Nottinghamshire 19 - Shireoaks and the Chesterfield Canal /Rhodesia - for the day

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Yes that is right . It does say Nottinghamshire up on the title . Makes a change after 89 days of Chesterfield and Derbyshire . It is Day 90 and it is still dull and damp but up to now the rain has kept off . We have a plan and it is a bit different today . Escape as been offered to us and we are embracing it with everything we have .I wake and hear nothing . No pitter patter on the roof. Looking out of the window it is dry - well perhaps dryish is a better choice of word .

We get into Gabby and drive . She is parked up alongside a marina . We have driven down a very quiet road and find ourselves looking out over a country park . If you are of a certain age you recognise what you are parked next to. An old mining area . No pit head but roads lead off to nowhere. Silver birches growing on the banks . Silver birches always grow well on an old mine area.

The canal basin is full of boats all hunkered down . Normally the community of canal boaters would be on the move . Covid 19 had made the owners hunker down. We can see where we need to walk . Towards the Chesterfield Canal. A man stops . He chats with us and stops to dry his dog off. She has either been in the long grass or swimming in the canal . There were few people about. We had expected more people to be out and about enjoying a sense of freedom .

So how had we ended up at the canal . I had set out on my walk . Up Top Road . I went the wrong way . Perhaps I go out on auto-pilot these days . I only realised I was walking in the wrong direction after a short while . I had added 5 minutes to my walk . I passed by a runner . He ignored me . I am getting used to that now. I headed up the road . Water was dripping out of the trees onto my head . After a while it started to rain . Quite heavily. I had to stand under a tree until it stopped . I did not care what the walk was like as it was a pleasure to get out today after yesterdays enforced stay at home. As I walked I made plans . Coffee when I got home. Off to the graveyard to place flowers on a grave . Would the man turn up today to do the windscreen?

We were going out whether or not he was coming . So where were we going ?

Have you heard about Atlas Obscura ? I had not a few years ago but I found it by accident and it has been something I have checked off and on over the last few years . What is it ? I hear you say. If you have not seen it then simply it goes through really odd things to see in a location . I had put in Chesterfield and it came up with a few suggestions and one turned out to be the canal with its canalside walks around the Worksop area . So after coffee off we went .

The rain held off . The screen man rang - he told us that he did not think it a good idea to do Gabby today. We agreed . We were on a walking mission I had missed water on my walks and today was going to rectify that . I will come Monday he said - as long as the rain holds off That was fine with us

. Today was a real pleasure . Walking on the tow path of the Chesterfield Canal . The Chesterfield Canal was the last waterway to be engineered by James Brindley the “father of English canals”. Brindley died in 1772 and the work was brought to fruition by John Varley and Hugh Henshall. As we walked we could see fishermen along the banks . Morning one shouted to us . It was all so peaceful and made a change to walk on the flat rather than uphill all the time. The water was still with the exception of the run offs which took the water around the locks and relieved the pressure against the wooden gates . I was taken back to living alongside the Shropshire Union Canal many years ago . We stopped at some of the locks and stood just looking . Amazing structures which served a purpose raising the level of the water for boats to pass between sections they were works of genius .

The boats that once were used on the canal are unique to the canal itself . Called Cuckoo Boats their design did not change from the 1770's right up to the 1920's when the last were made . Up to the 1950's they were horse drawn and never equipped with engines. A mast was used when they ventured onto the River Trent further upstream. The term cuckoo may have related to the men who used them - mad as cuckoos for using such a strange design .

The bridges were low and humped . There were none of the Dutch style bridges that I was used to on the Shroppy . The canal had a charm about it . Perhaps because it was so quiet .

The cycletrack 67 miles in length ran nearby . How many days would it take for me to walk that route ? Probably 5 days as I walk further than my usual walking time in a morning .

There were supposed to be kingfishers on the canal but sadly we saw none. Too late in the season perhaps .

We walked back and stopped at the pit winding wheels set up to commemorate the closing of the Shireoaks Colliery . Two winding wheels set up. There are always winding wheels such as this placed around the coalfields of North Wales and around Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire . The pit was owned mineral rights in the area and a shaft was begun in the area in 1854. Coal was reached within 5 years and the coal was shipped from the marina here to Stockwith right up until 1949. Eventually like many mines around the area closed and the mineworking ceased . There was little left to see .

Above the wheels was a sign pointing to nearby towns and villages . One was pointing to Rhodesia . Not named after Rhodesia in Africa but named after the mine manager Mr Rhodes . What an odd day . A canal , a few locks , some hump backed bridges and a trip to Rhodesia .

All in all the sort of thing you do every day .

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