Day 3 Kegworth to Radcliffe on Trent

Twas a bright and sunny morning when I set off from Kegworth. I took a slightly different route out of the village, hoping to join the river at Trent Lock. Here I am passing over the A 453, there is a view of Ratcliffe on Trent Power Station in the background. This is a busy road which joins the M1 at Junction 24.

I joined the River Soar and walked northwards towards Trent Lock, but shock horror, I couldn't go across the Trent where the two rivers meet, there was no bridge. So I ended up turning left and walking in the opposite direction towards Sawley Marina, then crossing by the road bridge and turning right to walk along the opposite bank towards Nottingham. I was so annoyed with myself for not checking the map properly, it put an extra two miles on the day.

Here is another view of Ratcliffe Power Station, this time from the other side, I had almost walked all the way round it. What a plonker.

This is the bridge where I crossed.

Almost at Trent Lock now, and there's that flippin Power Station again, it will haunt me.

There were lots of nice pubs and tea rooms along the river, but I didn't have time to visit any of them. There wasn't much point in buying more food and drink, when I was already carrying enough for the day.

It's quite a popular place for boats and walkers here. A view of Trent lock.

And this is the way back to the river from the lock, and guess what, there is the Power Station again, ha ha.

I was enthralled by a woman sign writing her narrow boat.

She had a very steady hand, I couldn't stop myself from being nosey and asking a few questions.

She has been living on boats for 35 years, and has bought this particular boat twice, it is almost 100 years old. She has done all the paintings on this one and she also paints for other people, for a fee of course. She was very friendly to chat to.

There are quite a few of these type of information boards along the way.

The river twists and turns a bit now and there are a lot of ponds on the left hand side. These are mainly the remnants of quaries which are now closed and have been turned into Nature Reserves. I am not sure why they have put posts in the water and tied the red and white plastic tape across them. Perhaps a warning to boats not to venture too close to the bank, or for people not to go into the water. It looks a bit messy, must be a good reason.

Some nice holiday homes on stilts on the other side.

The grass alongside the paths are kept tidy, this cheeky chappie was happy to give me a big smile for the camera. I love his dinky little tractor, I would like one of those to play with, ha ha.

Here we are walking alongside Beeston Marina

A bit further along is Beeston Lock.

A little bit of information on how locks work, you should be able to read it if you click on it to enlarge the picture.

A bit further along is this huge weir. The wind was so strong it was blowing all the spray over me, I had a job to stay on my feet and hold the camera steady. The roar or the rushing water was incredibly loud.

I must say that Nottinghamshire County Council are doing a very good job of looking after the footpaths, to help encourage more people to use them. All along this stretch lots of cyclists passed me, some of them were cycling for pleasure, but some were obviously commuting to and from work. This one hasn't been open long and took me to Clifton Bridge.

I saw plenty of these strong benches, strategically placed to face the river.

See how perfect the path looks.

And here is Clifton Bridge, this is where the main A52 crosses.

It is in fact two bridges.

Once past this bridge there is a little bit of road walking to do as we approach Nottingham. I decided to cross the river a bit further along by this attractive foot bridge, because I need to be on the south side.

The next bridge is the Trent Bridge, next to it is the football ground. Nearby are buildings used by rowing clubs, here they carry their boats down to the water. As I was passing a lot of chattering youngsters dressed in running gear were setting off on a training session, to run on ahead of me.

The next bridge along is Lady Bay Bridge, an alternative road bridge to use when it is busy. The light was not very good for this photo.

Now my thoughts were on getting to my next stopover at Kates house at Radcliffe on Trent. I left the river side to take a road to the right going past the front of the National Water Sports Centre. There may well have been a path to take me through it, but as time was getting on I needed to press on. I don't like to keep people waiting if they have taken the trouble to prepare a meal for me.

It seemed to take forever to walk along that road, however I eventually reached Holme Pierrpoint and Radcliffe. At last I found the house. I have just checked the mileage, it was 20.66, I was ready for a sit down. Kate and David made me very welcome. After a lovely meal and a can of Guiness, I was happy. David showed me his car restoration projects, and Kate showed me her veg garden, chickens, and knitting projects. It was a very enjoyable evening.