Skip to main content

Dove Valley Walk: finding the mouth of the Dove

The Bonnie Prince Charlie Way was really just a fill-in walk until I could start my next big excursion. Gloopy though the BPC was, I knew it wouldn't actually be flooded, whereas the bits of ground I was tackling next had had ducks paddling on them for most of the winter.

 

The grand plan is to start from my house in Findern, reaching the start of the River Dove. I can then follow the Dove to Uttoxeter, making up my own route, as this section has no official waymarked path. At Uttoxeter I join the Staffordshire Way up to Rocester, then the Limestone Way beyond that. It stays near the Dove for a while longer. Then it cuts across the southern Peak District to reach Matlock. At Matlock I can pick up the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, heading south through Derby to reach the River Trent at Shardlow. The Trent has its own relatively new Way, leading back to Repton and then, eventually, home. The map shows a rough idea of the route.

If only it would stop raining long enough for me to get across all those flood plains.

Walk 1

Well, finally, it did. Sort of. I set out from Findern to Newton Solney on a day of extremely mixed weather. One minute I was considering ice cream; the next I was getting pounded by hail!

Willington
 

The rain was falling as I walked along the Trent & Mersey canal towpath, but by the time I reached Willington, the sun was turning wet streets into mirrors. I crossed the Trent on the Victorian stone bridge (opened 1839, freed from toll 1898) and dropped down to the flood plain beyond. This is a sheet of water when the river runs high, but today was just occasionally squelchy. 

Trent & Mersey

Willington Bridge


I came across a new waymarker for the Trent Valley Way. One flooded stile defeated me, but there was a passable route along the other side of the hedge. 



Sadly the only crossing of the Trent here is for a pipeline, so I had to content myself with taking photos of the mouth of the River Dove from the other side of the water. Actually, I needn't have bothered, as there's quite a nice photo on this sign!

River Dove meeting River Trent


Newton Solney is a pretty little village on the road between Repton and Burton. I stuck my head in the church, and admired a flowering cherry tree by the village green.


 

My return route took me through fields of very long grass - so long it flopped everywhere, like shaggy hair. When I reached Repton I stopped by the Repton School science block for a drink. The sun was warm and I wondered if I might treat myself to an ice cream at Mercia Marina. But an ominous dark cloud approached and threw hail at me. By the time I got to the Marina I was thinking longingly of hot chocolate. I decided I was too wet and cold even for that, though. Best head for home and get dried out.


Heading towards Repton spire

Findern - Newton Solney: 12.4 km / 9.2 miles

15 April 2024

Walk 2

I persuaded my parents (who are actually interested in such things) and the rest of my family (who thought it was a poor excuse for a day out) to join me on a tour of Claymills Pumping Station. This is a restored Victorian sewage pumping station with four massive steam-powered beam engines. They were in steam for the bank holiday weekend and were really quite an impressive sight. There was a good collection of smaller steam engines, too, and many enthusiastic volunteers.




Conveniently, Claymills happens to be situated near a path which leads to the other side of the Dove-Trent confluence. The public rights of way presumably date back to when this was a major crossing point, so I warned the rest of the family that we might need pith helmets, and we set off on our expedition to the mouth of the Dove.


 Actually, it turned out to be a clear track for most of the way. We encountered a bit of mud, lots of swans, and a WWII pillbox. Helmets were not required, but sunhats were - it was surprisingly warm.

Theo in a pillbox

 
big house in Newton Solney

We reached our destination successfully, and admired the view back across the Trent to Newton Solney, then followed our tracks back to the car park.

Claymills - Dove mouth and back: 4.3 km / 2.7 miles

5 May 2024

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dove Valley Walk: Going round the bend

Somewhere between Marchington and Uttoxeter, the wiggles of the River Dove stop wiggling west to east, and start wiggling north to south. If it went in straight lines, it would make a right-angled bend. As I'm following the river upstream, this was my last section walking west. After this it's north to the Peak District and Dovedale. here the Dove swings north The main walk of this section was all on the south side of the river. But I also did a separate, shorter walk, to explore the village of Doveridge, and the old Dove Bridge which is tantalisingly glimpsed from the A50. Walk 1: Marchington to Uttoxeter I liked Marchington even more as I arrived there for the second time. I parked opposite the village shop - noting the "ice cream" sign outside for later - and near the brick-built St Peter's Church, with a war memorial built in above the door.  A few streets took me to the other side of the village, where I found a path alongside a stream, then across some hay m
Post a Comment
Read more

Dove Valley Walk: Meeting the Limestone Way

At Uttoxeter my route along the Dove Valley met some official long-distance trails. First the Staffordshire Way north to Rocester, then the Limestone Way continuing up towards Dovedale. Graham joined me on today's walk, which included the Staffordshire Way section and the first part of the Limestone Way. Unusually, it was a one-way hike; we got the bus back.   Uttoxeter to Ellastone Graham and I parked at Uttoxeter train station. It's very cheap for the day if you park after 10am, but I was worried about getting back in time for the school run, so we got there at 9:20 and paid the more expensive rate (still only £3).  We started off across flat fields towards the A50 and Dove Bridge. A group of young cattle gave us hard stares as we walked past. I posted a photo of a wonky gate on the Gate Appreciation Society with the caption "Parallelogate" and it quickly accumulated 200 likes - many more than this post will get!   Passing the old Dove Bridge again , we ploughed t
1 comment
Read more

San Antonio

San Antonio is towards the south of Texas and feels very much more Mexican than American. The balmy evenings, the colourful Mexican market, the architecture of the buildings, and the number of people speaking Spanish around us all added to the impression. The city, in fact, grew out of a Spanish mission and presidio (fort), built in 1718 as part of Spain's attempt to colonize and secure what was then the northern frontier of the colony of Mexico. Texas was then a buffer zone between Mexico and the French-held Louisiana, and Spain was keen to cement her hold on the area by introducing settlers and converting the natives to Catholicism and loyalty to the Spanish government. The missions in general had no great effect, but the San Antonio area was the exception to the rule, growing into an important city with five missions strung out along the San Antonio river. The first of these, San Antonio de Valero, later became well-known as the Alamo, where 182 Texans died in 1836
3 comments
Read more