This walk continues my walk along the course of the River Trent, taking you north from Collingham continuing on from the stage from Newark. This section is almost completely flat and much of it is along grassy embankments or fields by the Trent which makes a few large bends. Route finding is easy as most of the time you are next to the river. The main problem is how to do it using public transport. Getting to Collingham is easy enough by train or bus from Newark but returning from Dunham there is only one bus a day which only runs on school days and is mainly for school children returning home. You may want to break the stage into circular walks so you can use a car and return to your start point. I will give a description of some of them at a later date on this site.
Start: The centre of Collingham
Finish: Dunham on Trent
Distance: 21.5 km (13.5 miles)
The Route
If using the bus to reach Collingham start from the little grassy island under trees on the main road through the village about 300m north of the cricket ground as you go into Collingham from the south (The Green). From Collingham you must retrace the route back to the Trent along the Trent Valley Way done in the stage from Newark. You go away from the main road for 100m bearing left . Turn left onto Church Lane and then right very soon afterwards. You join Westfield Lane which eventually becomes a track where you continue straight on until you climb the embankment next to the Trent about a mile from Collingham. On your left as you face the river you can see the lakes of the Langford RSPB reserve.
To continue with the River Trent walk turn right along the grassy embankment. For much of this stage the Trent is the preserve of local angling clubs and you may well find anglers at regular intervals. A sign by the field on your right warns the anglers not to use the field as a toilet. After the track leaves the riverside for a short time as you follow a firm track that bends to the right . For the early part of the walk if using Google maps you will see the way by the river marked as Trent Lane. Don’t be fooled by this as nearly all is just a path.
The path then goes out to meet the River Trent again and resumes its course on the grassy embankment. You go through the garden of quite a new house and then approach an elevated structure looking like a bridge which has been aborted just as the builders reached the River . In fact it’s a chute for carrying gravel and other material dredged from the surrounding area. Go under the chute, and probably past anglers nearby. At this point there are trees on the opposite side of the river. This is the apex of a bend in the river and now you turn west as it turns back again. Ahead you can see and hear traffic on the A1, not far away but on the other side of the river. I faced a buffeting from a strong south westerly wind on this next stretch which is on a bank with arable fields on the right.
Relieved to have the wind behind me again as the Trent turned back east, I saw a little egret on the far bank which flew up ahead of me a few times as I walked alongside the river. Here you may find it easier to walk at the edge of the field rather than the slightly longer grass. On the opposite side of the river is the village of Carlton on Trent with its church spire and disused windmill the most prominent features.
Just as the river is about to turn again after a mile, on the right of the grassy embankment you have reached again you will see a lake. This is the Besthorpe Nature Reserve and you can leave the river briefly to go down to a path by the reserve. If you do this, return to the river and follow it again soon reaching a firm track.
The firmer track takes you to the last part of the Besthorpe reserve. Just past a barrier is a gate that you can go through onto a path slightly away from the river for 200m to a viewing point above another lake.
Return to the river and continue downstream from the crown of this bend. After 300m the path leaves the bank of the river for the longest stretch on this stage of the walk. The area ahead by the river is called Sutton Marsh and presumably is impassable so the path bears right cutting across the meander in the river ahead. You are higher than the river here and can see it ahead. You soon descend a little to the edge of an arable field where you turn right. The next mile is the first time you have really lost sight of the river. Follow the field edge for then go right for a short way to reach another field. Look to the left and you should see a yellow post at the end of the field. Head along the left edge of the field and then to the yellow post.
At the post go up a bank, slightly overgrown when I walked it, to leave the field. Cross the bank and go down into another field. Follow the left hand edge of the field close to a stream. At the end of the field you reach a track and turn right along it. After bending to the left the track reaches a farm gate. When I walked it the gate was padlocked with barbed wire on top although on a public footpath. I had to step onto the low wall to the left of the gate and walk along to reach the track on the other side of it. Go right to meet a wide rough road by a large lake. This is Girton Lakes.
Turn left along the track with the lake just through the trees on your right. Follow the road out to the river again and turn right out of the car parking area. You again join a grassy path above the river and the route stays like this for the next 3km. It’s pleasant enough but much of the way is quite similar with fields on the right and river to your left as you walk along the bank of slightly long grass.
About 3km from where you rejoined the river the path very briefly comes away from the river near the village of South Clifton and if you want you can go into the village where there is a pub. Back on the river bank resume your way north. An impressive looking church with a tower appears ahead to the right. This church isn’t part of a village and there doesn’t seem any logical reason for its location but in fact it is half way between South and North Clifton.
Ahead on the river itself your attention is drawn to a railway bridge crossing the Trent. This is the Fledborough Viaduct. Go on under the viaduct as the grass becomes shorter. 600m further on a path to the right goes into the small village of North Clifton but we continue along the river, also the Trent Valley Way once more, for another three kilometres round a bend or two. Go under a metal bridge and immediately after we reach Dunham Toll Bridge. Go up quite a long flight of stairs on this side of the bridge to reach the road across the bridge. Turn left along the pavement and cross the bridge. Continue into Dunham and cross the road to the pub where you can call in or just possibly catch the only bus of the day to Collingham or Newark.
Walks in Central Nottinghamshire (and Beyond) 
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