Shipley - Around Shipley Common
w/e 07 April 2013
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
We started and finished this short walk on the very
edge of Ilkeston in the Borough of Erewash but the majority of
the route lies within the Amber Valley District and in particular
in the Parish of Shipley.
We began on Shipley Common Lane and walked down the track with
Shipley Common on the right and the Shipley View Housing Estate
to the left. The plan was to walk towards Mapperley and return
along the Nutbrook Trail which runs along the hedge line in the
distance to the bank on the right and then heads off towards
Shipley Hill seen here on the skyline in the far distance.
|
The track leads to this junction on the Nutbrook Trail and where
the track opposite descends slightly before rising again to Mapperley
Village. We followed that route a little way but when the conditions
underfoot deteriorated and became waterlogged, we returned to
this junction as we were not wearing appropriate footwear to
be splashing through the mud. That called for a change to the
original plan so we turned to follow the Nutbrook Trail (to the
right) to proceed along our originally planned return route.
|
It's been some time since we walked this part of the Nutbrook
Trail but as we approached the bank seen in the first image above,
we found that a new footbridge has been constructed onto the
Common which we hadn't seen before. On previous walks we have
scrambled both up and down the bank on the left of this image
but on this occasion we chose to stick to the tarmac and followed
the Trail round to the left.
|
It was a dry and sunny afternoon and still very cold although
most of the recent snow had melted to leave channels of water
and sodden ground on both side of the Trail.
|
Had we been able to continue with our original plan we would
have approached this junction near Lodge Farm along the lane
on the left and turned to walk back along the same path we had
just followed but in the opposite direction. As it was we turned
right here to continue along the Nutbrook Trail towards Shipley
Country Park.
|
It was along this part of the Nutbrook Trail which is also part
of the National Cycle Route 67 that we had a reminder of spring
as we had to pass through a cloud of little black flies or midges.
|
At the next junction which is close to Shipley Lake in the former
American Adventure Theme Park, we turned off the Nutbrook Trail
to follow the road leading to the car park that was created for
the Theme Park and met a number of other walkers.
|
Following the road up the hill past the empty, desolate and derelict
car park we took the path on the right near the brow of the hill
where snow was still lying on the grassy bank.
|
Maybe it was the exertion of the walk up the hill or perhaps
because the path was sheltered from the wind by the trees but
it felt like a really pleasant spring day along this path despite
the snow that was visible on the bank all the way along to the
entrance to Shipley Wood.
|
And the sunshine filtering through the branches in Shipley Wood
will soon be illuminating hundreds of bluebells when the weather
warms even more. At the exit from the wood we turned into Heanor
Road to pass the Ilkeston Community Hospital and back to Shipley
Common lane, a distance of about two and a half miles in total.
|
