Shipley - Around Shipley Common
w/e 07 April 2013
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

We started and finished this short walk on the very edge of Ilkeston in the Borough of Erewash but the majority of the route lies within the Amber Valley District and in particular in the Parish of Shipley.

Shipley Common

We began on Shipley Common Lane and walked down the track with Shipley Common on the right and the Shipley View Housing Estate to the left. The plan was to walk towards Mapperley and return along the Nutbrook Trail which runs along the hedge line in the distance to the bank on the right and then heads off towards Shipley Hill seen here on the skyline in the far distance.
Nutbrook Trail Crossing

The track leads to this junction on the Nutbrook Trail and where the track opposite descends slightly before rising again to Mapperley Village. We followed that route a little way but when the conditions underfoot deteriorated and became waterlogged, we returned to this junction as we were not wearing appropriate footwear to be splashing through the mud. That called for a change to the original plan so we turned to follow the Nutbrook Trail (to the right) to proceed along our originally planned return route.
New Footbridge

It's been some time since we walked this part of the Nutbrook Trail but as we approached the bank seen in the first image above, we found that a new footbridge has been constructed onto the Common which we hadn't seen before. On previous walks we have scrambled both up and down the bank on the left of this image but on this occasion we chose to stick to the tarmac and followed the Trail round to the left.
Waterlogged

It was a dry and sunny afternoon and still very cold although most of the recent snow had melted to leave channels of water and sodden ground on both side of the Trail.
Nr. Lodge Farm

Had we been able to continue with our original plan we would have approached this junction near Lodge Farm along the lane on the left and turned to walk back along the same path we had just followed but in the opposite direction. As it was we turned right here to continue along the Nutbrook Trail towards Shipley Country Park.
Route 67

It was along this part of the Nutbrook Trail which is also part of the National Cycle Route 67 that we had a reminder of spring as we had to pass through a cloud of little black flies or midges.
Fellow Walkers

At the next junction which is close to Shipley Lake in the former American Adventure Theme Park, we turned off the Nutbrook Trail to follow the road leading to the car park that was created for the Theme Park and met a number of other walkers.
Brow Of Hill

Following the road up the hill past the empty, desolate and derelict car park we took the path on the right near the brow of the hill where snow was still lying on the grassy bank.
Snow To The Left

Maybe it was the exertion of the walk up the hill or perhaps because the path was sheltered from the wind by the trees but it felt like a really pleasant spring day along this path despite the snow that was visible on the bank all the way along to the entrance to Shipley Wood.
Shipley Wood

And the sunshine filtering through the branches in Shipley Wood will soon be illuminating hundreds of bluebells when the weather warms even more. At the exit from the wood we turned into Heanor Road to pass the Ilkeston Community Hospital and back to Shipley Common lane, a distance of about two and a half miles in total.

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