The canal systems tour walk stavley to chesterfield derbyshire

#outdooradventure #hikingadventures #canal #cycling

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. It’s Lee from Magnetic North Adventures. Hope you’re all doing well. And uh to my subscribers, new, old, those just visiting, you’re all very welcome. And uh I’m going to be doing a walk along the canal. So, we’ve got the canal and the canal there, but I’m going to start down at that bridge down there and we’ll go from there. So, this is Mil Green area, Stavely. And uh today I’m going to be walking along the Chesterfield Canal system built in the 1780s through to about 1812. In the time be before 1972 was so abandoned there was no water. It was literally just a mud empty patch of canal system and uh certainly for many many years it was like that uh glass bottles, pottery, general trash that had been thrown into it and through lots of years and dedication it was cleaned up and uh redone. dug a bit and then the canal water as you see now was restored and uh boats was operating again in the late 1970s. So all this is uh an area that should be quite clean but uh you never know. Got some nice fishing platforms on the other side. And uh you do still get now the occasional pleasure boat come up and down here. So it’s good that it’s been restored. So I’ve just found this old footpath and it comes to the foundation to where a bridge used to be. The bridge used to cross here. You can see where the other platform used to be and the old fence as well taking you up that way. Long since pulled down. We’ve got this fairly modern constructed foot bridge going over the canal probably from the ‘ 90s and the canal going this way. So all this area has been totally restored all the way back down into Chesterfield. So uh most of this was actually empty certainly from the 1900s onwards. So anything that is in there is going to be from the late ‘ 70s onwards. Along this particular walk, you’ve got blackberries, you’ve got the nettles, all used in holistic healing and uh for forage foods, things like that. There we’re coming on to the mooring area on the canal M green and then you’ve got M green bridge number 10. Now you can see it’s an old construction with this um reinforced timbers and then the iron support around it. So this is a very low bridge. There is a path at the side of it now. That’s what the old bridge looked like underneath. And I say I have seen boats go through here. So very low for them. The walk I’m taking today along part of the Cuckoo Way to Chesterfield 4 and 1 half miles. We’ve got the river Trent 41 and a half miles. So you can see how big this canal network is. Uh transpine trail as well. And uh all this was all all dug by hand, manual labor. Quite impressive. So, walking down from the bridge, you can see it’s a nice long straight renewed path. Nice and clean. Fishing platforms on the side there. And all this all the way down, as far as you can see, has been restored. We’ve got a lovely little walk ahead of us today, folks. Just a general nice peaceful walk. We just come across this feature here which is a cutting in the side of the canal there. Now that would have been a lot of work to have done that. So that may well have served as a loading and unloading area back when the canal was operational just there. Rather interesting. This backs on to the old fields, things like that. So that could even have been where the farmers back in the day was loading cargo on onto the actual boats going to and from Chesterfield. We’ve got very large dandelions. Again, makes tea, things like that. Some smaller daisies. Got these nice flowers here as well. Lots of things. So, if you know your herbs and your plants, there’s quite a lot down here that you can use for foraging, making food, making medicines, tinctures, things like that. As you can see from the other side, the fields dropped straight into the canal. So again, that would have been a perfect area for loading, unloading from Staveley over that way and down all this way towards Hollingwood. Just here we’ve got slowberries. These have been used to make preserves and jams and gin. We’ve also got rose hips as well which uh has been used to make rose hip syrup and that’s been used in cough cures in the past. Four mile mile post. So 4 miles this way to go. So this is basically what it’s looked like all the way down to here. And uh this is the sort of fauna you get on the sides. These are not edible. Just showing you what’s around. And then it turns around this corner and down towards a big lock Hollingwood. So, we’ll go down there. So, you’ve got this dock area just before the locks. It is rather shallow in here, but there’s a lot of fish. But, um I can see there’s waste in there just there. It’s a a bowl. probably a dog bowl just there. You can just see the edge of the rim. This is the bridge. An old railway bridge. Let’s have a look under there. It’s quite low, so watch your head if you’re tall. This is what it looks like underneath. Owingwood hub and a lock uh dates down 1892 and it continues along down towards Chestfield Town this way just past the Hollingwood OB. It opens up again to a more natural environment. You’ve got the growth on the side, footpath going off up there. I don’t know where