Stoke Bardolph

I was up and out by 8:00 am to try and avoid walking in the hottest part of the day. I headed out of the City via the Sneinton Greenway - a footpath that follows the railway line out to Colwick Racecourse and the Colwick Country Park.

The Racecourse

 Paddling in the Colwick Lakes

 The Ferryboat Inn at Stoke Bardolph, a nice spot for a riverside pint, unfortunately it was a bit early for a drink:-

 The Millenium Sun dial at Burton Joyce, makes a good dog hitching post:-

 1,2,3 smile:-

 I walked through the farmland between Burton Joyce and Gedling:-

 After the Gedling House Woods and Meadow Nature Reserve, it was back into the City to Carlton, where I stopped at Tesco to get some lunch and water the dogs. When I came out of the shop there were three women clucking around the dogs, refilling their water bowl (for the third time).

I noticed a theme at all of the petrol stations that I passed; queues out onto the street, in anticipation of a tanker drivers strike:-

The dogs and I started to flag on the long walk up Carlton Hill and my muscles were aching on the descent down the other side. We did 8 hours of walking - I went straight into a Radox bath when I got home.

West Bridgford

I did a 5 hour, circular walk around West Bridgford and Gamston this morning. I followed the canal out to Trent Bridge and across into West Bridgford. The Southreef development, down by the canal hasn't progressed at all since I mentioned it last August. Here's a photo that I took then:-
And today:-
I followed a stretch of the disused Grantham canal out towards Gamston
I had to backtrack and make a detour along the main road as these swans refused to let us pass, I tried several times but think that they would have broken my arms with their wings, or pecked the dogs to pieces if I'd tried to push past them, they must have a nest nearby:-
I stopped for lunch in the park at West Bridgford on my way back home:-

Return to Chilwell

I did the return journey to pick up my car this morning. I followed the canal most of the way, then cut through the Attenborough Nature Reserve and through Chilwell . As it was flat towpath, I buried my head in my book as I walked, with the dogs on the leash to prevent them from getting into mischief while I read.

I'm reading War by Sebastian Junger. The author spent a year following a platoon of American soldiers, fighting in the Korenghal Valley, Afghanistan. The author also directed the documentary "Restrepo", which I haven't seen yet, covering the same subject.
The canal had been dredged recently and there were various items of scrap metal on the bank, awaiting collection.

Chilwell

I parked the car in Chilwell and walked back home - thats a distance of about 7 miles. I intended to start the walk with a circuit of Hobgoblin Wood. When I got there, however, I discovered that it is inaccessible, it forms part of the Chilwell barracks complex.

My walk through Chilwell followed the route of the new tram line which has just started construction. Quite a lot of green space will be lost to the tram. All this will go:-
Another area of trees that have been cleared:-
A big chunk of Chilwell High Road will go too:-
The rest of the walk was familiar to me, through Beeston, where I used to live, and then through the University of Nottingham Campus.

The dogs in the small botanical garden on the Campus:-
I will do a different route back to Chilwell tomorrow to retrieve my car.

Lambley Dumbles

I headed out of the City through St Anns, Mapperley and Woodthorpe. After about 3 miles I reached a footpath across fields which took me to Lambley, passing through the Lambley Dumbles.
I learnt, today, that a dumble is a steep sided, wooded valley created at the end of the last ice age, 10,ooo years ago, by the ice melt forming streams that cut deep into the bedrock. Here's one:-
Lambley was the site of an old orchard:-
I walked through Lambley and continued North Eastwards, away from the City. Lambley:-
As I left Lambley, I walked past the Lambley Reed Pond Nature Reserve:-
I followed a footpath across fields for several more miles to Lowdham:-
The Beast of Lowdham:-
I had lunch in Lowdham and caught a bus back into the City. The dogs milked the passengers for attention, getting lots of oohs and aahs:-

Cotgrave

I drove 8 miles out to Cotgrave Country Park for the start of this 5 hour walk. It's a great park, yet another one that I had never visited before:-
A quick dip in Heron Lake:-
There were quite a few dogs out:-
The park is huge, built on the site of the coal pit. After a circuit of the northern part of the park, I walked through Cotgrave. I had heard that there is a colony of stingless bees that live in this wall, so stopped to have a look. The wall was riddled with holes where they have made their homes, but I guess they are still hibernating:-
On the other side of Cotgrave lies a privately owned forest used for pheasant shoots and timber. I have been here before, but it was more than ten years ago as I didn't have the dogs then. This area has been cleared and replanted since I was last here. The replanting didn't look too successful as there seemed to be a lot of empty tree protection sleeves:-
There are still plenty of trees left though:-
I took a track that led to the small village of Clipston, then headed north across farmland for a couple of miles. There was a group of people out metal detecting in a freshly ploughed field. I had a chat with one of them who showed me their haul, some coins from the 17oo's and a sack tie used when grain was valuable.
The path led me to the disused Grantham canal which took me back into the Country Park:-
The dogs were filthy, so had a wash when I got home - it's only a week since their last wash.

Drying off outside "The Bell":-
No matter how many bins are provided there will always be litter - a woman walked past and dropped this piece of litter:-

Bestwood Country Park

Today's walk was with Diane and Otis. It didn't start too well as Otis went tearing off into a field of horses, it reminded me of the Fenton video. Luckily some joggers spotted him and I managed to catch up with him before he got into the road by the entrance.

The park is built on a former colliery. By the entrance stands the winding house:-
We walked for about a mile through grassland on gentle hillocks and into a wooded area called "Big Wood". We kept Otis on the lead after his escapade but let him off again once we were into the woods:-
We went for lunch at the Horse and Groom in Linby and filled it with labradors. Otis eyeing up my steak and ale pie:-

Clifton Wood

I took the dogs out to Clifton Wood today. The aim was to see if I could find Seqouiadendron Giganteum. I walked through the City Centre to the River Trent and crossed via this pedestrian bridge, which I think will be used as the river crossing for the tram when the new line is built:-
After a mile or so, walking along the south bank of the river, I arrived at the entrance to the woods:-
The woods are on a very steep slope coming down to the river bank, with a path running alongside the river at the base of the slope. The obligatory dogs bottoms photo:-
Swamp dog:-
After half a mile or so I arrived at Holme Pit Pond. I had to put the dogs on the leads here as there were several anglers and Milo tried to snaffle some sandwiches:-
I found out from another walker that the Seqouiadendron Giganteum were to be found at the top of the hill and so I headed up a very slippery, very steep goat trail. I almost slipped back down a number of times, but just managed it, having to grasp onto little saplings to pull myself up. I was fair peched by the time I got to the top, the dogs had no problems getting up there and sat on the hill top watching me struggle. Here's the view down the slope, although it doesn't really show how steep it was. The Grafham Water Health and safety team would have a fit if they saw this slope:-
The climb was worth it, as I found what I was looking for:-
The woods used to form part of the grounds of Clifton Hall and this Giant Redwood was planted in about 1830. A short distance away there is another one:-

The descent from the hilltop was even more perilous than the route up and had me nearly swooning with fear a couple of times. I had to do a bottom slide for the last bit of the descent. My route back to the riverside took me down this long grass footpath:-
I crossed the river at Clifton Bridge, a busy dual carriageway (the A52).
The north side of the river at this point is a concrete jungle - busy roads, flyovers, retail parks and industrial estates:-

In amongst all the concrete is King's meadow nature reserve, a tiny patch of orchid habitat:-
The weather has been fantastic the last couple of days, I'm trying to build up the dogs and my stamina for the summer and so am gradually increasing the distances. I'm not sure how far I walked today, but I was walking for five and a half hours.