Aylestone Meadows (A Guided Walk in Leicester)
"Aylestone Meadows" is one of the very popular Guided Walks devised and led by Blue Badge Guide Colin Crosby, of Colin Crosby Heritage Tours.
These walks are an enjoyable way of learning some Local History.
The walk explores some of the delights in the waterside area of Aylestone, not far from Leicester City Centre.
The starting point is St. Andrews Church, Aylestone. This is on Middleton Street - the road that becomes Braunstone Lane.
Around Aylestone there are lots of footpaths, running beside the water, and also across the extensive open land where there meadows, fields and woods.
The route of the walk includes paths beside the River Soar, the canal, the mysterious River Biam and the Lubbesthorpe Brook.
The Biam is a river known only to a few, but it flows for about a mile and finally enters the Soar in the vicinity of St. Mary's Mills.
There will also be a stroll along the Great Central Way, created as a footpath and cycleway on the line of the much-lamented Great Central Railway, dismantled under Ernest Marples, the then Minister of Transport.
Some old canal bridges, recognisable by their hump-backed shape, come into view, but a much older structure is the Aylestone packhorse bridge, built in the Middle Ages to carry packhorse trains, bringing coal to Leicester, across the Soar.
Other walks that Colin leads in the Aylestone area are "Old Aylestone", "Waterside Aylestone" and "Waterside Glenhills".
Dates, costs and where to meet
A place on 'Aylestone Meadows' costs £3.50 per person, or £2.50 if paying in advance. The guided walk begins at St. Andrews Church, Aylestone, and is running on:
I'm sorry, but there are no plans to run this event at present.
If you would like to book a place on one of these dates, please telephone Colin on (0116) 2611576 or email him at colin@crosbyheritage.co.uk.