W/C 2 June 2013 - Southwell and the River Trent

This has to be my longest walk so far, taking 15.5 hours of pretty solid walking. I can't believe I made it! As usual, I was on my own. I walked out along the southern edge of Mansfield to Rainworth, then via Southwell to Fiskerton on the River Trent. I went south along the river to Gedling before following roads to Arnold, Rise Park, Hucknall and Annesley. There are few photos this week - not a lot to shoot at I am afraid, this time.

I began by heading for the south of Mansfield, along the road at the back of the college. From here, there is a trackway called Old Newark Road which took me towards Rainworth. I crossed the A617 and headed for a short way along the old Midland Railway line to the outskirts of Rainworth. From here, I had to use roads, including a long section with no footpath to get the The White Post Inn on the A614. Fortunately, motorists were very considerate and gave me a wide berth along the dangerous bit! I could have used the Robin Hood Way, which runs almost parallel to the road at this point, but decided not to.

From the White Post, I walked a short way up the A614 to join the footpath to Southwell, the imaginatively named Southwell Trail. This was once part of the same railway line I used earlier. Joining it from the main road was up a very steep bank - totally unofficial as far as I can see, but Ok once you get to the top. It soon opens out into something that looks more official. Soon you arrive at a picnic site, near to where a branch from Bilsthorpe joins, just north of Farnsfield. The walk to Southwell pretty uneventful, mostly passing between tall hedgerows which severely limited the view. There was a brief glimpse of the Old Silk Mill at Maythorne (should have taken a photo really!) before the trail ended at Normanton Road in Southwell. I quickly found another path to my left which follwed a stream through to the A612, more or less following the route of the old railway line. As a result I missed the interesting centre of Southwell. I guess there will always be another time!

At this stage I realised I mad fallen off the edge of the map. There was a small corner out to the Trent at Fiskerton that was not covered by either of my Landranger maps of the area. I hadn't really decided what to do at this stage but resolved to make for the River Trent at Fiskerton. The day was quite hot by then, so I figured it would be a bit cooler along the river. I followed the road, which runs more or less in a straight line all the way. Apart from a brief halt at Fiskerton level crossing to let a train go by, this was plain sailing all the way - though a couple of miles or so had no footpath.

At Fiskerton, I turned south along the west bank of the Trent. this is the view from just up river as I left the village.

and here is a view from around half way to Gunthorpe Bridge. This was shooting into the sun, so not very colourful. It does illustrate the general topography of the walk though - a flat valley with the river meandering around, running past small sandstone cliffs.

At Gunthorpe, I had the choice of  turning up towards Oxton and over towards Mansfield, or heading further along the Trent towards Nottingham. At this stage I had been doing around 7 hours walking, but was still feeling reasonably fresh. I had several options in my mind, but was conscious that I was unlikely to get home in daylight. My choice was to head towards Nottingham, where I knew there would be buses and trains to get me home if necessary. There are kilometre posts along the river bank so I was able to check my speed. To may surprise I was still doing just fractionally under 4mph, even after 8 or 9 hours walking.

I got to the railway viaduct at Netherfield (pictured above). This was the last option to change my mind I knew that it would be dark in 2 hours at most. I had the choice of walking over towards Arnold or down to Nottingham - either of which offered options to get me home by public transport. I settled for Arnold.

This is where I made a rare navigational error. I realised that the only reliable way would be to do lots of street walking. That would give me lighting when it got dark. After topping up on food and drink at a shop in Netherfield, I started to make my way to Gedling - but took a wrong turn and ended up in Carlton instead! It took me half an hour to get back on route. By the time I reached Arnold, it was dark.

Amazingly, I still felt fairly fit - this was after 11 hours walking. I decided to carry on through Rise Park to Moor Bridge, where again I would be on a good bus route. Instead of catching a bus though, I just kept on going and going. By midnight I was at the very northern edge of Hucknall and half an hour later I was in Annesley. By the time I approached home, there were only cats for company - plus a solitary hedgehog patrolling the streets.

I got home still not feeling exhausted. Unfortunately, some blisters developed on the balls of my feet a couple of hours from home. Otherwise, I felt tired, but in good shape for a few miles more.

Overall it took me 15.5 hours, including a few very brief stops. Even at an average of 3mph the distance would have been about 45 miles. At an average of 4mph the distance would be over 60 miles. I did a quick check of the closest route I could by road using the RAC Route Planner. I came up with about 50 miles. Allowing for the meandering of the River Trent and a couple of other minor variations between the road and walking routes I must have done something just over 50 - definitely a record for me!