that goes to. So, you’ve got a pipe bridge down there and then it twists and turns a bit more. Path has got wide again. There’s quite a few narrow bits along here, but as you can see from the embanking, it is starting to collapse in. Uh this is a rather deep section of the canal here. There’s no metal sides whatsoever along here. It’s at least certainly not anywhere in this section. And there wasn’t in the hauling wood part either. So if you have got a scrap wagon that and means of carrying, this could be a very good area to test the waters. Uh some of the fishing platforms are now run down and somewhat abandoned. People have been magnet fishing in the past here, but it is a beautiful area. Again, you can just see how the banks just start to collapse in. So, we’re coming up onto another lock area. You’ve got some old farms and things here at the back of the canal. Got a last mooring area and a brick fronted uh bridge just there. And then as you come up to the actual lock itself, Dixon’s lock. This is a quite an unusual one to have this little bridge. That’s a height. And this was restored in 2014. Just so you can see the lock itself there. And it’s very very deep water. So this was um Halifax that’s made the restoration material for this. There we go. So all down the footpath there’s a number of these memorial benches. Quite a lot of places to sit and enjoy the scenery, the wildlife, and listen to the sounds of nature, the wind rustling in the trees, the birds singing. It’s beautiful. A look at that. Beautiful. Makes your walks like this worthwhile. So, we’ve got a another fairly modern bridge there, the Bibly Lane Bridge from um 2002. Very modern construction. Got some lovely fields at the back there. And this is the Blue Bank Pools up here. Um it’s not very deep water. 4 and 1/2 5 ft maybe. And there’s a notice board at the back just up there. Tells you a bit about the area. So here we are. We’ve now got 3 miles to go into Chesterfield at this point. Stavely 2 miles. So completed nearly half the walk. So at this section, nice and wide open, cleared side paths on the edges there and really wellkept fishing platforms. So I am walking as uh I’m filming and that’s why the camera may shake a little bit. So just here we’ve got a a small apple tree. Always like to see those on the walks. So the old sunflower carving, it’s still here. It’s a bit more aged, but it’s beautiful. And normal flowers. I love that structure. We’ve got another lock there. and a wooden bridge going over. Again, that’s fairly new. So, there’s been some repairs done since it were last down here. 2009, this one was restored. Blue Bank lock. That’s what this one is. So, just walking by. I’ve just noticed a little heron uh up on the tree there. We’ll have a minute with him. Beautiful. But we’re going to leave him to it cuz I don’t want to disturb him. So, I have done this particular walk before several years back, but it’s nice to redo the walk to see how much it’s changed, to see new things in the area. And that heron, them swans definitely made my day. We’ll see what else we see along the way. Look at that beautiful field at the back there as well. I’m enjoying the fact that we’re now in cooler weather. Still nice, but very overcast. I have got a coat with me as well, just in case it does decide to rain. So, this particular part is well worthy of note. It opens up extremely wide here, almost like a river, but this is actually still a canal. And uh got again lovely natural flowers, dandelion and I think bock few other things but it opens up extremely wide here and this was an industrial area. We’ve got a small water course down that way. And uh all in the history of this area in the 1800s, there was brick works in the area. Uh Brimington brick works. You’d also got the Weeden Mill uh brick works, several quite important establishments. And uh this was made wider so that you could get a lot more boats down here at the time. And they used to dock on that far side over there uh overnight just so that people couldn’t attempt to steal the cargo. And this was in the 1800s, late 1800s. And uh it’s such a beautiful spot. And then down here, it does connect with the water down there as an overflow again. So that’s what you’ll hear in a second. Morning. So there you go. It’s feeding down and into that section there. Another mile marker number two. So I’m over halfway there now. As we go around the corner, you can see it now gets quite narrow again. Just enough for two boats. So, we’re back onto the normal canal and uh this would just literally be for fing cargo and uh your pleasure craft at the time. But when you see wide areas like that on the canal and you know the history of the area, it does explain why they were a lot wider in parts than others. So you can see the water. It’s quite clear. There are lots of fish in there just over there in the deeper parts. So just off the canal, you’ve got this old railway bridge and uh the canal’s just down there. So we’re going to go back to the canal. So that’s the old railway bridge down there. This was once an old mineral railway for Cowell. And from this point, River Trent 44 and A4 miles. Got Chesterfield 1 and 3/4 miles. Brimington and the local shops that way. And this is the canal system again just