Bingham Linear Walk, River Smite and Tithby, 29th November 2022

 Steve and Carrie led six members on this 6-mile walk starting at Mill Hill Road in Bingham.  Dropping down to join the Linear Walk, we followed the disused Saxondale Junction - Melton railway line (1879 to 1962) to the River Smite before crossing fields to Tithby and back to Bingham.

Friends of Bingham Linear Park
2000 - 2022
Mosaic at Tithby Road entrance
J Craig, 2022

Approaching Tithby

Holy Trinity Church, Tythby

Car Colston and Screveton, 27th November 2022

Starting at the Royal Oak in Car Colston, Gail's 6½ mile walk took fourteen of us across wettish fields to Screveton and the Hawksworth Road, returning across Car Lane and on to Parson's Hill near Bingham.  The way back was by the fishing lakes and past the cricket field.

The Royal Oak

Setting off from Car Colston's Large Common

Fine buildings

The old village stocks and whipping post (Grade II listed)

St Mary's Church dates back to the 13th century

Christmas is coming, boys

Plungar, Barkestone and Redmile, 20th November 2022

 Starting at Plungar Church, Susie's 7¼ mile walk took ten of us across fields to Barkestone and then on to Redmile for coffee, returning to Plungar along the Grantham Canal.

For more photos taken on the walk, go to John J's Relive video.

St Helen's Church, Plungar

Woolsthorpe Wharf, Grantham Canal and Denton, 16th November 2022

 Elaine led twelve members on this six-mile walk starting at the Dirty Duck next to Woolsthorpe Wharf.  It took us along the Grantham Canal to Denton Wharf and on to Denton Reservoir for coffee, past Denton Village itself and along the road to Woolsthorpe by Belvoir to pick up the disused railway line as far as the Viking Way.  Rejoining the canal, we walked back to the Dirty Duck for lunch for most of us.

The start at the Rutland Arms (aka Dirty Duck)

Woolsthorpe Wharf from Woolsthorpe Bridge

National Cycle Network sign next to the canal

View from Longmoor Bridge

The Denton Reservoir Loop on the Grantham Canal
Opened 1797, closed 1936 - coffee stop

Denton Reservoir

Leaving the line of the disused ironstone railway and joining the Viking Way near Longmoor Bridge

Grantham Canal Society workboats

Woolsthorpe Locks

Launde Abbey, Loddington and Belton in Rutland, 13th November 2022

 Paul's 10½ mile, undulating walk today started at Launde Abbey and took eight of us on good tracks to Loddington and then on to Belton in Rutland for lunch.  Six took the full route but two headed for home.  The route made full use of the many waymarked footpaths in the area - the Rutland Round, The Leicestershire Round, the Macmillan Way and the Leighfield Way.

Setting off up an early undulation looking forward to the promised views

One of the promised views - prepared earlier

Conference delegates taking a well-earned break

Launde Big Wood Nature Reserve

Loddington

St Peter's Church, Belton in Rutland

Armistice Day lunch at the War Memorial cross, Belton in Rutland

The long, the short and the elevation - over 400m of climbing

Collingham, Langford Lowfields RSPB Reserve and the River Trent, 6th November 2022

Angela's 8.1 mile walk took thirteen of us around the Langford Lowfields RSPB Reserve , then alongside the River Trent to Besthorpe Nature Reserve and back across fields, making use of the Trent Valley Way at times.  The area is dominated by old and current Tarmac quarries for extracting sand and gravel.

Here is one prepared earlier (in 2014) - birdlife in Collingham

The Fleet between Collingham and the River Trent.  It flows from Winthorpe to join the Trent at Girton, north of Besthorpe.  It has been suggested that the Trent itself followed this course at one stage

Conveyer connecting Tarmac Langford Sand and Gravel quarries

Sluice gate, where the Trent Valley Way crosses Slough Dyke, used to keep floodwaters under control.

Wobbly, floating bridge over Langford Lowfields

Cromwell Weir, the limit of the tidal Trent.  A proposal was made to install a hydropower station generating 1.6MW at its peak but this was rejected because of the impact on one or two fishing pegs

Clapper Gates are a distinctive type of self-closing double gate, unique to the navigable reaches of the River Trent.  They were erected along the towpath of the river in the 18th century, and allow people and horses to pass through the field boundaries on the river bank, but prevent livestock from straying

Sand and gravel jetty on the River Trent

Disused sand and gravel conveyor to take material from the processing plant to a jetty on the River Trent.  Now replaced by a 25cm pipeline for hydaulic transportation (see to the  left, hidden in the undergrowth)

Besthorpe sand and gravel works.  A very busy site for sand and gravel extraction but to the north the former workings have been turned into nature reserves.  See also the history of the Trent Valley aggregates industry

Back over The Fleet