■Distance: 7½ miles/12km ■ Time: 3½ hours ■ Grade: Moderate

■Distance: 5 miles/8km ■Time: 3 hours ■Grade: Moderate

Old fossils, new forest: explore aeons of natural history in this pleasantly hilly part of Leicestershire.

■Distance: 5¾ miles/9.2km ■ Time: 3 hours ■ Grade: Moderate

■Distance: 8 miles/12.9km ■ Time: 4 hours ■ Grade: Moderate

“ I met Charles Dickens today, except he had clearly been so busy working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood that he had fallen asleep, so I didn’t get to speak to him!” I laughingly proclaimed to Ro when