I found solitude along the Grantham Canal.

Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

This morning I did an 11 mile walk along the Grantham Canal from the Dirty Duck pub in Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir to Redmile and back again.

I set off walking at 08:00 and I didn’t meet a soul for 3 hrs – it was wonderful!

The Grantham Canal Society Depot at Woolsthorpe

The Grantham Canal is a dis-used canal that runs from Grantham to the River Trent in Nottingham (33 miles). It is what is referred to as a contour canal because when it was built it followed the contours of the land – hence it is wiggly! It is gradually being restored by The Grantham Canal Society. The aim is to get the canal fully navigable again and this will involve putting in a new cut to get from the outskirts of Nottingham to the Trent because of roads etc that have been built across the original route. It is a very long term project.

To see more of the canal towards the Nottingham end see my blog https://wordpress.com/post/oldblokewalking.blog/1881

The canal opened in 1797 having cost £118,500 to build. From Nottingham the canal carried coal, coke, lime building materials and groceries. Returning from Grantham boats carried corn, malt, bean, wool and agricultural produce.

The walk was a mixed bag of nice pathways and very muddy ones.

Along the way I saw 4 herons close to the towpath but do you think I could capture a photo – as soon as I got anywhere near they flew off further away from me. Most frustrating but wonderful to see them.

A de-tour was required around lock 13 which is just at the early stages of being renovated.

Dam across the canal to aid the renovation

In the distance I could see impressive Belvoir castle.

I really liked the reed beds along the way.

I said ‘Hello’ to quite a few Swans – good job no one was about!

Near Muston there a breach in the side wall of the canal visible and the water had dropped 2 feet. It has breached here before and the temporary repair has failed. The Canals and Rivers Trust has been made aware.

Along the way I passed a disused Lengthman’s hut – the Lengthmen were responsible for lengths of towpath including repair and maintenance of banks. To see what a restored Lengthmans hut looks like see my blog https://wordpress.com/post/oldblokewalking.blog/1686

Roughly half way I stopped for a coffee and a scotch egg. It was definitely on the chilly side this morning. On the return leg I avoided a boggy section of the towpath taking a cycle trail instead.