Pictures of Clipstone April 2010

I went to Clipstone Forest to do a reccie on Sunday 18 April and followed this up with a signing session the following Wednesday. While there I made a number of new discoveries of ex-mining roads and railway lines, footbridges and forest paths, all of which could make a useful addition to the National Cycle Network. My investigations helped me to get an overall perspective of the region, including the 'Desert' and an adjacent area which two police officers told me is going to be developed into a Nature Reserve. Eakring Rd would be be a useful east-west route, once tidied up. One railway trackbed could be adapted to make a north-south route from Vicar Water to the Rainworth railway path.

Pictures show: (1) east-west railway trackbed leading to Bilsthorpe, intersected by NCR6 at 608607; (2) railway junction near bridge over NCR6 at 596622. The left fork goes to Rainworth railway path (NCR6) and the crossing in pic (1); (3) view onto NCR6 from bridge in pic (2). This is near the point designated ‘Sustrans North’ by the forestry authorities and the mountain bike circuits; (4) footbridge over railway. This is the right railway fork in pic (2); (5) Police Landrover climbs over barrier at end of mining road and into Eakring Rd. This road used to carry lorries taking spoil to the tip adjacent to the Desert; (6) Eakring Rd. What a mess! (7) This same ex-mining road can be accessed easily from NCR6 below the bridge in pic (3); (8) Ditto about to go under NCR6 and towards Clipstone Colliery; (9) Ditto, where it used to enter the colliery; (10) This is a view from the mining road down onto NCR6 at 596629, close to Vicar Water and the colliery; (11) This is what you saw in pic (3) but from below. This has just been signed. The right fork is NCR6, the left is the access to the mining road; (12) – (14) New signage from last Sunday on the new section that was added to NCR6 a year or so ago; (15) The Desert. Here, for interest, are a couple of websites on the subject of Clipstone Forest: http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/ppimageupload/Image37596.PDF and http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/documents/countryside/prow/illegaluse-cs10.pdf