of Rutland as "Officially Bagged".

Same campsite (much quieter now it wasn't a weekend or a bank holiday and it's term time).  I ended up with a field all to myself.

I say all to myself, I had to share it with some chickens and a cat.....

Brew With A Cock-a-Doodle-View

The Cat Sat On The Mat!
I arrived Sunday afternoon and got set up in time to have a shower, cook my tea and have a leisurely cuppa watching the sun set on the hill across the valley.

No hot water bottle needed tonight - we're in the middle of a heatwave with night time temperatures not dropping below 15 degrees centigrade.

Monday saw me up bright and early and already it was hot, not warm, but hot. 

Rucksack packed and I set off for the 20 minute drive to Empingham where I got parked next to "Barbara's Store" - the village shop - and popped in for a couple of packets of fruit pastilles and made a mental note that there was a freezer full of ice lollies.  I asked what time she closed - 6pm... mmmm... ice lollies 

ViewRanger on and I set off up Church Street towards Main Street.

One of many lovely thatched cottages

Signpost OCD on Main Street
I soon leave the village via Nook Lane, joining the Rutland Way, and burst out into some open meadow/heathland.  I was glad to see the path leading to the woodland ahead - the sun was fiercely hot and that leafy shade was looking good.

Heading across the meadow to the spinney

Rutland Round waymarker

Cool shade in the spinney
I burst out of the woodland and into another bakingly hot meadow which I crossed and joined a field adjacent to Rutland Water dam wall.

View of Rutland Water from the dam wall
I toyed with the idea of turning left to cross the dam and see Normanton Church which was raised and shored up to protect it when Rutland Water - a man made reservoir - was made.  After a bit of pondering, I decided to stick with my original plan and turned right to follow the north shore of Rutland Water towards Whitwell.
Info Board
 I'd only done a mile or so and already I was wilting.  Luckily, there were plenty of benches along the track around the water and I, once again, took advantage of each and every one of them 

Despite it being a Monday, there were plenty of folks out enjoying the sun, including some lads diving off the pontoon in the picture below. I was quite envious - a swim sounded just the thing in this baking hot sunshine ... the Ranger soon came and asked them to stop though.

A strange sculpture
 Further around, I spotted the sailing club on the opposite side of Whitwell Creek and an aquapark occupying centre-stage of the creek.  Oh how I wanted to play on that too!
A fab looking inflatable aquapark
I stopped and had a snack in the shade near the Harbour Cafe and decided that, when I reached Whitwell, I'd stop at the pub there for a large glass of something I could guzzle down without worrying about depleting my rapidly depleting water supply!

St. Michael's and All Angels Church in Whitwell
I finally reached the Noel Inn in Whitwell and.... it was shut.  I borrowed a shady spot in the beer garden to have some more of my lunch and study my map.  I was only about a third, if that, of the way round my walk and I'd already gone through half of my water and wasn't feeling 100%, probably due to the heat.  I toyed with the idea of catching the bus back to Empingham and heading back to the campsite and just lazing around under the shade of the trees.

I went in search of a bus stop.  The next bus was something like 4.20pm.  It was only 2.30pm.  That's a long wait with not even a pub to sit in.  Having resigned myself to the fact I wasn't feeling "right" and continuing my walk, albeit a gentle one, was possibly unwise, I felt quite frustrated.

After a good, long rest in the pub beer garden I decided to take a steady walk back the way I came.  I knew there was random patches of leafy shade and I knew I could stop at the Harbour Cafe on the way back...which I did.

I just managed to miss the last sailing of the Rutland Belle - something I'd decided to do in lieu of cutting my walk short.  This outing just wasn't meant to be 

Serene views across Rutland Water
I made use of those benches again on my return and finally got back to Empingham where I treated myself to a Magnum ice cream.  There was a table and chairs outside the shop in the shade, which I sat at to eat it and chat to "Mr Barbara's Store" who said an awful lot of the houses in the village were now second homes to rich Londoners.  I mentioned the almost royal looking crest / coat of arms I'd seen on some of the older houses - apparently a mark of the "Building Earl" of Ancaster. 

As I'd parked near the shop I had only a few steps left back to my car.

St. Peter's Church, Empingham
Back at my tent and it was cuppa, shower, food ... in that order.  I felt much better after that, despite it still being stupidly hot.  Yet again, I found the shade of some trees to sit and watch the sun set.  The joys of having a camping field to myself.  

Looking at my Viewranger track, I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd done 7 miles - I expected it to be less and I did wonder how long my originally planned walk actually was (I thought it was about 6 or so miles).


Tuesday had me packing up and heading home.  I'm liking the fact Rutland is a smidgen under a 2 hour 30 minute drive and I'm thinking I shall return, yet again, and either complete this original walk or pick it up from Exton and do a more "inland" route.

Anyway, I've officially "bagged" Rutland, having done walks totalling about 16 miles, so there's no real reason for me to return... maybe...

Thanks for looking 




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