It was supposed to be raining, but the day turned out really nice, so I decided to do an afternoon walk. As with many of my own walks, it turned out to be slightly longer than I had anticipated. I returned in darkness, just after 9pm. This one was around 25-30 miles.
I began by following the River Maun towards Mansfield. Historically, this is well known for a high concentration of mill ponds and mills, though in most cases little is left but the water features. Slightly off-route is The Lawn, a park in Sutton-in-Ashfield. This contains an old mill pond.
Just across the A38 main road is Kings Mill reservoir. This served an old mill, long demolished. This has major recreational use, including sailing. There is also a wide variety of bird life. Unfortunately, it has a lot of weed at this time of year.
Kings Mill Hospital looks very dramatic as a background.
Just beyond the end of Kings Mill Reservoir is the Kings Mill viaduct. This was built around 1820 for the horse-drawn Mansfield & Pinxton Railway. It is the oldest railway viaduct in England. Today, it is part of a footpath into Mansfield.
From the viaduct, you can see there is another mill pond, this one serving Hermitage Mill.
The building still survives, though in a terrible, much-disfigured state.
There was a further mill at Sheepbridge Lane, served by mill ponds from a tributary of the Maun. Just beyond, the Midland Railway built a viaduct across the River Maun for its branch line to Southwell.
The last Maun Valley mill pond on my trip was for Field Mill. This is right on the outskirts of Mansfield town centre. The building on the right is the last remaining building, though other traces remain. The mill pond is silting up quite badly.
Field Mill is most famous for other reasons, being the home of Mansfield Town Football Club.
Beyond the reservoir is Portland Park, one of several of that name in the area. It is named after the Duke of Portland, a very large landowner in the area in times past. He generously donated land for several purposes, including public parks and hospitals.
Climbing south-east, there are wonderful views over Mansfield town centre. This view was from Windsor Road, more or less where the Midland Railway's Southwell branch passed underneath.
I followed the route of the railway out of Mansfield towards Rainworth. Much of the route has been converted into a footpath. On the outskirts of Rainworth, I turned west briefly onto the Old Newark Road. Wind turbines were very much in view!
Eventually, I turned south towards Ravenshead through some dense woodland called Harlow Wood.
Just before Ravenshead, the path comes out into open farmland. This was the view looking west.
......... and this the view looking east. Blidworth is on the hill on the left.
Passing through Ravenshead, in the direction of Kirkby, I turned off the road onto a public footpath through Newstead Abbey grounds. A smallholding just off the Kirkby road had some exotic bird life...
This is the view south as I approached Newstead Abbey grounds.
The woodland is very pretty, containing some interesting trees.
Beyond the main drive to Newstead Abbey itself, the route joins an ancient lane.
This becomes grassy for a short distance beyond the gatehouse at the other end of Newstead Abbey grounds.
On the outskirts of Papplewick, the path reaches the grounds of Papplewick Hall, which contain some interesting buildings. Unfortunately, it was difficult to take pictures as I would have been shooting into the sun. This was a view looking north west across the hills. Annesley Church is on the hilltop - this is the one at the colliery village, not the ruin at Annesley Hall that featured in a previous walk.
This is almost the same view, but from slightly further down the lane. It shows the cloud formations more clearly.
Papplewick Hall is well hidden in trees. This is the best view I could get - not too bad considering I was shooting into the sun.
Papplewick village has some very characterful stone buildings, including this row of cottages.
The church is well off the main road, down a single track country lane. It is more convenient for Papplewick Hall than for the village.
I caught a glimpse of another mill pond - this time for the mill just outside Papplewick. This is the first of a succession of mill ponds along the Leen Valley down towards Nottingham.
Next was Linby village, which frequently wins competitions for the best-kept village in Notts.
The church is very plain when compared with its neighbour in Papplewick.
From Linby I walked along to the Hucknall bypass, following this road for a short distance before turning north towards Misk Hill. Dusk was approaching rapidly and the sun was well hidden behind a band of thick cloud, making further photography difficult. This is a view looking north towards the Misk Hills and Annesley Woods. Officially this is the southernmost range of hills in the Pennines..
From the top of Misk Hill, this was a view looking east towards Papplewick. I could just make out the front of Papplewick Hall - above the far trees the trees in the middle of the photo. On a sunny day, the frontage almost glows in the sunshine in late afternoon.
This was the view looking to the south east from the same spot.
As I approached Kirkby, this panorama opened up near the bottom of Shoulder of Mutton Hill, looking west towards the sunset. There is a little camera shake as it was a long exposure! The outline of the Derbyshire hills can be seen in the far background. It is not the best of photos, being taken with the cheap pocket digital camera I always use when out walking - but worth a try!. I have better equipment, but it is far too cumbersome to take on a walk.
Finally, on a different day, I took this view of Kings Mill Hospital, looking across from the far side of Kings Mill Reservoir. It is not a brilliant photo either, being taken with the same camera - but worth showing, I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment