Note : Clicking on an image will give a larger view.
Back in November 2020 I saw a post on the ‘Spotted in Repton’ Facebook page describing ‘The Lord Mayor’s Walk’.
The walk seemed fairly straight forward so, on a frosty and misty morning in late November 2020 I decided to grab my Nikon D850 camera and follow the route taking photographs as I went. This blog post is the result of that walk.
It was a Thursday morning. The sun was beginning to break through the mist and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. A nice day for a walk. I programmed ‘The Lord Mayor’s Walk’ into an iPhone app called ‘Outside’, grabbed my camera, a 24-70mm lens and spare batteries, jumped in the car to head for Repton.
Repton is about 8 miles from my home in Chellaston so 20 minutes later I found myself parked in the limited parking spaces adjacent to St. Wystan’s Church. As Repton is pretty close to the river Trent the mist hadn’t quite lifted which gave me the chance to take this atmospheric shot of St. Wystan’s from the parking area.
It had been quite wet during the week so I suspected that It was likely to be muddy especially across the fields. Therefore it was going to be walking boots rather than walking shoes for this one. I put on my boots and jacket, slung my camera around my neck, grabbed my walking pole and headed off down the High Street, iPhone in hand.
I continued along the High Street past the Bulls Head public house capturing the High Street in mist as I went.
About 200m past the Bulls Head, on the right, I came to Broomhills Lane. Taking a right turn into Broomhills Lane I to walked up the lane until I came to the gates of Bank House Farm. I’d read that the footpath continued through the farm yard and I could see path in the distance. Passing through the right-hand side of the farm yard with Broomhills Playing Field om my right I came to a large double width path, more like a track.
The iPhone app said to continue up the track until it splits into a fork. At the fork I took a left turn and came to a small stile in the fence. The footpath was obvious but I still checked the app to make sure I wasn’t going to end up in the wrong place. Hopping over the stile I began to head South-Southeast towards a large farm type collection of buildings ahead. Although my app suggested the path passed through yard there was something a little forbidding about it. I decided that I would skirt around the right side and follow the fence.
Skirting the yard turned out to be the correct decision. The route was supposed to cross a small road and I could see the road up ahead.
I continued to follow the fence line Southwest for a few metres looking back across the farm towards Willington Cooling Towers rising in the mist.
The footpath was now very obvious and proceeded to continue up an incline. The morning sun illuminted the trees in the surrounding fields.
I knew that the footpath would eventually reach Knights Lane but from my vantage point it seemed to come to a hedge and stop. I followed the path in the hope that there would be a gap in the hedge that I couldn’t yet see. As I climbed the hill I caught this view of a house behind some trees across Knights Lane.
I could see Flatts Farm rising about the hedge line. The path eventually met the hedge at a very tall stile (well, tall for someone with little legs like me.) I climbed over the stile and could see the path progressing towards Broken Flatts. In fact, it seemed to be heading towards a field full of cattle. I’m not too keen on walking in fields with cattle so I was a little apprehensive. I remember reading on Facebook that the person who placed the post had not gone into the farm but had headed parallel to the fence line and exited the field by the metal gate. I decided to do the same.
I passed through the gate and found myself on Knights Lane near Broken Flatts Farm. I was on track again and happy. The view from Knights Lane is spectacular in all directions.
The route took me past Broken Flatts Farm for about half a kilometre. At the highest part of the road there is a view Southeast towards Foremark reservoir that it truly eye-catching and it’s worth taking a few minutes out to take it in.
After taking in the view, I carried on along Knights Lane for about 600 metres until I reached a well-defined stile in the fence line. A sign clearly indicated the direction to go.
Once I’d crossed the stile I was back on open land. The footpath was quite evident and continued downhill towards a mud bath. Before dropping down the hill I took the opportunity to, once again, look across towards Willington. The power station chimneys were now easily visible although there was still a little mist about.
At the bottom of the hill the path passes through a narrow gap between two hedgerows. The mud here was pretty deep so I picked a route on the higher ground. I was now walking Northwest towards Cockey Barn Farm. A line of trees in front marked the edge of the field boundary and in the left corner of the field was the next stile.
I captured the images above before passing through even more mud and over the stile. At this point the path travels uphill past a lone tree and over the brow of the hill. Once again this is great place to take in the views as the land falls away on all sides.
Views towards Newton Solney, Bretby, Repton and Willington can all be seen from this vantage point.After crossing the brow of the hill.
I dropped down towards an iron gate, looking over the gate I could see the path continuing towards Repton some 1.5 kilometres ahead.
As I walked along the path, I continued to take photographs of trees. One of my favourite subjects.
The footpath eventually emerges onto a small lane that comes down from Burton Road between Repton and Newton Solney.
At this point the path turns right along the lane. I followed the path and passed over a stile and past an old open barn.
Joining the High Street at the traffic island I was now looking at St. Wystan's once again and almost back at the car some three and a half hours after I’d set out.
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