Sunday September 14, 2025 09:30
All Sunday walks start with a gathering at Fleckney Village car park (///loses.always.huts) at 9:30 a.m.
Rearsby, Brooksby, Rotherby, Hoby, Thrussington
Leader – Phil
This walk has something for everyone. It is around 7 miles, with minimal undulation and no stiles.
Rearsby is just less than 20 miles (40 minutes) from Fleckney, so be prepared to part with £4 for your driver. We try to pile into as few vehicles as possible, and this is arranged on the day. We’re heading for Brook Street in Rearsby (///depend.bunk.adapt) as there is usually room to park there. If you intend to meet us at the start of the walk, it is imperative that you let the walk leader know beforehand.
After we have all assembled, we head off along Brook Street and over a quaint little bridge at Brookside and on to Church Lane. This takes us to St. Michael and All Angels Church via a wooden gate. The path around the church is part of the Leicestershire Round – A long-distance walk of 102 miles which makes a wide circuit of the city of Leicester and includes places like Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Foxton Locks, and Charnwood Forest. Today, however, we’ll stick to the much shorter walk as we exit the church grounds onto Church Leys Avenue.
In turn, the avenue exits onto Station Road. We cross this and head up the road opposite. It may not be apparent that this is a public footpath, as the sign for it is now behind you! This road peters out to set us off across our first field of the day. More fields follow in (quick?) succession as we pass Hive’s Farm and Hall Farm to arrive in the largely deserted village of Brooksby. The village is historically notable for its Danish settlement in the 9th century and the Villiers family, who owned Brooksby Hall for centuries.
After wandering through the grounds of Brooksby College, we find our way onto Brooksby Road, where we turn right and head up the road to the post box and then left onto Main Street. After a short stretch, we enter the quiet and peaceful village of Rotherby. We only dip our toes into the village as we head for All Saints Church, the view of which is obstructed by some large trees. To the left side of the church is a footpath leading over a field and across a footbridge to another field. We now come to the railway line known as either the Syston and Peterborough line or the Leicester–Burton upon Trent line. The line has been technically closed to passenger services since 1964, but it’s still a single and double-track railway line.
Once we are all safely across the railway, we walk alongside the River Wreake. Initially, to the right of it and then on the left, after crossing via a footbridge. We now come to an awkward ascent into another field before we can continue to follow the Wreake. After a short while, we enter a large open field where the footpath continues to follow the river. We, however, cut across the field at an angle and head upwards into Hoby.
We end up on Main Street, with the Blue Bell Inn just up the road, and All Saints Church down it. Either may be a good spot to have a rest and some refreshment.
We leave Hoby via Main Street and take the left fork. Although we are now heading to Thrussington, we take Brooksby Road, and not Thrussington Road. The reason for this is the footpath off Brooksby Road that sort of runs parallel to Thrussington Road. Confused? You want to try writing it up!
The footpath is once again part of the Leicestershire Round, and it takes us over fields and through woods until we eventually hit civilisation again in the form of the Holy Trinity Church in Thrussington. There is a very good chance that we are now on Church Lane, and it would be appropriate to wander along it, turn left at Hoby Road, and down onto The Green. This is another good place for a rest and the remainder of anything that wasn’t eaten earlier – I’m not going to mention The Star Inn across the way!
I’m beginning to think the description is longer than the walk itself. By now, though, we have covered a mere five miles! So, it’s along Ratcliffe Road for the tail end of this wandering. As the road begins to bend to the right, there is a sign for Rearsby Mill on the left, accompanied by a yellow post and a gate. And we’re back on the Leicestershire Round once again. This time, we rejoin the River Wreake as we pass the old disused mill. After a couple of fields, we’re back at the railway line, where we once again have to carefully navigate the crossing before returning to Rearsby, where the Horse & Groom awaits with barrels of beer and jugs of coffee or tea.
General information:
The Fleckney Walking Club meet every other Sunday for a walk of about 6 to 9 miles with a pub stop somewhere along the route.
What3Words is used to pinpoint start and other relevant locations for the walks.
We leave Fleckney village car park at 9:30 a.m. (///loses.always.huts).
For these walks you are advised to wear good quality walking boots and carry weatherproof clothing.
We suggest you also bring refreshments as a coffee stop and/or a picnic stop is also usually on the cards.
For those who are car sharing to walks outside of Fleckney, passengers are requested to subsidise their driver by the amount of 20p per mile (one way). For example, if the start of the walk was 10 miles from Fleckney the fee would be 10 x 20p = £2.
If you fancy leading a walk, there are plenty of ideas for walks here.
During the summer months we also have Thursday evening walks of about 4 to 5 miles in length.
This year the majority of the walks will be local ones, no transport required.
We meet at the village car park, by 7 p.m. (///loses.always.huts).
In the event of a walk being cancelled for any reason (usually weather) the walk leader will communicate the cancellation to club members by email and be at the start meeting point to advise anyone who turned up regardless.
The annual cost to join the Fleckney Walking Club is £10 for the Sunday Walks, or £5 to be a Social Member. Thursday Evening Walks are completely FREE.
You can find The Fleckney Walking Club Group on Facebook. This is a private group but you are welcome to apply to join us.
If you would like to join this walk then please fill out the form below and press the Submit button.
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