One bright evening earlier this week we headed out to Shipley Park - but to what I think of as 'the other end'. I'm not sure which car park is actually nearest to us; one involves a shorter but twisty, turning route on smallish roads to Mapperley village; the other is longer but on quicker 'A' roads to the visitor centre at Heanor. We mostly go to Mapperley which has more of a countryside feel, and is nearer to the site of the old hall; this time we went to the Heanor entrance, for a different walk.
First we headed down to Osborne's Pond (sometimes I've been lucky enough to spot grebes there but not this time, though we did spot swans nesting in the reeds)
then uphill across fields reclaimed after opencast mining,
following a blackthorn hedge in full flower, back to the 'trim track' - a marked route with various pieces of exercise equipment along its length (yes, we tried some of it, though there were other things we couldn't figure how to work at all)
I moved to Shipley in the 60's and spent my childhood roaming what is now Shipley Park and the 4 "lakes", Osborne's Pond, Hogg's Pond (very small near The Field where we lived, Mapperley Res and Shipley Res. The area has seen many changes from two operational pits, Woodside and Coppice, Both closing in the 60s and great places to explore as a lad. Britannia Park, swiftly followed by The American Adventure. It still feels like home to me and we often head over from across the valley (Giltbrook) for a walk round.
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