Brinsley Steeple Chase Walk

This is a 5.5 mile circular walk found by Danny. After the success of The Walk in the footsteps of D H Lawrence we backed his route finding ability and went for another one of his walks. This walk was off the Nottinghamshire County Council walks section - Brinsley Steeple Chase.

The walk starts from the public car park just around the corner from Brinsley Lodge. As expected in England on 7th February the ground was nice and soggy in places but frozen in others. This did cause some clown feet moments as mud clung to our walking boots trudging across fields. At least we were all prepared and hadn't gone out ill equipped for the conditions.

As we ventured over one of the fields we realised there was a stunning looking bird in one of the trees.

After consulting with Georgia Locock via Instagram she confirmed it was a female buzzard. I'm not going to question her credentials as "I’ve also featured in wildlife magazines, such as two of the junior RSPB ones, Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife Watch and the BBC wildlife magazine. I’ve also spoke on my local radio station, BBC WM and I’ve had photos and trail camera footage featured in various magazines and on TV programs. These include BBC Autumnwatch and Winterwatch Extra and Unsprung and the CBBC show, Wild." Taken from her blog profile, click name above to see her blog and photos.

About half way into the walk we stumbled across a park, and as always it's hard not to have a play on there if it's empty. Rob was loving life on the "springy things" as always. Check out his Instagram account for his collection of "springy things" and his walk/run photos too.

After a quick mess about it was back on with the walk, the next km is on the roads between Underwood and New Brinsley, before heading back onto tracks again. This was probably the nicest section coming up meandering along side the River Erewash.

River Erewash

River Erewash flowing fast.

Us lot walking + a bridge + twigs = Poohsticks time! The upsetting fact of 4 sticks entering the race and only 2 finishing, we never got to see who came 3rd. Sad Times!

Time for Poohsticks.

From here we then crossed some boggy land, were Sian was in her element after doing the walk in her wellies hitting the mud and puddles head on. Us in walking boots had to use the fences in places to climb our way around some good sized mud pits. Once the sun comes out to play in Summer these paths will be fine and the land will have recovered. At the minute you can tell they have been working hard to improve the area as a nature reserve and the paths have jsut become a little bit boggy.

Anybody for muddy fun?

After this it was a short walk back towards Brinsley past a brilliant phone box that is now a book hut and Brinsley headstock. Now it was time to ditch the muddy walking boots and troussers and enjoy a warming meal inside Brinsley Lodge round the corner from the cars. This seemed a good idea until we all just wanted to have a nice afternoon nap once we had been fed and watered haha.

Phone box has a new use for books.

Brinsley Headstock.

Trent Lock - Attenbrough Nature Reserve walk

So at 10am we met at Trent Lock car park, this was after a 6 hour sleep from the Buxton Midnight walk the night before. A few of aching legs this morning due to playing badminton before the walk too. It was a very warm morning with hardly any clouds in the sky. We set off just after 10am with sun cream all over, loads of water in our bags and a few little snacks too. From Trent Lock we walked along the Cranfleet Canal which was built so boats can travel along the River Trent avoiding the weir. Trent Lock is also the home of The Nottingham Yacht Club, we saw a group of rowers warming up on rowing machine next to the Trent which amused a few of us thinking they had forgot their boat.

Cranfleet Canal, Nottinghamshire.

Once past Cranfleet Canal we walked along the Erewash Valley Trail. By about 2km into the walked the temperature increased as the breeze dropped and the Trent looked like a very big swimming pool to cool down in. However the nice chilled water in our bags did the trick as none of us really wanted to jump into the River. Along the Trail there was so much wildlife with hundreds of Common Blue Damselfly along with Swans, Mallards, Canada Geese plus loads more. If you’ve got an I-spy book and a set of binoculars you will be sorted for hours.

River Trent, loving the reflection in the water.

Once we made it to Attenborough Nature Reserve we had a little nature stop at the Visitor Centre. After suffering mindless vandalising a few weeks ago to the bridge we thought it would buy a few snacks to keep us going and to help them out, as it’s such a good facility run by volunteers and by donations. The annoying Canada Geese took a liking to Mathew and his flapjack and one had a little nibble at his finger. It did start a debate about if there should be a cull of them as they are taking over the waterways from native Swans and Geese.

 

From here we walked around the back to Attenborough Church which looked amazing with a perfect blue sky behind it, then past Attenborough Cricket Club which again looked really nice with the sun beating down on it as players warmed up for the match that afternoon. A few minutes later we were back on the trail at the side of the Trent and on the homeward leg of the walk. It gets me every time, the minute your back on the Trent it feels like you will be back at Trent Lock in minutes. From this point it was still another 6km back to the cars. The walk back was far more peaceful than the walk there as we passed far less cyclists than the way out. This meant we could walk as a group rather than single file and with the sun still beating down this led to conversations about holidays and were we all want to go next. Before we knew it Cranfleet Canal was back in view which meant one thing….FOOD! It was time to sit down in the sun out the back of the Trent Lock Pub and enjoy a nice afternoon bite to eat with a beverage to refresh after the walk.


Nice house and boat along the River Trent.

In total it was 14km so in a 24 hours period this walk, Buxton and a dog walk totalled up to about 27km (17 miles). Home, World Cup, afternoon nap and relax! The foam roller was very handy for some self-myofascial release.

Overall in 2014 with the free walks I've organised with clients, friends and family we have clocked up 130km (80 miles). Have a look on the NHS website for benefits of walking.

Bring on the next walk, once I've planned it.