Marnew one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I walked this route in March starting at Ollerton hub. Good variety of shops and refreshments here. Quiet pavements to begin, and then the crossing of the A614 which others have discussed. There are at least refreshments here now. The section parallel with the A616 is difficult to follow. This trod was narrow and muddy after a week of wet days. Just keep following the power lines and the fence around the former tip. After the third tight bend on the bridleway (SK 62868 68385) there is a wide track heading west down to the road. This is a dog-walkers layby and gives access to the Sherwood Forest Country Park.
Straight across the road and follow the curving track through Robert's Plantation all the way to the major oak. This cuts out a mile of poor track. Its worthwhile if you are not intending to visit the fleshpots and cafes of Edwinstowe [it would also work the other way leaving the Major Oak] . Thereafter there are good tracks in the remaining woodland section. The section the woods at Bottom Vals Hill and along Ling Lane was pretty muddy. Pavement alongside the road to Warsop. This was a functional route, but not a pretty one.

The middle part of a long three route walk from Shirebrook to Sutton on Trent, so I started from Market Warsop.

For the most part it is a good route, though I share the previous reviewer's reservations about tricky road crossings (especially the Ollerton A614 roundabout which is very busy and has no pelican crossings). The path round the old Thoresby colliery site is easy to follow west to east but is unsurfaced and narrow in places, passing through a lot of bracken on sandy soil. If you are lucky, you may find wild raspberries. The section from Warsop to the Major Oak is on good paths, but the first part as you enter the wood is unsurfaced and a little rutted - I suspect it gets muddy when wet. I found the road walk out of Warsop a little dull - the west side of the road has pavements all the way but the one on the east side stops before the railway bridge. Note that I missed out a very short section in New Ollerton because my plan for the day was a very long walk and I didn't see the point of visiting the meeting place and doubling back.

An easy walk, no stiles no cattle, mostly good surfaces. The plotted route is good but needs care because the route sometimes leaves the obvious well walked path. No services on route but seats at the Major Oak. Only the one point of interest but good shaded woodland walking on a sunny day.

I walked New Ollerton to Market Warsop on a hot dry day. The meeting point is good then a roadside pavement to Ollerton (Old) which has a water mill, fresh clear stream and other interesting features. Not an easy crossing at the busy roundabout and the information centre and public loos has been replaced by a large eating place so the path is not so easy to locate. The sign here points to a public bridleway but it's not on the map so no idea as yet where it goes (found it on http://www.rowmaps.com/ the path is now Bridleway Edwinstowe BW24).

The path we follow is not recorded as public (see edit above) but available, it leaves the well surfaced path and become a narrow rutt perhaps popular with cyclists. It eventually follows the old boundary fence of Thoresby Colliery to join a recorded bridleway where it turns west then south. This is a significant and tedious detour so I hope in the fullness of time a better route will be discovered across the colliery site which is being redeveloped.

The bridleway ends on a road. There is available a direct crossing but again it's not recorded as public so could disappear. The Slow Way soon meets the Robin Hood Way to pass the famous Major Oak said to have been the home of Robin Hood, in case the name fails to ring any bells for you. Seats here but nothing else as I passed.

Robin (RHW) eventually heads north but we continue and now in Access Land we can be confident of our right to be present, not so sure about the bikes that passed on the wide well surfaced path as there were no signs now to guide us.

We meet Robin again, returning to a right of way then a footpath that becomes a bridleway named as Ling Lane. The final stretch is along the speed humped road into Market Warsop where some drives enjoy the thrill of the humps while others use our pavement to park in safety forcing me to walk in the road.

The meeting place in Market Warsop is good with seats, shops and a bus stop close by. A difficult Slow Way to mark, poor crossing of a major road, lots of unrecorded paths, no services and a rather annoying detour around the former colliery site.

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