Nottingham – Beeston Canal, Nottingham

A few weekends back I decided to go for a walk around Attenborough Nature Reserve. I was planning on getting the train there (a quick 10 minutes or so from Nottingham Railway Station) but my dad asked if he could tag along so he drove us there. However the car park was the busiest I have ever seen it, we couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere, so instead we drove to near the Beeston Lock/Beeston Marina section of the canal where you can park on the street for free and walked along the canal and into the Nature Reserve from there. It was very sunny if a bit cold near my house but once we reached the canal we were surprised to see a great deal of fog, though it made for some very atmospheric photos.

This part of the Nottingham Beeston Canal was referred to as the Beeston Cut, built as an addition to the Nottingham Canal that had been developed to ensure colliers around Nottingham could easily and cheaply transport their coal and was opened in 1796.

One fun thing to keep a lookout for is the pirate outside the Riverside Bar.

On the way back from the nature reserve (which will feature in a later post) we crossed over the bridge by Beeston lock to go and have a look at the weir. The weir produces hydro-electric power and apparently it has a system that can steer salmon onto a fish ladder so they don’t get hurt in the turbines.

There is a circular walk from the weir and a heritage centre that I’ll be sure to pop into at some point. It’s a lovely area to walk no matter the weather. You can find some more photos here.