Friday, 2 October 2009

Along the Cuckoo Way ...

The sun was shining brightly as I parked beside Shireoaks Marina, near Worksop, last Saturday to try and finalise a walk around Worksop for my next Pocket Pub Guide ...

Initially I walked along the Chesterfield Canal towards Worksop itself and passed the Lock Keeper. Just beyond this I swung right to cross the Worksop bypass. I managed it but I wouldn't want to ask walkers to do it regularly or in a group. Crossing the dual carriageway [even near a roundabout] should be avoided wherever possible !

I continued west towards Manor Lodge and Lady Lee, walking alongside the River Ryton ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009


Near what used to be a pub, Manor Lodge, I turned north towards Lady Lee and Rhodesia. Just as I entered Rhodesia, I noticed this on a gate ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

There's been quite a lot of trouble with these noisy irritating vehicles on the edge of towns. I would imagine some of the local kids have been racing them along the bridleway I had just walked along. If a horse and rider had been coming the other way just think what could have happened.
Now it seems the Police can seize the vehicles [and destroy them ?]. Hurrah !

Almost as soon as I got into Rhodesia I was walking out of it, towards the Chesterfield Canal.

Just before I reached it I crossed this wooden stile ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

It just struck me as such an English scene.

I walked up the embankment to the canal and had a look along it, towards Rhodesia and the lock before the railway bridge ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

I skirted Shireoak, walking around the southern side of it. I passed Shireoaks Hall ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

I rejoined the canal half a mile east of Turnerwood and walked through some of the loveliest countryside you could imagine. The sun seemed to encourage the fish to rise near the surface much more than when I had walked through this area a few weeks ago.

Then there was the piling that British Waterways is undertaking, to shore up the canal bank here and there ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

  It's obviously much more mechanised than it used to be ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

It was getting so warm that I was kicking myself for not wearing my shorts though there was the shade along the side of the canal from the trees. This was welcome ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

When I reached Turnerwood I called at the last cottage on the right and had another ice cream from the little redbrick kiosk there. Apparently they only opened 'Orchard Teas @ Turnerwood' four months or so ago. It's a nice idea and I hope it goes well. They just sell local ice cream, tea and coffee but an ice cream in particular was very welcome on this hot day.

In the next photo the 'last cottage on the right' is out of picture to the left ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

With ice cream cone in hand I walked away from the canal towards Brancliffe Grange. The path follows the canal feeder all the way to the Grange.

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

Once you get to the Grange the canal feeder keeps straight on, rising gently all the time of course, before it wheels through 180 degreees to enter the woodland of Moses Seat to the north of the grange. I turned right on reaching the bridleway into the wood and then left, in front of Dove Cottage ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

Just beyond Dove Cottage I turned southward along a bridleway towards the railway line ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

A couple of fields later I was back beside the canal and walking east ...

The Cuckoo Way runs along the Chesterfield Canal for its entire journey except where the canal no longer exists ... and where the canal passes through Norwood Tunnel. Here's one of the Cuckoo Way signs in Shireoaks ...

The Cuckoo Way ~ 26th September 2009

So then it was back to the marina ...

 Date of walk ~ 26th September 2009

Length of walk ~ 6 1/2 miles.


Total since 1st September 2009 ~ 31 1/2 miles.

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