Elaine's 9-mile Pilgrim Fathers' Walk started in the New Street car park in Retford and took fourteen of us over the River Idle and through Kings Park to reach the Chesterfield Canal. We then followed it for 3½ miles to Green Lane, a green lane heading back towards Retford. A diversion across fields took us to Babworth Park and the famous All Saints Church with its connections to the Pilgrim Fathers.
 |
| The start, New Street |
 |
| Interesting canal mural in Wharf Road, Retford |
 |
| James Brindley's Chesterfield 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. The canal was built to export coal, limestone and lead from Derbyshire, iron from Chesterfield and corn, timber, groceries, etc. into Derbyshire and was used to transport stone from North Anston Quarry for building the Houses of Parliament. |
 |
| West Retford Lock |
 |
| No traffic on Sunday, just the odd boat on the Monday recce |
 |
| Forest Bottom Lock - coffee break |
 |
| Three men and a lock gate |
 |
| All Saints Church at Babworth. This church is famous as the community start point for the Pilgrim Fathers who left Nottinghamshire for Holland before sailing from Plymouth to the New World in 1620 |
 |
| Lunch stop at the church |
 |
| The Mayflower Trail is a circular tour round historic sites associated with the principal figures in the Mayflower Pilgrim's story. It begins at All Saints Church and leads through Barnby Moor to Scrooby, Bawtry, Austerfield, Gainsborough and Sturton-le-Steeple |
 |
| A rare (for Nottinghamshire) example of exposed bedrock by the track up to the church |
 |
| Recrossing the Idle - view of the river taken from the canal viaduct approaching Retford Locks |
 |
| Fine canal warehouse, now converted into flats |
 |
| These wharves near the centre of Retford were important trading centres for two centuries until the arrival of the railways |
 |
| Robbie Cumming (BBC Four's Canal Boat Diaries) greets a kindrid spirit near his famous boat ... |
 |
| ... the Naughty Lass |
