Hucrai three

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Hucrai here.

A fairly easy walk on sandy well drained ground. Points of interest along the way and well provided with services. Much of the route uses the well walked Robin Hood Way and apart from some short missing bits the road walking has pavements. No serious hills and bus stops for service 141 along the way should it be needed.

The meeting point at Hucknall station is some distance from the town market place so our departure dives immediately into housing rather than services. Fortunately there is a new small supermarket a short distance in to stock up if required.

The Papplewick Trail looks fairly new and offers a pleasant green and blue corridor but it does avoid most of the village, so take your pick. At Top Farm, by the Hall, we meet the Robin Hood Way which may explain the creation of the footpath that avoids walking the narrow road.

We only touch the edge of woodland on the path to the Mansfield road before entering Ravenhead which to me feels like a settlement in the green belt created by upmarket squatters. A garage with shop could offer a drink on a hot day.

The next path gently climbs a hill so there are good open views with sheep and yes pigs. Crops elsewhere appear to be carrots and beet but our friendly farmer JBJ is not here to advise.

Taking the main street through Blidworth has the advantages of avoiding building sites and offers more shops, services and if needed a bus. The pavement for departure is wide and shared as a cycleway which turns off before us. Our path has a notice 'no cycles'.

OpenStreetMap offers a good choice of paths across the green open space leading to Preston Road but they are not definitive and an earth mound suggests this is another site awaiting more housing. So I stayed on the wide surfaced footpath and then the roadside pavement into Rainworth.

I walked (most of) this with Ken yesterday, from Hucknall to Rainworth. The original plan to use a more direct unofficial footpath from the Tippings Wood nature reserve into Rainworth had to be abandoned because earthworks across the path suggested that we were not welcome. The right of way footpath is mostly surfaced and is a lot less muddy than our variation, and I don't feel the need to walk the rest of it to verify it. Only one stile on the whole route, but the A60 crossing (on a part of the route shared with HUCRAI 2) needs care, and there are a few steps.

Starting at Hucknall station, we go up the steps and turn right, turning right again onto Wigwam Lane which we cross using a pelican crossing, then turn left into Kenbrook Road. Where the road bends to the right beyond the school, we take the surfaced path straight on, then continue along Latin Grove, then another surfaced path. Just beyond Kenbrook Road (which takes a longer route) we cross the hedge through a small gap. Beyond we are forced to turn left, because there is no direct way forward that doesn't involve locked gates. Our route goes right along Peregrine Road and right into Hobben Crescent, then along a compacted gravel path which leads to Papplewick Lane by the Leen bridge. We go right a short distance to find the new trail left through Moor Ponds Wood to Linby Lane, where we go left a short distance and cross into a small car park to pick up the path through another wood. Just before the mill pond we cross the Leen and continue to reach the Linby to Papplewick path used in HUCRAI 2 (we then follow this route as far as Blidworth).

The field path goes through a couple of gates to reach the narrow lane that leads to Papplewick church. We follow the lane out onto Main Street where we turn left. Beyond Hall Lane there is a short section with no pavement, beyond which a path follows the edge of the wood next to the road. At one point this goes up a flight of steps. Where the path rejoins the road it is possible to stay on the verge to the field path where we turn right. This path goes left along the edge of a wood, then turns half right through the wood. At the far side of the wood, the path has been diverted slightly further left/north than the right of way line. The path leads out to the A60, which we cross with care and patience (there is no central refuge but there is a clear view for some distance in both directions). We continue down Kighill Lane, then go a short distance left along Longdale Lane to find the start of the field path. This path has good views and is one of the most enjoyable parts of the route. Eventually it leads past a pig farm to Main Road (B6020), where we go straight on past the junction on the right, then turn right into a well marked field path that crosses fields and allotments to emerge on Field Lane. There are gates all the way along this path until the last one onto Field Lane, where the large gate is locked and we are forced to use the only stile on the whole route.

We turn left up the hill into Blidworth, joining Main Street which we follow down into the centre of Blidworth, which has a wide variety of shops and fast food outlets, but oddly no pub. We continue up Mansfield Road, crossing to the right hand side on a pelican crossing. Beyond the Miners Welfare, we turn right along a signposted path that is surfaced but partly covered in mud, and descends a few steps before taking a straight line along the edge of the wood. We come to a path junction on the edge of Rainworth, where we go half left to emerge on Mansfield Road, which we follow right into Rainworth centre and the meeting point.

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