Another weekend & another beautiful day for the fifth week of our weekend walks.
This week’s walk started by following the meandering paths, winding alongside the River Trent, across the Ferry Bridge & over to Stapenhill Gardens. Then on to Stapenhill Hollows for light refreshments before walking along a path where the trees above appeared to form a tunnel to walk through. The group then ventured into new territory, up the slightly challenging incline of Elms Road & through Tower Woods to reach the Winshill Water Tower, a route forming part of the Brizlincote Nature Walk.
The topic for the week was ‘from above’ with the group sighting things including birds & butterflies & a squirrel running up a tree. It climbed with agility over the branches above, where the dappled sunlight gleamed through the canopy of the trees. There was the majestic water tower & many other things too! The water tower was built over a hundred years ago in 1907, but still looks in amazing condition, standing like a giant on Burton’s highest point at the end of Tower Road, the Staffordshire brown brindle brickwork concealing it’s 80 foot cast iron water tank, a focal point across the town.
After admiring the construction of the water tower, the group stopped on the walk back towards the town at the gate to a field where cows grazed gently. Looking back across the town, they were shocked to see how far away local landmarks appeared & correspondingly, how far that meant they had walked!
Down the shaded track offering some reprieve from the hot sun, being careful to navigate the exposed roots of the trees & the loose pebbles underfoot, the group commented on how they had managed to walk down the hill much quicker than they had walked up!
Whilst trundling back down Elms Road & noticing the different species of trees, one member commented that the walking group had taught them to ‘look around, at buildings & nature, not just what’s in front of you’ & that they had never before really noticed or appreciated all the different colours of the leaves on the trees until they had joined the group.
Having safely made it back to more level ground, it was back along the River Trent & over the 36 arches of the Trent bridge, which had seemed tiny from our earlier viewpoint above the town. As three geese flew overhead, one member chatted about their enjoyment of getting out to explore different places. Matlock was on their list to visit soon & we chatted about all the things to do there.
After returning to the library, marking the end of another pleasant walk with perfect weather & good company, it was a busy weekend for some, with several members of the group leaving Burton for the afternoon, off to explore Chesterfield, to Nottingham to watch a family member in a musical & to Bluebell Farm Park in Derby to see animals & enjoy ice cream. Another member was pleased to experience that the walk had felt easier to complete, even though the distance we had walked had been similar to previous weeks, with the repetition of the weekly walks having possibly helped. Next week, the group hopes to visit the Winshill Water Tower again before completing another section of the Brizlincote Nature Walk.
