For my first walk outside Nottinghamshire I am not straying far over the border but am taking in three counties. This walk takes you along the River Trent from Shardlow in Derbyshire, just over the county border from Nottinghamshire, to Attenborough Nature Reserve. Shardlow is the start point of the Trent Valley Way if you are walking downstream, although the plan is to extend the Way to the source of the Trent on Biddulph Moor in Staffordshire. That plan has existed for some time but doesn’t seem to have progressed much upstream.
The Trent Valley Way diverges from the river itself for the first two miles so I will describe both routes until they meet.
Start: Shardlow Wharf just by the A
Finish: Attenborough Nature Reserve
Distance: by the River Trent walk 12.8km, by the Trent Valley Way 11.8km
To reach the start of the walk using public transport you have to use the Skylink bus between Derby and Leicester, getting off at the Navigation Inn on the A6 in Shardlow. To get there from Nottingham you should catch the Skylink bus and get off at Sawley Marina. It is then a 3km walk along the canal to Shardlow but it can be made into a pleasant 7 km circular walk from Sawley Marina combining the Trent Valley Way and River Trent. If starting from Shardlow the circular walk is 5km long.
First glimpse of the Trent
Description of the route
From the road bridge over the canal at Shardlow, where there is an information board about the wharf, go down to the wharf side on the canal towpath. In fact you can get a brief look at the Trent if you go back under the road and up to a nearby lock. To the left below is the river.
To continue along the Trent Valley Way
Return to the wharf which is a nicely preserved area of old canal buildings. Stay on the canal towpath and leave the wharf. The towpath bends right and goes under a road. On the opposite bank are pubs which are easy to get to by leaving the canal towpath and crossing the canal on the road. If you are ignoring the temptation of a drink carry on along the towpath and soon reach Shardlow marina. Continue past the marina and go under a small bridge.
At this point the canal becomes quieter as you leave Shardlow. You reach a lock and a little later an information board about the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail which starts here. The river Derwent enters the Trent almost opposite. As there is still no proper walk to the source of the Trent I am quite tempted by the idea of a long walk over a few days along the Derwent instead. Just after this you meet the Trent on the right and turn right to follow it upstream for a short distance until meeting a white bridge. Cross the bridge to meet the River Trent walk. You have covered two kilometres from Shardlow at this point.
River Trent Walk from Shardlow
From the information board on the A6 overlooking Shardlow Wharf turn right along the road and follow it past the Navigation Inn . Cross the road to the pavement on the other side where you can get a look at the Trent. A little further on there is an interesting stone to the right which lists the toll price for various types of passengers crossing the river here long ago.
Just after this you reach Cavendish Bridge. Go back to the other side of the A6 and continue along the road to cross the Trent. The walk started in Derbyshire but now enters Leicestershire for a short time. On the other side of the Trent at the first road turning on the left, 150m from Cavendish Bridge, look for a footpath sign going into a field and go into the field. When I walked there in mid-May this was a lovely meadow of quite long grass with swallows flying around and butterflies flitting between flowers.
Turn along the left side of the field and go close to buildings as you make your way to the riverside. Once alongside the Trent turn right and follow the river on a reasonable path. When I walked there the trees were lovely with blossom but it would be a nice walk at any time as there is little to disturb the tranquillity as you leave the road behind.
The river bends slightly and after a while you go through a small wooden gate and come to a wide track. Turn left along the track and follow it near the river. Soon you will see a white curved bridge on the river ahead. When you reach it if you want to return to Shardlow you should cross it and follow the canal back to the wharf. If you are continuing along the River Trent Walk carry on ahead.
Trent Valley Way and River Trent walk now join together
From the bridge walk a short distance to where the Trent meets the canal cut. Turn right along the main track for a very short distance then at a gap in the trees on the left jink left to join a grassy track next to the canal. Follow this path which soon becomes firm again. Appearing on the right now is a fishing lake.
The path soon goes under another quite attractive curved bridge and in another 300m goes under a wide bridge under the M1 motorway, which you will have been aware of for some time due to the roaring traffic ahead. At this point the Trent splits into two branches and we follow the path straight on along the Sawley Cut.
In another 500m you reach another road (the B6540) where you leave the towpath and go up to the road. There is a bus stop a little bit to the right where you can catch the bus to Nottingham.
To continue the Trent Walk cross the road and go over the Sawley Cut then turn right along a track to go down to Sawley Marina. Follow the path alongside the canal which soon reaches the Marina. Keep straight on, with the cooling towers of Ratcliffe power station rising ahead of you. Go all the way as far as you can to the far end of the marina where the path goes up to a bridge. At the top turn left and cross the other branch of the Trent which has appeared again. Go down to the path and turn right under a bridge which carries the railway line.
The river is now on your right and having merged again is quite wide. It’s an easy walk for the next few miles along a good firm track by the river with no navigation difficulties as you just stay by the Trent. After a kilometre you reach the Trent Lock pub which is just back from the river with a large beer garden between. If you want refreshments you can stop here, or at the Steamboat Inn or Lock House Tea Rooms about 100m further on at Trent Lock.
At Trent Lock you cross a bridge and continue past an interesting information board. The river then bends away from you and your way instead follows the Cranfleet canal cut for the next 1200m. This is almost perfectly straight along the towpath until you meet the river again. For the next 3km you stay by the river although for much of the time if you are walking in the summer you may not realise this because the plants by the path are so tall that you can’t see the Trent. You will be able to see the lakes of Attenborough Nature Reserve on your left however. The river makes sweeping turns to left and right over these 3km. If you want to explore the reserve and see the visitor centre, which also has a cafe, you should turn left at a junction immediately after a narrow stone walled bridge over an inlet to the Trent. From there you can go on into Attenborough village. However, my route stays by the Trent and takes in one more turn of the river to the left.
Just past an island in the river the path goes past a green gate and information board at the edge of the Nature Reserve. Just after this is a junction of paths which is the end of this stage of the walk.
To reach Attenborough and public transport from here you turn left. Walk 400m along the track with lakes on either side of you. You come to the next main path junction near Attenborough cricket ground on the right and the end of the lake on the left of the path. Continue straight on past the cricket ground to reach a lane. Go almost straight on, bearing slightly left, for 100m to reach Church Lane. Turn right then very soon take the first left turn. This takes you to Attenborough railway station and 400m further on reaches a regular bus service to Nottingham.
Walks in Central Nottinghamshire (and Beyond) 