In better than expected weather, Elaine's 7.5 mile walk started at the RSPB car park and took ten of us south through Edwinstowe and along the River Maun before turning north into Sherwood Forest and up to Budby Heath for lunch. After stopping for a group photo at the Major Oak, we reached the Visitor Centre just before the promised heavy rain arrived.
The end of the Robin Hood Way at Saint Mary's Church, Edwinstowe |
Robin and Maid Marian in Edwinstowe |
The Duke of Portland's Flood Meadows near the river |
Recently diverted bridleway to avoid a collapsed bank of the River Maun |
River Maun, part of the Rainworth Water and Rivers Meden, Poulter, Idle, and Ryton catchment which together drain about a third of Nottinghamshire into the Trent at West Stockwith |
Archway House in Summer 2016 and Winter 2022, built by the Duke of Portland in 1842 |
The Centre Tree, reputed to mark the centre of the old forest which spread from Nottingham to Worksop |
Sherwood Forest has some of the oldest oak and silver birch trees in England, some dead! |
Budby Heath, historic heathland wilderness, once part of an ancient hunting forest but now a quite different landscape |
Lunch taken overlooking Budby Heath |
Returning to the Forest on excellent tracks |
Group at the Major Oak |
Robin Hood fights Little John at the Visitor Centre |
Relocated Robin Hood, originally at the old Visitor Centre |