Saturday, 17 October 2009

It rhymes with 'totem' ...

... that's Gotham, a few miles south of Nottingham.

I set off down the M1 last Sunday, thinking I'd be there in next to no time ... and I would have, if the motorway hadn't been subject to a 50mph speed limit because it's being widened.

Parking near the church, I walked along the road towards the south. Just on the edge of the village is the site of some gypsum mines. I walked up the bridleway to the side ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

The bridleway comes out into a field below the Cuckoo Bush. The view behind is fairly flat ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

I'd been following the Gotham Heritage Trail and saw their waymark quite a few times ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

The Cuckoo Bush is an ancient tumulus but in more recent times, but still a few hundred years ago, local people tried to cage a cuckoo nearby in the hope that summer would last all year round. Then the crops would grow and there would be work and food for the peasants ...

On reaching Leake New Wood I could just see the tall chimney of Ratcliffe on Soar power station sticking up above the woodland.

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

I'd already seen more walkers and horse riders than I had on the whole of my last walk in Nottinghamshire.

Underfoot there was a crunch of dead leaves ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

I came out of the wood, looking towards [somewhere in the distance] Kegworth and Sutton Bonnington ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

I followed the footpath in the photo above as it ran alongside the hedgeline. The path had not been ploughed up !  Now what's the betting that if we had been in Derbyshire it would have been ploughed ~ or overgrown and uneven.

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

At the far side of this field I turned round and looked back from whence I had come ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

As I walked back towards the woods, on a different bridleway, there were signs of violent death strewn across the track ~ the remains of the prey ?

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

Not all of Nottinghamshire is flat ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

As I was passing Hillside Farm, I caught a glimpse of Gotham again in the valley ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

I climbed Soldiers Lane and noticed a pillbox to my right. Hard to believe that 70 years ago, we were afraid of being invaded.

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

There were a couple of horses at the gate, just dying to be photographed.

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

Also by the gate was another Gotham Heritage Trail interpretation panel. You may have to enlarge it to read it ... but it's worth it ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

A bridleway runs along Gotham Hill and beside Gotham Hill Wood there's this block of stone ~ a boundary stone or a mounting block ? Too small for the latter surely ... 

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

 Back in Gotham, near the church, I saved a life. I say it modestly ... it was just an insect, a shield beetle I think. You can just see it on the right hand side of the photo below ...

Around Gotham ... it rhymes with 'totem' ~ 11th October 2009

It had been caught in a tatty cobweb.

Then I had a burger in the Cuckoo Bush [a pub].

Date of walk ~ 11th October 2009

Length of walk ~ 5 1/4 miles.


Total since 1st September 2009 ~ 43 3/4 miles

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