Starting out along the
Robin Hood Way T
he Robin Hood Way wanders across Nottinghamshire from Nottingham Castle to Edwinstowe via many spots associated with the famous outlaw. It is about 106 miles long, split into 18 sections. Newark Ramblers are planning to complete the Way over this year and started with Section 1, Nottingham Castle to Woollaton Park. We left the Robin Hood Statue by the castle and headed down the hill, left at Castle Boulevard and right at Wilford St to the canal towpath on the right just over the bridge. On the way we spotted the famous Trip to Jerusalem pub – too early to stop here, unfortunately. We strolled along the canal bank watching birds and boats until reaching the road bridge over the A52. Here we climbed some steps and negotiated our way to Beeston Rd by walking downhill towards the busy traffic island and luckily finding the footpath that leads under the road and across to Beeston Rd. Walking left along this road took us to Lakeside. We paused by the Pavilion to take in the views and have a coffee then continued along the left-hand side of the lake, exiting on to University Boulevard at the far end. We then went through the University grounds via the West Entrance (Beeston Lane) until a “twitchell” on the left took us Derby Rd. We crossed this busy road and entered the calm of Woollaton Hall through the grey (at the time of writing) door in the wall. Walking straight ahead took us to the lake where we turned right up to the Hall. This was the end of section 1 and we enjoyed some time exploring the gardens of the park. We were amazed at how much green space was connected up on this walk, taking in the canal bank, parks and lakes plus many interesting buildings, although it is essentially through the middle of Nottingham. More on our Robin Hood Way progress in later editions but if you want to follow the routes in more detail there is a book, The Robin Hood Way, available from The Robin Hood Way association www.robinhoodway.com.
