Ilkeston - A Walk With Jewl - Part 02
w/e 18 April 2010
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
This second part of our walk with our son's dog Jewl,
takes us back from Little Hallam Hill to Straw's Bridge Nature
Reserve (also known as Swan Lake).
The first part of the return leg is along a footpath by the Nut
Brook behind the houses on Godfrey Drive at Kirk Hallam which
are just visible on the left of this image. The path is not as
well surfaced as the Nutbrook Trail but does provide an alternative
aspect to the former railway route.
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For about a third of the way on our return route the path runs
parallel, but at a slightly lower level, to the Nutbrook Trail.
The Trail can be seen here on the opposite side of the Nut Brook
which was flowing quite freely despite a fair amount of natural
debris in the water.
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We were quite surprised by the clarity of the water especially
as further along the natural debris was supplemented by several
items of man made detritus. Although this image looks like a
countryside scene, it is perhaps worth pointing out that the
Kirk Hallam housing is just out of shot on the left and we are
still within the town boundary. At this point though both the
path and the brook begin to diverge from the Nutbrook Trail and
head in a more westerly direction.
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Whereas the Nutbrook Trail passes behind Kirk Hallam School,
our route now takes us across the entrance road at the front
of the school and alongside the lake on Godfrey Drive. The seat
at the side of the path towards the right of the image is at
the position of an former lock on the Nutbrook Canal.
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After passing the lake we paused to look back and could see the
school through the trees. The white object in the Nut Brook on
the left was a swan but there were many more water birds that
were of great interest to Jewl on the lake. It goes without saying
that she was on the lead here otherwise we could well have had
a very wet dog!
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Approaching the area known as Kirk Hallam Meadows there are several
unmade paths across the fields that would return us to Swan Lake
but we chose to leave the route of the Nut Brook and crossed
the footbridge to follow a tarmaced path.
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That path led in a short distance to these football and rugby
pitches at the side of the school and we followed the access
road to Derby Road.
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The access road has now been blocked by large concrete structures
presumably for safety reasons regarding entrance and egress on
the corner at Straw's Bridge where Derby Road meets High Lane
East. The pedestrian crossing however on High Lane East provides
easy access to Swan Lake as the entrance to the Nature Reserve
is just beyond on the right.
Back to Part 01
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