Late Summer Holiday Adventuring, Part 3 (12 – 14th September)

 Late Summer Holiday Adventuring, Part 3 (12 – 14th September)

12th September – Aire & Calder Navigation

Having started with the Aire & Calder Navigation (which runs between Leeds & Goole via Knottingley & Castleford with a branch to Wakefield) over the summer with Leeds to Castlefield, the idea for today was to focus on the section towards Goole.  Due to the distance involved between Knottingley & Goole, I decided to split it up at Whitley Bridge station near the large village of Eggborough.  Sadly, Whitley Bridge station doesn’t get much in the way of trains (2 trains to Leeds & 1 train to Goole daily) which meant I needed to use the bus from Selby (which was a bit easier to reach than Pontefract).

The day began with the 05:27 from Grateley with 159012 to Clapham Junction, changing onto 701011 to Vauxhall where I made a swift change onto the Victoria line with 11086 & 11085 to King’s Cross St Pancras.  After grabbing some supplies from the little Tesco close to the station, I boarded a reasonably busy 801205 on the 07:30 service to Edinburgh for the nonstop run to York before taking 155345 to Selby, giving me a comfortable connection into the Arriva run hourly route 476 service to Pontefract.  Not the busiest of buses from Selby as it headed towards Eggborough via Brayton, Burn & Hensall, getting reasonably busy in Eggborough as I departed the bus to begin my walk.  I crossed over the railway at Whitley Bridge station and onto an old road bridge, picking up the Aire & Calder Navigation (also known in this area as the Knottingley & Goole Canal) near Templar Close with an unmarked footpath link.

Platforms at Whitley Bridge Station

As this canal gets used by larger sea going ships (although probably not as much as it used to since the colliers & power stations closed), the canal is reasonably wide with strong sides.  No risk of minding gaps due to erosion today.  I decided to head towards Castleford with the canal not being the most interesting.  The M62 ran to the south which generated a bit of road noise across the fields, with the towpath quality on the south bank (this is a section where there is a dual towpath) was grassy.  I reached Sudforth Lane where my guide book & prior research found the towpath beyond this point being unusable due to issues relating with the Kellingley Colliery.

This meant a marked diversion via a bridleway, crossing over the railway on a foot crossing to re-join the canal at Southmoor Lane.  I headed to the point where previously it was blocked off with a large fence (Streetview) only to find the fence had vanished, so I did some investigating.  I passed the remains of Kellingley Colliery with the coal loading wharf, going underneath the railway and reached the road bridge I was standing on earlier, annoyingly there was no need for that diversion (and seemingly since I did the walk, it seems the Street View images have been updated by someone who tours various canals/rivers taking lots of pictures).

Aire and Calder Navigation near the former Kellingley colliery

I doubled back towards Kellingley Colliery & Southmoor Lane, continuing along the canal bank heading towards Knottingley.  Parts of this path the canal was hiding behind trees.  I detoured via the short Bank Doe branch which links the canal with the River Aire (and onwards to the Selby Canal at Chapel Haddlesey via Beal, which is something I will do next year, just to plug a gap in my walking coverage).  After doubling back, I returned to the Aire & Calder Navigation in Knottingley, a place I felt a bit uneasy for some reason.

Anyhow I continued along the canal as it skirted around the northern edge of Knottingley, the path sandwiched between the canal & river Aire, reaching Ferrybridge Lock, where the canal section came to an end with the navigation running into the River Aire.  Now on the Aire, I crossed over with the historic Ferry Bridge (The Old Great North Road Bridge), going across fields to reach Brotherton, where the river side path detours inland to re-join the riverside near some bodies of water I presume was related to the long-closed power station.

Old Great North Road bridge over the River Aire (Aire and Calder Navigation) in Ferrybridge

I was back on the footpath alongside the river, although the river was hidden from view with trees, but it was a nice woodland path with a reasonable surface.  I headed underneath the A1(M) and the railway at Fairburn Viaduct (which has a walkway bridge alongside it).  I soon reached the RSPB Fairburns Ings Nature Reserve with the river a distance memory.  The path within the nature reserve gave some nice views of various bays of water, certainly a pleasant place to spend an hour exploring the area.

