To avoid this go through the gate on your right (Photo 2) and turn left into Waterside Close until you reach Longmoor Lane. Turn left and then right down a path (Photo 3) that connects you back with the walk. Eventually you reach the Navigation Inn, where you turn left along Risley Lane to reach the centre of Breaston....

Malcolm

The best part of the walk is through West Park in Long Eaton where you pass the Sundial and Planet Garden. The Trentbarton Indigo bus service connects both ends of the walk....

Malcolm

However, you'll want to be on the south side of the road before the motorway; the road becomes wider and difficult to cross once the bridge is reached, and there’s no safe crossing at the island either. But for anyone not in a hurry, it’s a much more pleasant walk, worth an extra star, with the only traffic encountered being an awkward unaided crossing of Bostocks Lane, an easier crossing of Longmoor Road, and — same as this route — the final approach along Derby Road to Long Eaton Green....

Chris Chapman

I walked this path from Melbourne to Breaston. There was plenty of soft mud on the ground on the route out of Melbourne and the canal towpath, but nothing deep or wet; certainly nothing to worry about with sturdy shoes. The second troublesome section was the Coffin Walk approach to Breaston, which was flooded edge-to-edge (and beyond) in several sections; water at least 5cm deep in places (probably deeper, I wasn’t about to step into the middle and check), and thick, sucking mud. (I ate lunch on another comfortable bench about 1km from Shardlow, though unfortunately, also in earshot of the noisy A50.) Please note, however, that north of Shardlow there are no opportunities to sit for the last 5km of the walk, until arrival in Breaston village (where there’s a small park at the north end of the market place with some benches). The only other amenities along the route are in the only significant settlement the route passes through: the old canal port village of Shardlow, about a third of the way from the Breaston end of the walk....

Chris Chapman

There is one stile just west of the M1, which is only avoidable by walking along Longmoor Road rather than following the canal line through the fields - I think most active walkers would prefer the field path. Either way we rejoin Longmoor Road to cross under the M1 bridge, then follow the path right over a stile and through a series of gates and x`fields, some of which may contain horses, to reach Risley Lane, where we turn right and follow the road into Breaston, where the meeting point is a short distance right along Main Street....

Hugh Hudson

From the meeting point at Breaston, we cross Main Road (there is a pelican crossing a few yards east) then take the lane right of the church yard and follow the field path right, crossing a few stiles to join Coffin Walk path to reach the railway bridge, where there is a choice of ramps or steps on both sides. At Wilne Road we turn right, and just beyond a right turn we take the footpath left to reach a footbridge across the Derwent, then cross a large open sheep pasture to reach the gate at the end of Wilne Lane. We cross the church yard and the stile beyond and turn right to reach Packhorse Road, where we turn left and follow the roads more or less straight on to the meeting point in Melbourne market place....

Hugh Hudson

As others have noted, the steps on the east side of Longmoor Road are closed and protected by locked gates - the new route shows the shortest diversion route onto Waterside Close here....

Hugh Hudson

From Shardlow there is an adequate but muddy path across the fields and a couple of short stretches of road through the Wilnes....

StephenWalker

Beyond the bridge we pass (or stop at) several pubs then take the second footpath left (Church Avenue) to Wilne Road, where we cross, go left and follow another path to Shirley Street, then right along Draycott Road. Eventually we cross a footbridge over Golden Brook and follow the path between garden fences, then left past the school, right up Sawley Road and left along Main Street to the Breaston meeting point (there is a pelican crossing across Main Street near the meeting point)....

Hugh Hudson

The field section immediately after you pass under Derby Road at the half way point can get very overgrown in the summer and very muddy in the winter....

Husk

As far as Derby Road this is a well surfaced cycle track, but after the cycle track joins the road the path quality deteriorates, with steps leading under the road and a field path of variable quality with a number of stiles....

Hugh Hudson

Easy to follow, fully surfaced throughout and fully accessible. Just rather boring, with a lot of road walking....

Hugh Hudson

The route followed the path of Melbor 1 for the first mile, onto the Derby-Ashby railway cycle track and the Pocklington section of the Trent-Mersey Canal. There are different canal bridges of all shapes and sizes to pass under, and the canal locks were in constant use. From Shardlow I took a left turn away from the canal, onto a quiet road through Great Wilne, into fields and across a foot-bridge over the Derwent to get onto The Midshires Way....

Lynn Jackson

There are quiet residential roads leading to the crossing under the railway and then more quiet residential roads lead to the bridge over the river Trent. The route rejoins Long Lane and enters Kegworth on the pavements of quiet residential roads....

StephenWalker

It's a mix of field walking, quiet narrow lanes, pavements alongside a busy road and quiet urban estate roads. Once on the river bridge it becomes essential to cross the busy road as the pavement annoying changes sides....

Ken

I'm impressed by the heritage cottage at Sandiacre Lock and excavating the lock on the Derby Canal, great work by volunteers....

Ken

At least the roadside walking at the Breaston end has a good pavement....

StephenWalker

The field path leaving Breaston parallel to Longmoor Rd was soft, but by no means impassable....

StephenWalker

There are nicer routes via the fields between Risley and Breaston than this pavement route (with a quick jump onto a scrubland path between houses). But this is a more direct and quick route. I prefer walking to Breaston via Derby Road and then Risley Lane, but that does involve going up the hill out of Sandiacre if you're on a bike/in a wheelchair....

Husk

The footpath behind Longmoor Road in Long Eaton is gravelled and wide, once being the old canal....

The line of the Derby canal offers some easy walking along a surfaced cycle route....

Ken

Accident on M1 was causing tailbacks as I walked over the bridge, nice to be out walking. A filling station, no fuel like so many Sept 2021 but a shop if supplies are essential before Breaston. There really is no alternative to the road walking here but the Derby canal from Sandiacre Lock would offer a route for a longer walk away from traffic....

Ken

This is a functional replacement for Brelon_1 that is saved by the walk through West Park in Long Eaton. The road surface is smooth but there is an incline walking for the M1 motorway....

Lynn Jackson

After the motorway, it deviates from the most direct route which continues along Derby road, to go through West Park, providing a scenic alternative, before returning to the main road via Long Eaton Cemetery and the appropriately named Lime Street....