The River Trent is the UK's third longest river, flowing almost 200 miles from the Staffordshire Moorlands to the Humber Estuary. I have walked barely a tenth of that. The section between Dove Mouth at Newton Solney and Derwent Mouth near Shardlow comes to just under twenty miles. So I thought I'd better go a little further.
The North Sea is a long way off, but Nottingham seemed quite manageable. There is a well-paved path all the way along this section of the river. The only problem, from a walking point of view, is that it is FLAT. Oh so flat. The only things to climb are flood defences and railway bridges.
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| Beautiful view of Derwent Mouth |
But there were compensations. Plenty of interesting things to see, and it was practically impossible to get lost. Four walks would take me to Nottingham; this first one was from Shardlow to Trent Lock.
It was the first day of school, and the boys - both of them! - were off to secondary school. My years of walking to the local primary were over. The weather was beautiful, so I dashed through some chores and set off for Shardlow.
I had walked along the canal towpath previously, so I followed the cycle path which closely parallelled it. The hawthorns were dripping with red berries.
At Derwent Mouth, I crossed Long Horse Bridge and turned east to head towards Sawley. The M1 motorway loomed above me. Immediately afterwards, the river channel swung off to the left, barricaded to boats by a line of barrels. The footpath, and any shipping, followed the Sawley Cut past Sawley Marina.
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| Long Horse Bridge |
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| M1 bridge |
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| Sawley Marina |
The cut rejoined the river via a double lock. The path went up and over the river on a high and narrow bridge tacked onto the railway viaduct. I kept tight hold of my hat and my phone!
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| Sawley locks on the left |
A fuel boat chugged along behind me as I walked along the gravel track to Trent Lock. This is a major waterways junction, with the Erewash Canal going off in one direction, the River Soar to the other, and of course the River Trent continuing straight ahead. There are a couple of pubs, a cafe, and lots of benches.
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| Trent Lock pub |
I turned up the Erewash Canal, which was full of rushes and characterful houseboats. Then I crossed a golf course. I thought this driving range was studded with dandelions; then I realised it was hundreds of yellow golf balls.
Under the railway, across a field or two, and up on to a flood embankment. The six feet of elevation felt like a mountain; I could see for miles! Soon I was at Harrington Bridge, which crosses the Trent at Sawley.
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| on the flood embankment |
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| Harrington Bridge |
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| Harrington Arms |
According to the Sawley Historical Society, the village was previously an important settlement. There has been a crossing of the Trent here since at least Roman times, and a church since the 7th century. After the Industrial Revolution, however, Long Eaton started growing more quickly, and today Sawley is merely the tail end of a strip of suburbia which stretches all the way to Nottingham.
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| entrance to All Saints' Church |
All Saints' Church was shut, but the churchyard was pleasant in the autumn sunshine. A man was collecting hedge trimmings into a bulk bag, with an interested audience of cows looking over the fence.
Around the corner was a Baptist Church - the first I have ever seen with a graveyard. It was neglected and overgrown, which gave it a special kind of beauty, but sadly means that its congregation has faded away and the church is now closed.
From here I could have made straight for Church Wilne, but I'd decided to extend the walk by detouring through Breaston. This involved taking a path that was squashed between the M1 and a large, fiercely fenced new complex of buildings that I gradually deduced was a water treatment works. At the end of the path I crossed a footbridge over the railway. How did someone manage to graffiti the outside of the bridge, and what does it mean, anyway?
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| waterworks still being built |
Breaston is said Breeston, not Bresston, but is not to be confused with Beeston, which is closer to Nottingham. It is a prosperous-looking village. I think it benefited from being on the main road between Derby and Nottingham, back when that was a good thing, and now benefits from being bypassed by the A52. The Methodists and Anglicans face off across Main Street. Presumably conformists and non-conformists rub along amicably these days.
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| Methodist Church (and pub next door!) |
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| Anglican Church: St Michael's |
I ate a sandwich in the memorial garden in the centre of Breaston, and bought a cheap and startlingly sweet iced coffee to go with it. Then I followed a bridle path across some horse fields and over the railway again. This bridge was designed to accommodate both pedestrians and horses; it featured a long ramp and steps on both sides, plus, interestingly, the name and address of the fabricator and coating manufacturer. You would hope the sign would fade (or be graffitied over) well before the bridge needs repairing or repainting, but possibly not.
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| Memorial Garden |
Shortly after that there was a coffin stone next to the path. I discovered that this was an old coffin way, along which deceased Breastonians were transported to St Chad's Church in Church Wilne for burial. At least the carriers wouldn't have had to negotiate that railway bridge. It also explained why the path was so straight; you wouldn't want to carry a coffin an inch further than you had to.
Church Wilne is mostly church. There were once a few houses too, but now there is just a pleasant lake called St Chad's Water. A series of signs along the church fence told some of the history. I wasn't too sure about their description of a font as "a sort of baby bath without soap". The church was locked, but with such a pretty gate that I forgave it.
I crossed the River Derwent (hello again, Derwent!) back to Great Wilne, which has all the houses, and some very interesting ones too. On one corner a former Methodist chapel was kind of smushed into a farmhouse.
A little way down the road, and I was back at Shardlow. It had been a flat walk, but certainly not a stale and unprofitable one.
8 September 2025
10.9 miles / 17.6 km
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