So with six walks completed during the first week of the Festival, it was on to the second week with five more walks planned and all completed without mishap. From the hundreds of images captured during the week, the hardest task was selecting just a couple from each walk to give a flavour of the week showing a cross section of walkers and landscapes. I hope you enjoy the images as much as we enjoyed the walking.



On Monday we joined up with the Erewash Ramblers again for one of their shorter walks of about four and a half miles, the "West Hallam and the Nutbrook Canal". This walk started in the village centre and followed a footpath across the fields to the High Lane near the Newdigate pub. From there we took the lane towards Mapperley Brook following a devious path through the woods and the former coal screening site. Following the Nutbrook Canal and the Nutbrook Trail we made our way to Manner Floods and stopped for a picnic lunch.

The weather forecast for Monday had been for cloud but remaining dry and while this was nearly true there was a heavy autumn mist during the morning that almost but not quite, felt like a fine drizzle. Someone described it as "mizzle" - a cross between mist and drizzle. Unfortunately the misty conditions limited the number of landscape views from the return to the village via the Centenary Way, a long distance footpath from Ilkeston to Ashbourne but as we neared the end of the walk the walkers paused for a group photo.

You've often heard the phrase "What a difference a day makes" and this was a case in point as on Tuesday afternoon we were transported back to one of those summer days where shirt sleeves were the order of the day. The walk was in Shipley Country Park, about three miles in length and was one in the weekly programme of walks led by the Heanor Walking for Health group.

The title of the walk was the "Circular Theme Park Walk", the theme park in question being the former American Adventure and before that the ill-fated Britannia Park. The theme park site is now fenced off and nature has reclaimed much of the area where the amusements and buildings once stood. Plans are afoot for redevelopment of the area but the proposals include the retention of the lake. At the moment the best views of the lake are seen by peering over or through the fence from the Nutbrook Trail.

We had a break on Wednesday but on Thursday afternoon joined local historian Keith Reedman for a leisurely two and a half miles looking at "The Buildings of Victorian and Edwardian Long Eaton". We wandered through the town stopping at various places like here at the library to hear some of the history of the buildings. The library for example is a Grade II listed Arts and Crafts building designed by German and Ross in an architectural competition and built about 1906. Unusual for the period were the large plate glass windows.

Most of this walk was through an urban landscape although we briefly passed through West Park after crossing a footbridge over the Erewash Canal (left). Even in the park (right) the large Harrington Mill was a constant reminder of the town's lace making heritage. A pause in the Art Room where refreshments were available was followed by a closer look at some of the old factories on Leopold Street.

Towards the end of the week a high pressure system produced some settled weather ideal on Friday for the five mile "Belper Circular Walk" with the Amber Valley Ramblers group. The walk took us towards Blackbrook (left) and literally up hill and down dale, through fields of bullocks as seen above across Dalley Lane, through woods and farm yards before descending again to Wyver Lane Pool (right).

From the pool we followed a footpath back to Belper but from among the many images I captured on this walk, I chose a spur of the moment shot of some ponies in a small copse that for me encompassed the essence of the Walking Festival - get out in the countryside and enjoy the views, the scenery and the whole experience of being at one with nature.

The fine weather continued on Saturday although there was more haze about on the six mile walk with Holbrook Parish Council's "Holbrook, Milford and Chevin Round". Our route took us from Holbrook down into the Derwent Valley at Milford and up Sunny Hill (left and above). Continuing above the Ecclesbourne Valley we could see a farmer making pretty patterns in his field across the valley (right).

We carried on up Firestone Hill and returned to Milford via Chevinside and North Lane on the line of a Roman road which is part of the Midshires Way long distance footpath. Descending again to Milford we made our way back via Makeney and climbed up again (left) over the fields to Holbrook and our starting point at the Spotted Cow pub (right) to end our participation in the Festival for another year.

Our participation may have been over but there were two more one mile easy walks of Sunday and although there won't be another Autumn Footprints Walking Festival until September 2014, that doesn't mean we won't be able to enjoy our own walks in this lovely part of Derbyshire.

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