Turn right onto Station Road, and you are now leaving old Melbourne, although the area here isn't unpleasant. This suggested route indicates leave the line at Forty Foot Lane to get up to Melbourne Road. This might not be advisable if conditions are muddy or if you are on “wheels” as the Lane is cross country & from memory I believe getting off the line to the lane is not paved, and additionally at the other end of the lane Melbourne Road does not have a pavement and is a busy, fast road. This is a road, but even if an event is on it is relatively quiet if all the attendees are in the track perimeter. Head up the entrance road until the track perimeter wall is in front of you, then turn right following the road. Leave the Donington Park site onto the East Midlands airport perimeter road (turn left). East Midlands Airport north perimeter:. Walking along the perimeter road, on your left you will see a road ramp up to a field gate. Turn left down towards Donington down Hill Top / High Street until you get to the Nag’s Head Inn (popular on sunny days with a good outside seating area) and turn right onto Diseworth Road. At the end of the road (no pavement but road only used by plane spotters) you are at one of the prime aircraft spotting points at one of the airport perimeter gates. Turn left here and you will be on the perimeter track....

finbarrinz

Started walking this one from Melbourne to Kegworth, but was forced to abandon because the FP20 path through the west end of Donington Park was closed and partly fenced off due to preparations for the download festival. No problems with the path to Castle Donington or the road walk through it, though apart from a Spar just off route I didn't spot any facilities. Beyond, Donington Park seems very full of metal fencing, and the narrow path around the high perimeter fence of the race track is overgrown, little used, a little muddy at times and not very pretty A little slightly unpleasant road walking (mostly in a 40 mph zone but limited verge space) takes us to the old station, beyond which a simple pavement walk takes us to the meeting point....

Hugh Hudson

Getting off road south of Gotham the walk is good but before that it's challenging especially with the development taking place on what was Clifton Meadow. It is important that a footpath route is maintained because the road is not a pleasant one to walk along. Meeting the road a footpath opposite follows the old route of the road over Cheese Hill, the sign will tell you more. Meeting the road again there is a pavement into Gotham. At the road it's a direct route after the canal and river bridges along a short cut footpath into Kegworth and the meeting place by the church with shops and buses....

Ken

I walked to Long Eaton, potential for cattle, floods and a few stiles on the anglers path by the river, gates on the definitive paths. By choice I would have taken the definitive path rather than the river side but either route is still prone to flooding around Ratcliffe Lock as could be seen from recent scouring....

Ken

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

We go straight on through the Market Place then left up Chapel Street and right along the edge of the village along Oakley Road, past a park and straight on where the road becomes a farm track. Beyond the road we go straight on across another field to New Brickyard Lane, then straight on along London Road, east on Whatton Road (a short section lacks a pavement) then up an alleyway that leads to the meeting point in the Market Place....

Hugh Hudson

A really good connecting route for the villages to Loughborough and extremely easy to follow....

Ben Fern

Avoiding the first small, flooded part of the canal path, the puddles that were there could be walked around. I decided to return to the bridge, but as I got back to the boggy area, I saw a yellow route marker pole that wasn’t visible in photo 3, so a quick hop over the mud and up the flood bank and I was back on the route (photo 5). (The Keglon 2 path was visible from the flood bank path and so I don’t think that a new route is warranted – this review is enough to let you know that it is possible to continue.). There was another flood just after the bridge underpass (photo 7), but a small path next to the bridge took me onto higher ground, where I walked to the stile just past the bend and onto well defined fields and to the lane (photo 8). At the café (photo 13) I walked across the bridge to get back onto the canal path, which took me all the way into Long Eaton (photo 14)...

