Gotham, 12th February 2017

Fifteen souls braved the sleet and rain on Elaine's walk ...
... from Gotham St Lawrence Church ...
... starting at the Well House, until 1933 the only source of fresh water to the village piped from a spring a mile-and-a-half south of the village.
We climbed up Gotham Hill, heavily mined for gypsum rock since the early 1900s up to as recently as 1994 ...
... to admire the extensive views to the north over the Attenborough Nature Reserve towards Crich Tower and Alport Heights (allegedly).
Descending from the top, further evidence of gypsum mining was visible at East Leake.
We then passed along the ash road, the back entrance to the power station ...
... alongside the substantial mounds of fly ash, since covered in soil and grass, before turning back at the railway line to reach Kingston on Soar.
St Winifred's Church, Kingston on Soar
Then it was alonside Kingston Brook ...
... and eventually to West Leake for lunch at St Helena Church ...
... before a difficult climb over the West Leake Hills and back down to Gotham.