Our last walk of 2024 started in the centre of Jacksdale, north of our October walk from Brinsley, but still in the Erewash Valley nature reserve. The weather had been much less wet before this walk, so the going was what the horse racing world describes as ‘good to firm’.
After a mostly uphill climb, we crossed the border from Nottinghamshire into Derbyshire near the hamlet of Jubilee, walked under the preserved Midland Railway and had our coffee stop at the reservoir where the ‘Pinxton arm’ canal joined the Cromford canal. The canal as built started in Cromford, where a stretch is preserved and operational, and met the Erewash canal at Langley Mill. Closed to navigation for many years, many stretches have been lost to reeds, but the course is easy to follow, and some of the locks remain partly intact.
We paused to look across to the imposing stone building, which is now converted into apartments, but was built by the Butterley Company for its workers. For anyone who travels to London St. Pancras on the train, it is worth a look upwards at the roof, which was manufactured by the Butterley Company.
We returned to Jacksdale through the nature reserve, where our walk leader had arranged for us to eat our sandwiches in the very accommodating Poachers Ale House.
Thanks to Paul Haigh for stepping in at short notice and leading a very pleasant walk to end the year.
