Raisou three

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Raisou here.

Walked from Southwell to Rainworth on a beautiful sunny winter afternoon. This is the longest of the three RAISOU routes but probably also the easiest because it has fewer hills. The Southwell trail is popular and a very quick way of walking from Southwell to Farnsfield. Beyond Farnsfield the field paths are of variable quality (a few ploughed fields but at least the soil is sandy), and one road crossing that requires care and patience, and one stile.

Leaving the meeting point at the Minster gate, we head right (north east) down Westgate into the town centre, then straight on up King Street which leads up the hill to the Burgage, a large open common space. We cross Lower Kirklington Road and follow Station Road past the Final Whistle pub, then turn left along the Southwell Trail, the old Newark-Southwell-Mansfield railway. This is now a good track, popular with both walkers and cyclists. We follow it for several miles, crossing the access road for Maythorne mill, under the bridge carrying the Kirklington road, past the old Kirklington and Edingley station. Eventually we branch off left along a bridlepath that becomes the surfaced Brickyard Lane on the edge of Farnsfield.

We cross the junction and continue along Main Street, past the Plough Inn, passing shops, cafes and the church then turning left opposite The Lion into Blidworth Lane. Where the road turns right we go straight on along a smaller lane, which leads to a bench, beyond which the path crosses large open fields (well marked at first, but the path disappears in the last field which had been ploughed recently) to the A614, where we meet the only stile on the whole route. This is a busy main road, so cross with care and patience - the path onwards is immediately opposite.

We continue across more large fields (some better marked than others) to reach a wood, where we go straight on then right into Boundary Wood (the old colliery site) along a wide forest track. We soon leave the track to join a smaller but well used path that follows a clearing near the edge of the wood around to rejoin the main track which leads down and around to join the old colliery railway which takes us easily to the edge of Rainworth, where the way down from the railway path doubles back from beyond the road. From here an easy pavement walk leads us down into the centre of Rainworth.

A walk of two halves taken on a cold day, the ground was mostly frozen so any mud was not an issue. No stock noted but unlike me they were perhaps kept indoors. No stiles that I recall, mostly good metal gates or gaps. A very easy walk along the Southwell Trail to Farnsfield then flat open fields and some commercial woodland around Blidworth on the light sandy soils. Good services half way along the main road at Farnsfield.

The route leaves the Minster passing through the town shops and services before meeting the Southwell Trail at what was long ago the railway station. The trail is flat, well surfaced and has good access so should be good for wheels and is open to cyclists. It is lined with trees and bushes so views are a little limited, unlike the days of steam when the embankments were kept clear to avoid the risk of fires.

I got a bit carried away and missed the departure point where a gate spoilt things by being rather muddy before a lane offers a quiet route into Farnsfield. Here you will find a tea room, two pubs and a Co-op store to take a break or stock up at the half way point.

Back in the fields which are flat and a bit bleak the route is well walked by locals but ignored by the farmer so the path through the crop could be narrow. I lost the trodden path in the last field, perhaps the locals head for the White Post Inn.

The road is busy, visibility if fair from this direction but it needs care to cross without assistance. This is the Robin Hood Way which signs and this plot takes the field edge rather than the invisible cross field path. Approaching Blidworth, a settlement this Slow Way ignores, we leave the definitive path and enter Boundary Wood. Here we follow the well defined but unsigned route which twists and turns along the low ground surrounding what was and is the spoil from Blidworth colliery, now covered with trees.

Entering the popular area of the 'park' the path passes through a wide green swath between trees to eventually meet the former rail route that served the colliery which operated from 1926 to1989. We overshoot our road route into Rainworth over the high imposing bridge then double back along a zig-zag path under the bridge to join the pavement alongside the busy road which offers evidence that Raisou-2 is not be a good walk without the safety of a pavement.

The meeting place offers a pleasant seating area with shops and bus stops.

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