Sutton Crossroads, Idle Valley Nature Reserve, Sutton-cum-Lound, and Ranskill

I travelled to Sutton Crossroads today and walked down the access road to the main entrance to Idle Valley Nature Reserve. I'd planned to walk over to Tiln but got lost because the path had been diverted, and then I couldn't find a footbridge to get across the river. So, instead I walked along the riverside footpath, a very pleasant walk. I found a bench to sit on and eat my sandwiches and planned the rest of my route for the day.

I remained with the River Idle until I reached Chainbridge Lane, a dead straight track that goes for a mile and a half to Lound. There's actually a path, which I didn't know about until I got there, which runs parallel a few yards to the left and has much better views of the nature reserve. About halfway along I took a path that goes off to the left. This path took me to Sutton Grange and then there was a short stretch of unmade road until I reached the surfaced road that links Lound and Sutton-cum-Lound.

At Sutton I took the footpath that goes at the side of the church.

There was a bit of snow on the ground and on the top of walls today but on the final couple of miles of the walk as  I was heading west I could see the higher ground near Maltby still had quite a covering.

A few minutes later I was walking alongside the main East Coast railway line and went right by the 'Edinburgh 250 Miles' point.

The final approach to Ranskill is boring; I walked to the nearest bus stop and had about ten minutes to wait.

Despite my walk not being the one I'd planned to do I still enjoyed it, maybe even more so, I got to explore large areas of  the Idle Valley Nature Reserve I hadn't seen before.

 

Sutton Crossroads, Idle Valley Nature Reserve, Lound, Sutton-cum-Lound, and Barnby Moor

I caught the Retford bus and travelled to Sutton Crossroads in Nottinghamshire and walked down the short access road to the Idle Valley Visitor Centre, which was still closed, and the car park blocked off. I got lost only a couple of hundred yards beyond the visitor centre; I couldn't find the footpath that goes over to Sutton-cum-Lound and so after doing a bit of looping, criss-crossing, and doubling back and therefore inadvertently doing quite a bit of exploring of the nature reserve I finally arrived at the riverside path and followed the River Idle downstream for a couple of miles.

This southern part of the nature reserve, near to Retford and therefore easy to reach on public transport is far more interesting than the area further north which is much more open and consists mainly of recently flooded old gravel or sand quarries. It was over two hours until I reached a paved road, going from some light industrial units to Lound. I only took one photograph in Lound.

I took a few photographs in Sutton. I didn't walk up to the church though because a funeral was taking place.

I kept on walking down the road to Barnby Moor. I had to wait for a couple of minutes at the level crossing but still arrived at the bus stop with twenty minutes to spare - enough time for a heavy shower to come and go.

I'd been travelling on the bus for a few minutes when it was being driven at high speed through a large deep puddle on the road. Because of covid regulations all of the windows were open and most of the passengers got soaked. I was already wet and so didn't really mind, some of the other passengers weren't very happy though.

Scrooby, Mattersey Thorpe, Mattersey, Everton, Harwell, and Bawtry

Another local walk with my brother; we're trying to arrange a couple a month during the rest of the summer. We travelled to Scrooby, the first village in Nottinghamshire.

We then headed over to Mattersey Thorpe and then Mattersey: this stretch was quite boring, but easy going. The area near the church in Mattersey is lovely though.

We crossed over the River Idle using the footbridge: a woman and her teenage son were each struggling to climb inside an inflatable canoe contraption with metal handlebars and spoked wheels. I didn't say a word as we passed them.

Part of the route to Everton was climbing up through the woodland on Pusto Hill, the shade provided by the trees was welcome in the hot weather.

It was a lovely walk across the fields to Harwell.

We got lost in the woods on Barrow Hills but it wasn't difficult to find our way down to the road, which we needed to follow for the final mile and a half into Bawtry.

The lack of bridges over the River Idle in this area makes planning walks difficult; I'd like to visit the ruins of Mattersey Priory but the only access is down a dead-end track that's over a mile long...therefore adding over two miles to any walk's distance. I would have also liked to have returned to Bawtry via Misson and Austerfield...but there's no bridge!

Gringley on the Hill, Walkeringham, Misterton, Misson, Newington, Austerfield, and Bawtry

After a couple of hours of dancing, jumping up and down, stamping my feet, clapping, singing, cheering and even screaming at the 'Killer Queen' concert, a Queen tribute act appearing at Sheffield City Hall last night, I didn't fancy an early start for the Peak District this morning so I caught the ten o'clock bus for Gringley on the Hill, which is on the way to Gainsborough.

The church was open, someone was already inside; it was very dark and not very good at all for taking photos with my camera...so I've only included this one outdoor shot.

I continued to walk through the village, following the route of the Trent Valley Way down the lane to the Chesterfield Canal, walking along the towpath for only a few hundred yards before taking the bridleway that goes past Leys Farm.

I crossed over the canal again before reaching the road that leads in to Walkeringham. There was more for me to photograph at the church there.

I headed across the fields to Misterton. At some time the footpath here must have been diverted around what looks like some well-disguised oil storage facilities - the area is just marked as 'Depot' on the map. There are several oil wells nearby which you can see as you drive along the main road from Bawtry to Gainsborough.

I left Misterton and headed north along the main road to reach the River Idle at Haxey Gate Inn.

I turned to the west and walked along the bank for three miles until I reached a track that leads into Misson.

My feet were hurting me a bit by now and the gravel surface on the track to Newington didn't help at all. My feet are alright now that I've got home - the boots I was wearing aren't specialist hiking or walking boots and aren't really suitable. I was glad that the final couple of miles into Bawtry were along a road with a causeway.