From the playground in Sutton Bonington, Elaine took ten members on a 7.6 mile walk past Sutton Bonington Hall and round the back of St Michael's Church to reach and cross the bridge over the Midland Mainline. The route then took us across fields to West Leake for a coffee stop at the church and then down Kingston Brook to Kingston on Soar for lunch and a visit to see the extraordinary Babington Monument in St Winifred's Church.
After crossing under the Midland Mainline, we reached Kegworth Shallow
Flood Lock and then followed the Grand Union Canal / River Soar until we came
to the path back to Sutton Bonington.
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| The start in the car park |
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| Midland Mainline |
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| DHL cargo planes to/from Cincinatti, Leipzig and other places |
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| The Star on Melton Lane |
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| First crossing of Kingston Brook |
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| Ascending the ha ha near St Helena's Church, West Leake |
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| Coffee stop |
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| Kingston Hall - now luxury apartments |
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| Weir and sluices to provide a feed into an ornamental lake (The Pool) in the grounds of Kingston Hall |
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| St Winifred's Church |
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| Part
of the impressive Babington
Monument,
erected by Sir Anthony Babington and completed by his son John in the 1530s as
a burial vault for his family. At the top are the arms of Henry VIII which contains the rose and crown supported by a greyhound and dragon. Below are the Babington arms in the form of a wyvern |
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| Lunch on The Green |
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| About to pass under the Midland Mainline |
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| You'll miss it when it's gone |
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| Kingston Shallow Flood Lock, used as a normal lock from October to March. At other times, the gates are fastened back except in abnormal flood conditions |
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| Kegworth New Lock on the Grand Union Canal. This lock used to called Kegworth Deep Lock on account of its 12 foot rise but after several narrowboats sank after getting caught on the cill at the upstream end, it was renamed Kegworth New Lock so as not to scare off new users! |
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| Boats at the marina near The Otter pub |
