An interesting day yesterday, walked 12 miles, used 5 buses and sampled beer in the Old Sawley Brewery Tap. In detail…………..
East Midlands Airport perimeter trail
Trail of Life by Zahir Shaikh – Concrete and Mosaic tiles
The Aero Park looks more interesting from the Google satellite than on the ground but then I have no interest in aircraft. The north end of Diseworth Road is where plane spotters settle and the path from here is well used and rather muddy. There are some nice heath type bits from here on but I suspect they may disappear. Good views north and the huge earth moving operation to prepare for the Gateway.
East Midlands Gateway site preparations March 2017
There is no escape from the Trail across the A453 to the Kegworth road so I had to complete the loop. They have dumped all the planings from the runway resurfacing around here, looks like another car park in the making. So instead of walking into Kegworth I got the Leicester Skylink, 2 miles but I had to wait 20 minutes I think it was just quicker by bus. A circular walk of just over 6 miles.
Start of the towpath walk Kegworth Bridge
The river towpath north of Kegworth bridge was also new to me. I’ve used L63 a few times and boated along the river but never used the towpath which is free of obstructions with a bridge by the lock and stiles along the way. The towpath is often very close to the RoW but with a stream between them there is no linkage along the way.
The link between FP L63 and the riverside towpath
L63 crosses a footbridge at SK491286 to meet the towpath and they become one. On the south side of the A453 there is a good link to a path alongside the A453 going west to Long Lane and east over the canal before passing under the road to link with L62 BW. However this is a dead end at a ford.
What we do not have and you might question whether we need it is a link on the north side between L63 the towpath and BW L101. On the ground it is apparent that folk do want this link because a narrow and difficult path has been created and is well used.
Missing link L101 to L63
I’m not clear where L101 goes as the only official route is a path on the north side of the A453 heading towards Nottingham but I saw no path dropping down to link with BW L62. If we used the towpath or L63 from Kegworth and wanted a through route to the north then this small link would be useful avoiding a double back along L61 or L61A.
I didn’t travel further along L63, beyond the A453, here it is effectively the towpath through to the Trent. I’m not sure how useful it would be but we appear to have lost a link with Notts for L84, old maps show a bridge here and later maps show a possible bridge just downstream. Since the levels were altered to prevent flooding there is no bridge so no link with Notts.
More devastation hedge pyres prepare the way for gravel extraction
