Vale of Belvoir Ramblers: Shireoaks, May 24th 2015

Starting in the rain in Shirebrook on the Nottinghamshire / Yorkshire border ...

... this surprisingly varied walk took us north and east along a canal, alongside railways, through narrow gorges and across meadows to within 300m of where the Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire boundaries converge just south of Netherthorpe (see map). Thanks to Anny for a well researched walk.

A first view of the Chesterfield Canal

The canal, completed in 1777, runs for 32 miles from the Trent at West Stockwith, through Retford and Worksop to the now-collapsed 1.5 mile Norwood Tunnel near the M1. There is a clearly signposted route though all the way into Chesterfield, the Cuckoo Way, named after the old horse-drawn boats unique to this canal.

A walk in the woods - Anston Stones Wood

Orchids on Lindrick Golf Course - most of us missed them

Extreme intruder deterrent - image from an extremely tall photographer at an extremely large angle

Descending towards Anston Brook and Anston Stones Wood

Anston Stones Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve. There is a geological trail through the woods where you can see 260 million years of geology dating back to the Permian period. During the last Ice Age, which only ended about 10 thousand years ago, this part of Britain was not glaciated but meltwater flowed off the glaciers further north. These rivers cut the gorge that forms Anston Stones Wood (and Lindrick Dale) today. As in Creswell Crags, the caves in the exposed magnesian limestone have deposits which show that men used them after the Ice Age retreated.