Skip to main content

Trent Valley: the march of the pylons

In the 1980s, the River Trent supplied the cooling water for fifteen coal-fired power stations, each one gobbling up coal from the local mines and quenching its heat with gallons of river water. The area was known as Megawatt Valley. As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, the mines closed, the coal trains stopped running, and the iconic cooling towers, one by one, fell to the ground.


The high-voltage electricity lines which connected the stations to the grid are still there, however, and they dominated the walk I did today. The stately silhouettes of pylons stalked across the landscape, carrying fizzing power lines which sliced up the sky. At one point, I was within view of two of the remaining sets of cooling towers.

Diving further back into history, I parked by Swarkestone Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal, walked past St James' Church, and arrived at Swarkestone Bridge, a 14th-century causeway which still, remarkably, carries traffic today. It was famously the southernmost spot that Bonnie Prince Charlie reached before he gave up on the idea of London and returned to Scotland. Whether that was a wise decision or a missed opportunity is a topic of debate.

St James', Swarkestone


crossing Swarkestone Bridge

A short way along the road to Ingleby is a footpath which leads across the flood plain next to the causeway. Usually this is boggy, if not totally flooded, but the recent dry weather meant that I had no concerns about keeping my feet dry. There are often cows here too. No sign of them today.



the causeway

Stanton-by-Bridge, at the opposite end of the causeway to Swarkestone, sensibly stands on a lump of high ground. The village hall was decked out with bunting, and St Michael's Church had tombstones leaning awkwardly against it.



Country lanes took me down to the Trent, past the John Thompson pub, and into Ingleby village. A tiny building had a sign reading "The Chapel" on its green-painted door, and a war memorial and a postbox built into its side. There were some beautiful cottages, and a huge rock looming over a small pool. I guess that may have once been the village water supply.

Trent with blackberries


chapel in Ingleby


there's a pool in that dark hole

I reached Elm Farm and Sycamore Farm, where my previous walk ended. After stopping for a short rest, I turned around to walk back through the village and up across a field, following the route of the Trent Valley Way back to Stanton-by-Bridge. I passed along the edge of Robin Wood.




At this point I discovered that I could see two former power stations at once: Ratcliffe on my right and Willington on my left, and a line of pylons marching across the middle.

Ratcliffe

Willington

And here I was back at St Michael's, Stanton-by-Bridge, feeling like I'd walked a long way to not get anywhere. Actually I was more than halfway now.


I made my way over to Kings Newton, near Melbourne. This gate made things look very complicated, but the path was easy to follow! I paid my respects to the Holy Well along the way.




Both churches I had been to so far had been locked. I took a detour to a spire in Kings Newton, hoping for third time lucky, but it turned out to be a cemetery chapel. Also closed. Still, it was an interesting building, with an arch through the middle of it.

Kings Newton

cemetery chapel

A field sloped down to the Cloud Trail, which would take me back over the Trent. This former railway line is now a pleasant cycle route. When I used to live near it, I would regularly see the mileposts, which say Derby on one side and Tonge on the other. I finally cycled to the Tonge end of the trail, and was amused to discover that it is a tiny place, not a major destination at all!




A wide bridge carries walkers and cyclists across the River Trent. There was an abundance of purple flowers along the way which my app told me was oregano. I sniffed a few leaves - yes, it certainly smelled like it. I didn't realise it grew wild. In a bush, a spider had made a spectacular pyramid-shaped web.





Soon after crossing the river, I was back on the Trent & Mersey Canal, which would take me neatly back to the car. It's the Trent Valley Way in all directions, here!



Several boats chugged past as I walked along the towpath. This one, I suspect, has not moved for some time.




At Swarkestone Lock, the lock keeper said, "You're not photographing my leaks, are you?" The lock gates look like a waterfall, which leads to a picturesque profusion of greenery, but causes big problems. We had a brief chat about canal water shortages, which have been severe this year. The reservoirs which feed the canals are very low. Pleasant as it is to be able to walk across flood plains with dry feet, I do hope we get some rain soon.

14 July 2025

11 miles / 17.7 km

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where am I going now? The Portway

I should probably explain why I am pottering around Nottingham and its western suburbs, rather than roaming the Derbyshire countryside. It's not just the abundance of paved paths, although that certainly helps - I recently went on a country walk across a cow field and found myself tiptoeing gingerly across boggy mud cratered with six-inch deep hoof holes. Then I was confronted by a sign which said: Private Property, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. I congratulated myself on being on a public right of way, then, a few steps on, consulted the map and realised I wasn't. The path was across a completely different field. nice scenery, though I digress. Apart from the absence of cows and angry landowners, the reason I am walking around Nottingham is that it's the start of the Portway. There is a blog called The Old Roads of Derbyshire , written by a man named Stephen Bailey, who has also published a book of the same name. I can't remember now whether I came across the book fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Portway: Lenton to the Bramcote Hills

It was cold. My fingers were cold, and my phone was cold too. The OS map was totally failing to find my location, and the more I prodded it the less feeling I had in my fingers, so I gave up, shoved both my phone and my chilly hands into my pockets, and set off. After all, I knew where I was. This was Wollaton Park. And the path was very obvious. Just follow the avenue of trees... ...past the deer... ...and out through the fancy gates. Crossing a busy road brought me into a neat little housing estate with unusual round street signs. This was built when Wollaton Park was sold to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The old gatehouse, Lenton Lodge, is now estranged from the rest of the park, and stands by itself next to Derby Road. The bridge used to go over the Nottingham Canal, which has now been turned back into the River Leen. The unfortunate river got shoved out of the way whenever someone came up with a new building project. This is not its original course. My hands were warming up sli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Portway: Bramcote Hills to Stanton-by-Dale

I parked in the free car park at Bramcote Hills Park and set off, naturally enough, in the direction of where I'd last been. Up some steps through the woods, along the edge with marvellous views northwards, and down past a school to pick up Moor Lane again. At that point I realised I was supposed to be walking this route in the opposite direction. Oops. Well, it didn't make much difference. It just meant that the Hemlock Stone would come at the end rather than the start. Also, I was doing a figure of eight, so I could switch paths in the middle. That sorted, I pressed on along the disused Nottingham Canal. This had varying amounts of water in it. There were good views back up to the double hump of the Bramcote Hills. Nottingham Canal Also Nottingham Canal Just before I got to Trowell garden centre, I crossed a bridge and walked across a green space to a partly built housing estate. The Boundary Brook had been aggressively re-wiggled. I'm sure it will look better in a year...
Post a Comment
Read more