Lynn Jackson

We turn right onto Selby Lane and cross the square under the church and take the road to the left of the Co-Op which leads to a surfaced path. We turn left off this onto Wright's Orchard then right onto another surfaced path that leads us to the edge of the village. The path continues along another field edge to Wysall Road, where we turn left, following a few twists and turns then turning right into the narrow but quiet Fairham Brook Lane, which leads us into Bunny. At Scotland Farm we go right to join the farm road down to Kingston Brook, where we follow the right hand bank over a couple of stiles and then cross a footbridge to the left bank, which we follow into Kingston (the path skirts the edge of the final field rather than using the shortcut shown by the right of way on the map)....

Hugh Hudson

A walk of three parts, to Long Whatton excellent walk no stiles. South of Long Whatton a mix of stiles and gates then narrow fenced and a bit overgrown south of Mitchell's Spring Farm, keep to the footpath at the mast, not the track....

Ken

After crossing the first of the two canal bridges at the lock, we follow the riverside path (Trent Valley Way), which has a fairly well smoothed gravel surface. We remain by the river as far as a railway bridge - the path crosses the Trent next to the railway and the bridge has access ramps on both sides. Here the Trent navigation separates from the river and we follow the surfaced canal-side path up to the bridge on the B6540, where we rejoin KEYLON 1. As on KEYLON 1, we leave Warren Lane at an obvious bend and take the field path straight on....

Hugh Hudson

Leaving Kegworth, rather than going straight down Nottingham Road and Mill Lane, the route uses the Lovers Walk path, which is narrow and a little overgrown in places - for me this seems like an unnecessary complication. We rejoin Mill Lane and take the short cut path straight on to join Station Road and cross the bridges over the Soar and the canal. Immediately beyond the canal bridge, the riverside path goes down steps to reach the track in the field - the gate where the track joins the road appears to be locked. Having crossed the canal on the road bridge, the route ahead follows the west bank of the Soar, but first there are three bridges to cross, and the third (southernmost) has steps either side of it....

Hugh Hudson

The first part through Clifton is mostly pavements apart from the path past Glapton Wood, but the edge of the urban area is soon reached without trouble. The path across towards Gotham has changed quite significantly in the last two years thanks to the ongoing building work in the fields south of Clifton. The path is soon reached - two old green lanes take you most of the way to the next road and the continuation across the field is obvious. The path soon leaves the road to go through the wood, one of the best parts of the walk....

Hugh Hudson

I managed to lose the correct line through the gravel workings north of the A453 - as Stephen says the right of way line is no longer possible, as new gravel pits have submerged part of it, but the waymarking of the new route (which is actually shorter if you find it first time) is inadequate when going from south to north, and although it is tempting to create an alternative route that shows the current line, work on the site is ongoing so it is possible the route may change again....

Hugh Hudson

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

After the bridge the route follows rights of way across the fields and under the railway to reach Kingston on Soar....

StephenWalker

After rejoining the road, and crossing over the canal, a footpath between the houses leads to a crossing under the railway and then more quiet residential roads lead to the bridge over the river Trent. After the bridge, a farm track alongside the main road leads to a footpath across the fields....

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

The map suggests walking through an industrial area but in reality it's mostly screened by a belt of greenery providing a good route out of town. After Bishop's Meadow Lock the canal joins the river proper and the path follows a wide grassy track close to the water offering very pleasant walking. It operates on summer weekends only but it offers an opportunity to access Normanton with its community shop and cafe plus the inn, then road and path walk to Zouch. The route crosses the road and joins the canal on the north bank so if you want use of the inn stay on the road, it's then possible to continue further to rejoin the route using a cross field bridleway. I'm not persuaded by the final loop, even those who have named the path would have difficulty walking hand in hand along this narrow neglected path, stay on the road unless a kiss and cuddle is your intention on Lovers Walk....

Ken

If this walk ended at the midpoint in Gotham then I'd give it 5 stars, it's a lovely mix of open fields, nice villages and wooded areas. However, the public footpath across the fields north of Gotham is completely non-existent, clearly this farmer doesn't take too kindly to walkers on their land. When it does reappear just south of Clifton, it's been diverted by a housing development so there will be heavy machine crossing its path during working hours...

MagneticSpy