The Erewash Valley - A Tale Of Two Canals - No 2 The Nottingham
w/e 02 November 2003

A variation of Broxtowe Borough Council's "New Eastwood" walk

We resume our walk along the two canals in the Erewash Valley between Ilkeston and Eastwood close to the most northerly point of the route on the towpath of the Nottingham Canal.

Swing Bridge

Heading in a southeasterly direction we soon reached this swing bridge over the disused canal. Crossing the bridge would lead us to the start and finish point as described in the "Six of the Best Walks in Broxtowe Borough" booklet that we were following but as we had started part way round the circular walk we continued straight on along the towpath.
Filled In Canal

In another couple of hundred yards or so we crossed Newmanleys Road to the next section where the canal has now been filled in following opencast mining in the area. The Nottingham Canal was first opened in 1796 linking Eastwood with Nottingham but the success of the railways meant that by 1928, canal transportation was no longer considered viable and it had been abandoned by 1937.
Canal Route Only

The uninformed would scarcely comprehend the existence of the Nottingham Canal from this view today but in D. H. Lawrence's day, it was central to his story "The Rainbow" in which it burst its banks and drowned Tom Brangwen. When you know of the canal it is easy to see the route between the track and the fence but a little further on the changed landscape means all signs of the old route disappear.
Parting Of The Ways

At this point of the walk the canal has disappeared altogether but a footpath continues across the fields. Our route at this parting of the ways however was to turn left along the bridle way.
Attractive Junction

 At this junction, looking particularly attractive at this time of year, we turned right to follow a tarmaced lane towards Newthorpe Sewage Works.
Golden Barrier

We had picked a good time of year to walk along this lane that proved a delight to the ocular senses. It was just a pity that those of the auditory kind were offended by the constant drone of traffic on the busy A610 on the other side of the golden barrier.
Sewage Works Gates

The directions in the booklet for the route we were following advise that the lane should be followed to the "entrance gates of Newthorpe Sewage Works". A surfeit of footpaths and bridle ways meet in the vicinity of the works and there are a number of gates across the lane but as this was as far as we could go without authorised access it was here that we turned left. I won't go into details but it was after this point that the directions in the booklet became a little unclear which meant we made an unplanned lengthy detour to return to our starting point. I was not the flavour of the day!
 Bridge Inn

Our plan was to approach the Bridge Inn at Cotmanhay from the left in this picture. Instead we approached along the Erewash Canal towpath which can be seen through the bridge arch. We could have continued along the canal to the Shipley Lock which was the original plan but instead left the route here to return through Cotmanhay to our starting point. The final stretch will have to wait for another day.
Back to Part 01

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