On Day 11 I found Colwick Quays. Who knew we had Quays? There was neither ship nor sailor in the rigging anywhere to be found, just logistics parks and container depots, probably the modern equivalent of quays these days so I thought perhaps the sign was a pointer to a bygone invisible past that no-one knew much about.
However, on Day 12 I found them (I think) behind the industrial estate, next to the river (of course) but a shadow of their former selves. There’s a great industrial heritage project here somewhere for someone.
And on the very next day, Day 13, I went out to Colwick again to look for the Netherfield Lagoons. I hadn’t known until recently that we had lagoons in the UK, never mind in Netherfield. But what a sight they were: the remnants of industrial riverside heritage, banks of pink and white hawthorn, broom, lupins and teasels, all a stone’s throw from the anonymous retail site that is the Victoria Retail Park. You could go to that retail park every day and not have a clue what’s on the other side of those warehouses and bulk buying emporiums.
One of the final ‘a-ha’ moments was finding the source of the Grantham Canal at the Trent, down by Lady Bay Bridge. I’d been perplexed over how the Beeston Canal could just disappear at the River Trent by the football stadia, only to turn up again in Gamston before it turned into the Grantham Canal. But then one morning, I found it, quietly innocuous at the side of Lady Bay Bridge, all silted up and neglected by the looks of it but that hadn’t put the local wildlife off.
It is of course sited ironically enough right next to the Trentside Environment Agency.
You can see an update of the campaign -and still donate if you wish – here.
Dr Nick Owen MBE PLUS 