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Part Two.
I left Part one having reached the West end of the Norwood tunnel just as the sun was setting having completed 13 miles of the 48 miles of the cuckoo way, towpath of the chesterfield canal.
A walk through the night was in store.
but first I had to climb over the hill that Norwood tunnel passed through, passing under the M1 on the way.
I manged to get through this section before i lost all the light and had to put my headtorch on as i rejoined the towpath.
I stopped for an hour to have a drink and a rest at the Station inn by Kiverton park station, where the canal and railway run next to each other.
Norwood tunnel west end
The sun is setting
from the tunnel mouth it was 1/4 mile uphill through a field to reach the M1 which was passed under via this accomodation bridge
then into the fields beyond
the route passes through Kiverton waters the reservoir here feeds the canal.
crossing a field before decending to the East tunnel mouth.
The east tunnl mouth is there in the gloom, it was now 20.40 and i'd been awake since 06:00 and on the walk since 14:00 so decided I needed a break so visted the Station inn at kiverton park station for an hour and restarted along the summit pound towards Shireoaks at around 10pm,
the photos now are few and far between and recorded the milestones that i passed so i had the times to monitor my progress.
23 miles
The walk from Kiverton Park to shireoaks is really really nice and includes the recently restored locks of the Turnerwood and Thorpe flights dubbed the Giant staircase ( tongue in cheek) but the whole section is lovely especially in spring.
Check out Robbie cummings video of them ( i met him at the end of the walk see about 2 mins in)
At shireoaks I stopped at the toilet block, and refilled my water bladder and it started to rain, but I carrie don passing through the centre of Worksop at 11pm with a very loud pub, but once through that i didn't see anyone else until 6am in Retford where i stopped and had another break as i was starting to zombie walk.
I was marking off the walk through the night by the crossing of the A1 and the east coast main line plus each milestone.
At Retford it started to become light again as i had a half hour break after 32 miles.
only 24 to go.
with the light brightening I got my second wind and enjoying the walk passed through the retford suburbs and out into the fields
video of wide lock
the miles passed by but the land had flattened out and there was still 18 miles to go and the distance between the milestones seemed to get further and further. and there was no locks to break up the walk, the towpath was now just grass, and rutted in places so i was nervous of stumbling and turning my ankle, luckily through the night the towpath was mostly graded stone so was easy walking.
The sun rising higher
video of 33 miles
The next 6 miles or so was a slog - I knew the route turned north then west until it turned sharp north to head through a short tunnel through a low ridge of hills before turning east towards the river trent but it seemed to take ages to get there. I took few photos and saw only 1 boat moving, the only bat moving i saw on the navigable section, but that was probably because it was early on sunday morning between 6am and 10am.
eventually I arrived at drakeholes near the tunnel at the 40 mile mark and climbed over the top and down the other side,
then it was just a final 6 miles to west stockwith, I was trudging along so didnt take any pictures until the very end at west stockwith after meeting Robbie Cummings on is boat Naughty lass - see the video higher up
Made it to the end
The final milestone
I made it.
I walked 47 miles in all
in 21 hours.
I was knackered having been awake for 30 hours straight but except for a slight knee pain between miles 20 and 35 i was feeling great and the next morning was able to walk around fine.
The walk, I accept was flat, but i satisfied myself i could walk this distance.
So very pleased I made it.
I was alos glad I had a BW key to access the water taps and toilet facilites and shireoaks to refill my water and i stopped at the other one just east on the A1 at around 2.30am
I can recommend the chesterfield canal it is lovely, especially the section between Shireoaks and the summit pound to Kiveton park.
iain the bargee
