It was finally time to complete Nottinghamshire! I’d run at 42 different parkrun locations so far, but had still only visited 11 of Nottinghamshire’s 12 courses. 29 April 2023 was the time to put that right and pedal to Brierley Forest parkrun!
My plan had originally been to wild camp on the edge of the park. Then I’d looked at the forecast a few days before and the rain had made me consider an alternative plan. I’d sent a message to someone who lived right next to the park with a spare room on AirBnB on the Thursday morning. Unfortunately they had said it was too short notice. With that I was out of alternative options and squarely back to the camping plan! Thankfully the forecast got better as the date approached.
Pedal to Brierley Forest
I’d been away in York for a work conference on Wednesday and Thursday and had originally planned to take the Friday afternoon as annual leave. However, that didn’t really work out and I ended up cancelling my leave and just finishing at 4pm instead. I figured that still left enough time to do the 20 or so miles from home up to the park.
I packed in a hurry and got on my way.
The start of my route took me past the University of Nottingham and around the Nottingham ring road (cycle path).
I made a stop off at Lidl to grab some snacks as I hadn’t got any to take. I dutifully locked my bike and carried my heavy panniers all around the shop until I found what I needed – chocolate and fig rolls – who could ask for more!
When I reached Bulwell, I left the ring road and headed North.
I made use of the excellent new cycle lane on Hucknall Road. Then I moved onto the trails and passed Bestwood Country Park (home of another fine parkrun) and cycled through Mill Lakes. This part of the route was on NCN Route 6 and turned into the River Leen Valley route.
At this point I started passing through a succession of former colliery villages. First was Linby, once home to the most efficient coal mine in Europe! I stopped here for a little while as I’d picked up a little hitchhiker in my right eye and needed to coax him out!
Next I picked up the Linby trail. It was a pleasant and flat traffic-free route but a bit muddy after the wettest March/April for years!
My next pit stop (if you’ll pardon the pun) was Newstead. Today I went through the village but not the abbey grounds. The route was a bit odd. I passed a very slow man on a bike, who I assume went a more sensible way while I headed up through a back alley between two rows of houses with children playing out everywhere. When I emerged at the top the same bloke appeared for me to pass again.
My final colliery village was Annesley. I stopped to take a photo and the slow man passed me again.
After that I cycled through Kirkby in Ashfield and then Sutton in Ashfield. I had to make a brief stop in Kirkby to inspect and then photograph an Edward VII postbox (bit of a postbox nerd!). Edward VII only reigned for 10 years, so they’re not that common.
I finally made it to Brierley Forest park Just before 7.30pm. My plan was to ride around the park and scout out a spot in the trees to camp, head to the pub for tea, and then come back to my spot and set up my tarp and bivvy. I’d never solo wild camped before so I was keen to find a good spot, well out of the way.
However, there was a problem. Absolutely everywhere was wet and boggy. The trees either side of the photo above were standing in about 6 inches of water. The meadows I’d need to cross to get to some other patches of woodland were completely waterlogged too. I asked a couple who were heading out of the woods whether it got any less muddy. They said definitely not.
I carried on towards the pub. On the outskirts of the park I joined the Brierley Branch Line – a disused railway that had become a multi-use path. That then turned into the Silverhill Trail. I cycled along it for just under a mile when I spotted a field to the left just behind a hedge that could potentially work as a camp spot if I needed a last resort. I kept going, thinking that I’d probably just ask the pub if I could sleep in their garden instead.
When I reached a bridge I realised that the way to the pub was to scramble up a very steep, muddy footpath on the right and pop out on the road at the top through a kissing gate. All a bit easier said than done with a bike laden with heavy panniers!
I finally made it to The Woodend pub. I immediately realised that the garden was not a place I wanted to spend the night! Thankfully the pizza was tasty and the toilets gave me somewhere to pop my thermals on!
I’d cycled just under 24 miles to get to this point.
Fed and watered, I headed back down the bank in the dark towards my camp spot. There weren’t any trees to suspend my tarp from but it didn’t seem like it was going to rain so I abandoned that plan. I boiled up some water for my hot water bottle and settled in for the night.
I was a bit nervous but I didn’t have any major worries. At one point I was convinced I could smell someone smoking weed but there definitely wasn’t anyone around!
I woke up the next morning to find that the mist had descended. It made my camp spot look a lot nicer than it felt. I’m pretty sure it was hiding some fly tipping a few hundred metres away!
I got dressed, packed up (leave no trace!), and headed down towards the parkrun start. I was quite early as I hadn’t wanted to be discovered by any early morning dog walkers, so I stopped for a while to eat a few fig rolls by Brierley Pond.
Brierley Forest parkrun
I reached the visitor centre and got my all-important purple sign shots while it was still quiet! I chatted to a family from Surrey who were touristing on the way to visit grandparents up north.
Outside the visitor centre is a set of sculptures to commemorate the 20 miners seriously injured and the five that died in the Sutton Colliery (Brierley Pit) disaster in 1957. The accident was the result of gas within the pit igniting from a spark caused by a large rock falling on a circuit box.
I locked my bike up on a robust Sheffield stand and then wandered down to the finish, to deposit my panniers. There was a very helpful volunteer who insisted on putting them in the trolley to keep them dry and easier to find later.
As I headed back to the start I bumped into Clare and Andrea who I know from my YesTribe activities. Clare was part of the group I did the Yorkshire Three Peaks with last year.
We listened to the first timer briefing, where we were told that on the first lap you had to say “morning, marshall” and on the second lap, “thank you, marshall”. Not sure I 100% remembered this rule on the way round! Then the run briefing was given by a very young DofE volunteer who was run director for the first time.
Then we were off! The course is a two-lapper with some gentle undulations but nothing you’d really call a hill. It looks worse on the elevation profile than it felt! Each loop takes in a bit of the Brierley Branch Line and goes around the pond.
I finished in 28m 33s and 89th out of 208 participants.
There’s a café in the visitor centre but I didn’t have time to take advantage of it today! There’s a playground too, which might be fun to visit if you’re touristing with little ones.
I said my goodbyes to Clare and Andrea and headed off towards Sutton Parkway railway station.
The pedal home
It was just over 3 miles to the train station. I left the park a different way but followed much of the same ground I’d covered yesterday after that. I got there with about 5 minutes to spare before the train arrived.
There was one other person with a bike getting on when I did, and the conductor said there were two boys that had gone in the wrong door with their bikes at the last station who would be joining us too. I’m thankful they allowed four bikes on and that we could all fit.
I got off the train at Nottingham and cycled the four miles back along the canal to home.
Final thought
I like wild camping and I love parkrun, but I think it might be a bit too stressful to combine the two in future unless it’s possible to make a stronger plan. I didn’t get a lot of sleep and so I was pretty tired for the start of the parkrun. That said, I am very proud of myself for my completing first ever solo wild camp!