Here’s a walk report from David Blackburn.
A good turnout of 27 met at Staveley Hall (built 1604 and formerly owned by the Duke of Devonshire) for a walk designed to showcase the recent restoration work on the Chesterfield canal. Before we set off drinks and snacks were available at the little cafe in the hall- where as well as the usual offerings ,croissants were available hot from the oven
We dropped down to the canal and strolled to Staveley Basin, where we could see work going on to prepare the cafe/ bistro for opening . We continued on the towpath to the newly built section, where there was plenty of activity to complete the final tasks and evidence of the huge scale of the construction work that has taken place. We had a brief stop to say hello to Paul, aka the Wobbly Runner- a prolific photographer/ commentator on the Chesterfield and other canals ( railways too) Several of our group follow Paul’s excellent contributions on Facebook and YouTube.
We were delighted to see that the new section of canal is now full of water (since last Friday!) and this DFBS walk was probably the first by any organised walking group following the filling of the canal. We wandered on to the end of the new section at Bellhouse Basin, then continued along the Puddle Bank and the Norbriggs Arm.
Our walk then left the canal behind and we crossed the Norbriggs Flash nature reserve , where one of our group saw a very rare butterfly and then it was back along the Arkwright Trail to Staveley Hall – about 3.5 miles in total
Thanks David for a lovely walk.
Please note the superb featured image of the rare Clouded Yellow butterfly, taken by Graham Gill at Norbriggs Flash Nature Reserve. The butterfly was spotted by Graham’s wife Eileen.