Aylestone Riverside Ramble

By car: leave Narborough Road and go down Evesham Road, crossing Heyworth Road, to where it crosses the Great Central Railway Cycle Route and enters an industrial estate. There is parking at the crossing for a few cars. There are alternative car parks at: Canal Street - SK 573013,  South West car park near the Black Horse pub - SK 568009.and Aylestone Road - SK 578017

By bus: several services run along Narborough Rd (A5460) and Aylestone Rd (A42).

[1] Ignore the ornamented wicket gate into the park ahead of you. Instead, turn left along the metalled cycleway you've just driven over. Ignore the first metalled path on the left.  Be careful of cyclists approaching from behind. The cycleway was formerly the Great Central Railway Line. Take the second metalled path, leaving diagonally to your left and dropping down to the River Biam and then turn right to pass under the railway bridge which is on your original path. You initially follow the river and then come out onto the busy Braunstone Lane East. 

[2] Directly facing you across this road, to the left of the wall, is a path entering the sports field area.  Cross the road with care. There is a refuge available to the right  if you need it. Follow the narrow muddy path through the trees and across a small footbridge, then past the tennis courts to reach the football pitch. Go round the left margin of the pitch to the pavilion then keep on until the track almost rejoins Braunstone Lane. Take the right turn here past the children's play area then go left through the wide gap in the hedge.

In dry weather you can cut across the pitch.

[3] Crossing a stream, turn right to follow it straight on, ignoring a track on the left, until at a T-junction you can go no further. Turn left, following the path through the trees then veer left through a hedge gap. Ignore a stile on the right then cross a small footbridge. The path widens. At the next T-junction take the metalled path right. You pass on your left an open grassed area with information boards, but keep on over a metal bridge with a kissing gate to your right and a footbridge to the left. Keep on to cross over an interesting old stone packhorse bridge (A), which brings you to a canal bridge by where the River Soar meets the Grand Union Canal.

The canal and river are one and the same at this point.

You can cross the canal here, go through  the south west car park (B), which is an alternative start point, and you will find the Black Horse pub (C) a hundred yards up the lane - you could also turn right along the canal a hundred yards to find the pleasant Kings Lock Tea Rooms (D).

[4] Turn left to follow the near side of the canal, staying on the tow path for a considerable distance and passing under both the Great Central Way on an elegant steel viaduct and Braunstone Lane. The path is beautiful here, with well-kept gardens on the other bank. Follow the the tow path under Canal Street Bridge (marked 107 - Parsons) and shortly thereafter you will find a footpath up the bank on your left which leads you up to Canal Street. Turn right to reach the alternative car park (E), which lies on the main path network. Turn right through the bollards next to the galvanised field gate. After a short while fork left then turn right into an open area. Follow the path round the right hand side of this area and it finally gently swings left to join another path from the large Aylestone Road car park (F).

If you go right here past the car park you will return to the canal and Aylestone Mill Lock (G). 

Otherwise turn left and stick with this main path as it swings first right and then left, passing a children's 'playpath'  (H) to drop down to a bridge across the river.

[5]  Cross the bridge before turning right on a diagonal gravel path. This path passes an overgrown pond before emerging out of trees onto a metalled path past Aylestone Meadows nature reserve (I). Turn right, following the path round as it swings to the left and emerges through the ornamental gates to your starting point.

This is the southern end of Leicester’s Riverside Park. The Riverside is a twelve-mile long green corridor running through the city along the river Soar and the Grand Union Canal and a focus for regeneration in the City. It is regionally important for wildlife and comprises a network of open spaces, nature reserves and parks. It has a range of cycle paths and footpaths, and is subject to constant change due to a number of the regeneration projects along the river and canal corridors. New planting have matured into a warren of intricate copses.

This area runs from the ring road by Fosse Park through to St Mary’s Mill Lock by the Ivanhoe rail line. The area to its north along this corridor includes Abbey Park and continues north into Watermead Park.

This southern section is cut by Braunstone Lane East but can be crossed either under by the tow path of the canal or over via the bridge carrying a long distance trail along the old track bed of the Great Central Railway. Previously running from London to Manchester this line closed in 1963 but in the 1980s became a cycle and foot way which is now part of the National Cycle Network.

The area includes a number of reclamation sites. There is the site of an old gas works and what was its employees sports ground. South of Braunstone Lane there is the remains of a demolished sports pavilion on what used to be extensive playing fields and to the north and east Aylestone Meadows Local Nature Reserve was a municipal tip until 1960s. The west side of this reserve runs along the valley of the River Biam.

The Park is well stocked with information boards giving maps of the footpaths and notes on the natural features to be seen.