When I reached the Castleford Viaduct (which used to carry a railway line across it), I was onto an area I explored back in 2022 when I walked from Garforth along said former railway line.  This section was along the short Bulholme cut of the Aire & Calder Navigation, with a little detour to the entrance lock but sadly no decent views of the viaduct due to the angle of the sun.  The walk along the navigation ended when I reached Barnsdale Road, and a gentle stroll towards the station, detouring via the nearby Aldi to grab some more liquids.  The quickest way back to London involved taking 150144 & 158908 to Pontefract Monkhill for a short wait for 180105 to arrive on a Grand Central service to London.

180105 arriving at Pontefract Monkhill Station

This wasn't the busiest of trains, the front coach only having 3 other passengers in, 2 which left the train at Doncaster.  Even at Doncaster it didn't get that busy for the run to London, unusually for a Grand Central service there wasn't any sign of the guard doing a ticket check after Doncaster.  Anyhow at London I headed to the underground with the Bakerloo showing severe delays I took 11079/11080 to Vauxhall and 701008 to Waterloo, where after grabbing some dinner items I boarded a very busy 159003 to take me back to Grateley.

A mostly enjoyable walk along the Aire & Calder Navigation, the highlight being the nature reserve area.

13th September – Exploring Nuneaton

Today was originally going to be a restful day with a short walk in London, but I decided to change my mind when I saw that both my remaining active 730s were gettable, and dust off a plan involving Nuneaton.  The day began with 159108 & 159015 from Grateley to Andover followed with 159017 to Reading where I had time to grab some supplies before boarding 221108 & 221127 on the 09:15 service to Manchester where the 10-coach voyager would split at Birmingham so the rear unit was a bit quieter than the front.  I took this to Lemington Spa (where the train was diverting via Solihull due to an incident between Coventry & Birmingham), changing onto 196002 to take me all the way to Nuneaton where my walk began.

Heading out of the station, I picked up the A444 road crossing over the railway to the south of the station, following the road to pick up a path running alongside the river Anker towards Sandon Park & Weddington Meadows, returning to the roads in a housing development.  I followed the roads & a couple of footpaths to reach the route of the former Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway route which ran from Nuneaton towards Ashby.  A small part at the Nuneaton end has been turned into a mixed used route which ends on the A5 near Higham on the Hill.

River Anker in Weddington Meadows (Nuneaton)

This was a nice woodland path, decent surface and when I reached the A5 I did an U-turn to head back towards Nuneaton, passing the point where I joined the route to reach the ending point near the WCML.  I picked up a short road which went underneath the WCML and the freight chord from the Hinkley line, and up a footbridge which crossed both routes towards Coleshill (the curve leading into the low numbered platforms at Nuneaton and the track used by XC to cross over the WCML, this area being a maze of railway lines).

The last section of today's walk was via the roads, passing Abbey Green, detouring via Asda for some supplies before making my return to Nuneaton station, which was very busy due to the incident earlier in the day.  Winner 730236 rolled in with 730221 on the rear and I easily found a seat towards the back of the train for the run towards Rugby where there was some confusion regarding a possible delay due to the onward driver being late, but after a short pause the train continued and I bailed at Milton Keynes Central where my last active 730 (so excluding the trio which haven't entered service) was due to be on a stopping service to London.

Path along the former Ashby & Nuneaton Joint Railway near Nuneaton (Cycle Route 52)

Well 730206 did indeed arrive at Milton Keynes, but the return to London was cancelled due to a shortage of train crew, which was a bit annoying as there was a gap in London bound services due to issues elsewhere on the WCML.  390124 was the first train to arrive which was due to continue to London and I took this Pendo to Euston, transferring to the underground with 51619 & 51620 to Waterloo and onto 159006 & 159004 to take me to Andover for a 30-minute fester before 159022 rolled in from Reading to take me the last step to Grateley.  I will need to return to Nuneaton to finish my exploring (Riversley Park, Bar Pool Brook) but that could easily be a winter time visit.

