This blog posts dates from 31 January 2014. It will be ten years since in a month’s time. I have walked the Erewash Canal a few times since and I am planning to do so again during 2014, together with the Nottingham Tram and my beloved 35 Nottingham City Transport History Bus. I will be 80 in May and I want this collection to be a marker of mine, about what I love about where I live and what I love about life. It is all here.
In January 2014 we were still living on Devonshire Promenade in Lenton, our last cat, Markeza, having died in October, three months before, which prompted our decision to move to Beeston or Chilwell, and to look for a new home somewhere along the line of the Nottingham Tram of the Toton Lane extension, which was then under construction. We found our house in Beeston Fields the day before my 70th birthday, in the middle of May, after several failed attempts elsewhere. In the event, the gods were taking care of us and we have been happy in our new home since the day we moved in in November 2014. My map isn’t bad, but it doesn’t show Trent-Barton’s ‘My Local Fifteen’ bus route, which weaves in and out of the Erewash Canal between Gallows Inn and Tamworth Road. My 2024 map will correct the omission (as a fewer other maps have already done).
Erewash days of delight
I spent over half my life crossing the Erewash valley without even knowing its name as anything other than that of a borough council or a river; somewhere to be crossed when going to and from other places. Long Eaton and Sandiacre were not more than names. Ilkeston I knew because of the Co-op and the town's lovely museum.
Eastwood is also part of the Erewash valley, even though it is in Nottinghamshire, so it is a town I know a little better, as much for its D H Lawrence Birthplace Museum as anything else.
The River Erewash forms part of the boundary between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and I knew about the Erewash Canal because I crossed it so many times on trips to Derby or Ripley and saw it from a bus at the point where the Tamworth Road and Canal run alongside one another as you leave Long Eaton heading towards Sawley and Castle Donington.
I always wanted to walk the Erewash Canal – something I finally managed in 2012 and 2013. Walking its seventeen miles gave me a whole new appreciation of the Erewash valley and its importance. I did my walk in four chunks and have been back since on a couple of occasions. I am in process of creating a separate Erewash page and have created the map beliw to show how easy it is to reach from Nottingham and the buses you can catch. All run frequently, except the 20 (Sundays only) and the 21 (Monday–Saturday). These buses run every sixty minutes.
Eastwood is also part of the Erewash valley, even though it is in Nottinghamshire, so it is a town I know a little better, as much for its D H Lawrence Birthplace Museum as anything else.
The River Erewash forms part of the boundary between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and I knew about the Erewash Canal because I crossed it so many times on trips to Derby or Ripley and saw it from a bus at the point where the Tamworth Road and Canal run alongside one another as you leave Long Eaton heading towards Sawley and Castle Donington.
A Skylink bus approaching Long Eaton town centre along the Tamworth Road, which for about half-a-mile runs alongside the Erewash Canal, on its way to Nottingham.
I always wanted to walk the Erewash Canal – something I finally managed in 2012 and 2013. Walking its seventeen miles gave me a whole new appreciation of the Erewash valley and its importance. I did my walk in four chunks and have been back since on a couple of occasions. I am in process of creating a separate Erewash page and have created the map beliw to show how easy it is to reach from Nottingham and the buses you can catch. All run frequently, except the 20 (Sundays only) and the 21 (Monday–Saturday). These buses run every sixty minutes.
The northern end of the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill, where it joins the Cromford Canal. It also used to be where the Nottingham Canal ended.
The southern end of the Erewash Canal at Trent Lock, where it joins the River Trent. in the background you can see Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. To see more photographs and information about the Canal, go to the Erewash Canal page in the left-hand column.
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