Reporting from the Downs Again- Day 8 | Long Eaton

Day 8 - River Trent & Teenage Swans

Paul who happened to host us was extremely courteous! He graciously offered to take us out on a walk on his usual walking/running route. Of course I readily agreed. So we set off on a relaxing morning stroll; all of us had our hats on and Paul carried a special walking stick too! He used that to beat the bushes. The overgrown springy bushes in some of the paths literally took a good old beating of this walking stick.

Near the Lock Gate by River Trent

The initial stretch of the walk was through the Long Eaton neighbourhood, the houses are slightly different up north and also the roads are pretty flat compared to the rolling Sussex roads down south. On our walk, we saw some of the houses sporting democratic/liberal party flags. Election was due in another couple of weeks.

River Trent Dockyard

We came up to a very old building which happened to be a library where Paul and DD’s ancient ancestors used to work. Now the building has been repurposed into an office or something. We crossed a bridge over the River Trent and went into Leicestershire.The walk then continued along the winding Trent river. It was a narrow river with lots of stylish boats docked on either banks. We came up to the lock gate which was a lovely little area with nice park benches, green fields, cutesy cafes. We got very lucky with our timing as the moment we stepped on to the bridge over the river, a boat seemed to float in to cross the lock gate. We quickly became part of the chuckling audience.

The Lock Gate in Action!

One of the persons was manoeuvring the boat whilst the other one jumped on to the bank to open the lock gate on either side. She had to open one side and then cross over the bridge and then open the other side whilst the boatman waited patiently. Obviously, we could have helped to speed up the process but we just decided to stand and chuckle. The gate did open with a slow grumble and the water filled in making way for the boat.

The proud Heron

After this little episode, we again set off on our walk, tracing the river route back on the other side now. This side of the river was a bit shaded and we met a very long necked, proud heron, several ducks, a few swans and then, a bunch of fluffy teenage swans! There were five or six medium-sized swans with grey fluffy hair sitting in the sun whilst their parents guarded them with hissing sound. Grey, teenage swans! Who would have thought !

Grey fluffy teenage Swans !!! Wow !!!

We finally rounded our way back to the West Park where we had come for a walk the previous evening and then headed back home where a patte sandwich and coffee made the day just perfect!

Walk by the River Trent...

It was such a pleasant walk with the sun on our back, every corner of the road so full of green, the willows making the river extra special. The rest of the evening was nice and snoozy as we spent time with the family in front of the tele watching England just about getting lucky in the football match. Who knew England would finally make it to the finals in this year’s euro-championship after that performance!