14th September – “The Source, 12 Miles”

The idea for today’s walk was to finish the Thames Path, having reached Cricklade on a warm July day, I didn’t want to leave it too long due to the risk of mud on the rural section of the River Thames.  The day began with a drive to Salisbury and onto the 06:35 service for Worcester with 165131 for the trip to Swindon (one of the few direct trains to Swindon from Salisbury).  Swindon was in a bit of chaos due to an incident at Twyford with both platform 1 & 3 having delayed London trains on.  Thankfully the 165 used platform 2 where it got swamped with school kids.  I left the station, heading towards the bus station area via Tesco for some supplies (mainly to waste time) and onto a late running Stagecoach run route 51 service (running around 20 minutes late for some unknown reason).

This bus took me to Cricklade where I began my walk from the bus stop in the centre of the town.  I followed the road (detouring via a handy toilet block) to reach the Thames Path near the North Wall, crossing across a grassy area to the north of the built-up area.  In a farmyard area I crossed over the Thames and entered the North Meadow Nature Reserve, following the route across various fields with the occasional glimpse of the river on my left-hand side.  It was nice and peaceful but a bit rough on the legs (for it was a bit bumpy in places).  I reached the route of the former Midland railway route which ran from Cricklade towards Cheltenham via Cirencester, part of which is walkable from South Cerney.

Thames Path in Cricklade

The next short section of the Thames Path ran along the former railway line before heading into the Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve.  This nature reserve was quite pretty with various lakes; some used for water sports others just for fishing.  The path quality was quite reasonable in this section as well as I followed the path as it snaked its way via various lakes being careful to follow the correct path (for there were many in this area) before arriving at Ashton Keynes.  I followed the path as it ran along a couple of roads to return to the River Thames, picking up a footpath which ran alongside the river.

Well, it did for the first section before the river dried up, leaving the riverbed and the path along the southern edge.  It gave me an impression of a disused canal.  After crossing the busy B4696 the path headed towards another area full of lakes, the dried-up Thames running between various lakes leading to a very posh looking area (which looking on Google Maps suggests it's full of accommodation options).  I reached Somerford Keynes with the path running along a road to reach the Neigh Bridge Lake Nature Reserve, before the path headed away from the lakes and back into fields.

Thames Path between Ashton Keynes & Somerford Keynes

I followed the Thames Path and the route of the Thames, along the edge of various fields, pausing for some lunch along the way before carrying on heading north towards Ewen.  The path in this area being variable quality, some parts were a bit rough and overgrown, others fine.  I reached the end of this section alongside the dried-up Thames in Ewen, where the Thames Path detours via the roads close to Kemble.  I met up with part of the Thames Path I walked back in 2021 when I did a small loop in the Kemble area.  This was a woodland path with the river on my left-hand side, heading towards the A429 where I was back onto new coverage, the route of the river being on my right-hand side, although it was a mere ditch as I crossed fields and the A433 towards Thames Head and the Source Stone.

I saw the stone in the distance, picking up my speed in excitement, grabbing a couple of photographs of the stone (and the writing saying the stone marked the source of the River Thames).  This was the end of the Thames Path.  I paused for a few moments to rest and enjoying the silence before retracing my steps, detouring a footpath crossing over the railway on a foot crossing and heading to Kemble station via the roads (rather than a bumpy field).  I shouldn’t have rushed as the next London train was delayed by 20-odd minutes as a busy 802014 rolled in from Cheltenham to take me towards Reading, changing onto 165112 on the stopping service to Basingstoke.  The final train of the day was a busy 159022 (for the 2nd day running!) to Salisbury, where I drove home to get my rucksack sorted ready for my North East adventure.

River Thames Source Stone, Thames Head (End of Thames Path)

As always, thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr *here*.  Part 4 will follow when I write it.