Ilkeston - A Familiar Route
w/e 19 March 2023
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
We needed to visit the Waterside
Retail Park off Station Road so decided to follow a route we
have walked many times before along the towpath of the Erewash
Canal.
We joined the canal at Potter's Lock.
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As we proceeded along the towpath it soon became apparent that
someone had been busy at work cutting back and removing many
of the rushes and other plants that had been growing along the
edge of the water.
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The work to clear the canal appears to have frightened many of
the waterfowl away. Usually it is alive with swans, coots, moorhens,
ducks and many other species but we only saw this pair of mallards
for the duration of our walk along the towpath.
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Passing the fishing platforms and as we rounded the corner to
the long straight stretch of the canal to Station Road, we were
impressed by the height of the tree on the other bank. That's
one big tree!
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It was along that straight stretch that we passed a partly submerged
vessel and as we passed we spotted its name "Dignity".
It's fair to say in this state, there's not a great deal of dignity
left for this abandoned vessel.
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We left the towpath and climbed the steps up to Station Road
at bridge number 20.
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We crossed the road and approached the Retail Park which, with
the number of vehicles parked, looked to be busy. This is hardly
surprising as parking is free whereas the Council run car parks
in the town centre all require a fee to be paid. I'm sure the
town centre shop owners would welcome a return of free parking
there too.
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We could have returned to the canal and continued round the back
of the Retail Park to the next bridge, a footbridge over the
canal onto Wash Meadow but instead crossed the canal on Station
Road and approached Wash Meadow via the side streets off Station
Road.
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Wash Meadow is more commonly known as Johnny's to local residents
and from the entrance off Meadow Street an unmade footpath to
the right created by footfall of many people leads to the above
mentioned footbridge. We chose the tarmac path to the left and
made our way across Johnny's to the exit to Rutland Street.
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From there it was only as short walk along Rutland Street to
the bottom of Bath Street and the bus back home.
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