here. The old locks, things like that. And at this section of the canal again, it’s very low and uh you’ve got to watch your footing cuz it’s not that far from the edge into the water. Again, natural stone sides and uh sadly many a cyclist have slid and gone into the water and then we’ve got down towards station road Bington up here. So thankfully this uh notice board survives and it’s the nature reserve information. So telling you about water bowls, dragon flies, things like that. Got cash rolls in the area. That’s a map of the area I’ve just been walking. So we’ll continue all the way down. Currently down here was up there. So you’ve got this bit here under the main road bridge and that used to be a pub up there. So there could be things in the water here. There’s one of the carvings. It’s a bit more worn down since I last seen it. This one mosaic one sadly all broken up now. Somebody’s done a local drawing of a a tree with the moon. Vehicle graveyard. Cars. Boats. Few trucks. caravan just at the side of the canal. So, as we come down the canal here, we’ve got another railway bridge crossing over the canal. So, these new railings have been put in for safety. That’s what the bridge is like underneath as it twists over and back onto this side. Just here we’ve got number one. So, one mile to go. Currently, we’re walking the Drone Valley way as well on the canal. So, we’ve got the John Vley the second there. A lovely little boat. Yeah. And if you wonder how these trees are all kept nice, it’s through gentlemen like this that’s doing it to keep it open. Thank you for doing a good job. Thank you very much. So basically they do cut the trees back from the boat and uh it keeps the waterways open. So that’s a good thing to see. I love seeing that. As we come down, we’re near Taptain Lock and then we’ve got this docking area and an area that you can get rafts and kayaks into the water into the slipway there. And uh this is also an area at one time that boats could be brought in or out as well. Nice new mooring rings. And this is Taptain Lock on our final stretch into Chestfield Town Center. So we’ve got Taptain Visitors Center there, Captain Lock. This is where you can hire um boats from, go on tours, things like that. There is a cafe there as well. So it’s where I am. Just walked all this way down here to Stavey Town Basin. So I could have gone up this way, but no, that’s too far out. So I’m just literally doing the Chesterfield part. Chesterfield stavely. So some information there and some more here. There we go. We’ve got another carving. just there. It’s a really nice owl, king fishes, things like water bowel. So, I like that. This is the chest field tap tunnel number one. some information and some local artworks along the way which I’ll just show you quickly because we have got a narrow path. So, showing you these just as I go through. Thankfully, there’s enough light catching them to see what they are. And another poem there, 2005. At one time, there would have been something here to block it off. It’s now gone. And that was used for when it was repaired. You’ve got the moorings over here where the canal trust boats actually stay. And uh down that way you’ve got the river. So where all these houses now stand, there used to be a scrap breakers yard and uh it said that tanks was broken up there in World War II. Now along this particular section, the last mile into town, there’s not really a lot that you can see. And uh even at this end of town, the fishing platforms, they’re abandoned. Um quite a bad state of repair. Quite difficult to get to from the banking. You’ve got a few that are maintained, but even these are starting to rot as you can see on this one. And just up there is where it merges with the river rather. So the river rather is actually supplying the water for the canal system. And uh we’ll just complete this little walk here. So you can see the last bit of the Chestfield Canal starting here. Um and then there is an area further back called Canal Warf. Um so boats did go down the river as well to the canal part of the warf there. the loading, the unloading, the docking areas. But this part here, this is the part where the river actually joins the canal. And uh as you can see, there’s debris just there washing in from the river. So that’s the river rather. That’s the Chesterfield Canal going that way. So if you carry on for 46 miles, you get to the River Trent. And from the River Trent, you could actually get out to the Humber and eventually out to sea if you really wanted to. Well, cool. Street art, some minions. Right then, folks, I hope you enjoyed that particular tour of the Chesterfield Canal System, Stavely to Chesterfield Towns, Darbisha, England. And if you did like this, let me know in the comments. And uh don’t forget to click that like button. It does help the channel grow. And if you haven’t subscribed and would consider it, click that subscribe button. I really do appreciate it. But for now, thanks for watching. Love this big old tree here. That’s one of my favorites in the area. Very old. Uh but yeah, if you would like to like, comment, and subscribe, I look forward to reading those comments. And I’ll see you very soon for the next one. Bye for now, everyone. Thank you. Bye. [Music]