It had rained overnight and the morning was cool and damp, which is not a phrase that has had much use in this hot, drought-stricken summer. The change in weather was refreshing. This walk was the final link in the chain, closing the large loop which had taken me west and north along the River Dove, over the hills between Thorpe and Matlock, down the River Derwent, and finally along this short section of the River Trent. Or, in today's case, the Trent & Mersey Canal.
St Mary's, Weston-on-Trent, stands all by itself down a little lane, with only a graveyard for company. And a good view. Some signs in the neat half-timbered porch suggested that the church was sometimes open, but today the door was locked. I continued down the lane.
A footpath took me past the Ukrainian Social Club - an odd pub hidden in the woods by the canal. I crossed the canal on a footbridge with wonky railings and dropped down onto the towpath. Here I have a confession to make. This is not the point at which I finished my last walk. I decided I could live with missing out half a kilometre of towpath.
Assuming it was similar to the part I was now walking, it would have been quiet and cool, with drooping trees reflecting in the brown water, and blackberries ripening in the hedge. To my right, I caught a rare glimpse of the Trent. On the other side, the land sloped up to St Mary's Church.
As I approached Weston and Aston locks, the water got busier with moored boats, and the path got busier with dog walkers. One man asked me the way to Shardlow, which was confusing as the obvious route was the direction from which he had just come, but I think he was hoping to do a loop.
After an hour's walking I reached the A50 bridge. This is a solid concrete affair with six lanes of traffic rumbling over the top of it. The reflections underneath were spectacular.
Not long after that, I reached Shardlow. The sky had cleared to a cheerful blue, dotted with puffy clouds, and my photos of the canal looked like they should be on a calendar. It was just as beautiful in real life. I sat near the heritage centre, sipping a drink and watching a family of swans waddle around - slap! slap! slap! - and feeling that life didn't get much better than this.
I crossed back over the A50 to get to Aston-on-Trent. There was more to the village than I expected - two pubs, a posh cafe and deli, two general stores, a church, and a strong local history group.
There was a rather sweet tomb in the church, with the dead couple, carved in alabaster, holding hands. I appreciated the lending library, too, aptly named "Books in the Belfry".
Heading back to Weston-on-Trent, I was glad to find a bit of shade in Long Walk Wood. The sun was hot now, and I hadn't even thought about bringing a hat. It wasn't far now. I dodged past the clatter of drills as the gas men dug up the main street, passed the village hall, turned down Trent Lane, and crossed an unkempt field back to the church. I reached home just in time for a thunderstorm.
21 July 2025
9.8 miles / 15.9 km
And here's a rough sketch of the full Dove-Derwent-Trent loop, complete with the Churnet Valley detour (in red) and the Ecclesbourne Way (in yellow) which I did with Toby.
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