Before leaving the grounds of the Erewash Museum, the leaflet I am following for this walk around the town directs our attention to the left and the views of the Erewash Valley. It also points out, from left to right, the parishes of Heanor beyond the houses on the left; Eastwood towards the centre of the picture; Greasley behind and to the right of the tree and Cossall on the right. The built up area in the middle distance is Ilkeston Junction and it is just possible to make out the Bennerley Viaduct to the left of centre.

This view is to the right of the first one and looking across Ilkeston's inner relief road, Chalons Way, looks towards the parishes of Cossall and Strelley. Leaving the museum our walk will take us under the road via an underpass in the bottom right hand corner of the picture.

But first, although strictly speaking not on the town walk, let's take a closer look at the Bennerley Viaduct. This is the view from Newton's Lane on the way to Awsworth with the Bennerley Coal Screening Plant visible through the viaduct on the left. The viaduct was built in 1879 and is now a listed structure.

And this is how the viaduct appears from close to the Awsworth By Pass. Notice the viaduct crosses the Erewash river and in wet weather, the fields of the flood plain often become waterlogged.

As a teenager I remember crossing the viaduct with two school friends on a passenger train pulled by a steam engine bound for Nottingham and a Christmas shopping expedition. Although only eight miles away it was quite an adventure in those days for three young boys. How times have changed. Dr Beeching's axe fell on the rail service in the sixties and it now seems today's adventurers need to scale the wrought iron structure to paint their names on it.

But now back to the museum and the start of our walk. Two paths lead from the museum gates. One is a gentle slope from where this picture was taken and the other leads down the steps in the picture. Both however lead to the underpass which is where we'll pick up the walk in the next part.

Other stages of the "Town Walk" may be seen by following the links from the Archives page