Walking on water - Part 1.

[t-tony]

My brother Steve told me yesterday that he and his wife went somewhere he hadn't been for nearly 50 years on Friday night. It was only 3/4 of a mile from our house and it was the old railway bridge over the River Trent at Torksey. It has been opened as a foot and cycle way across the river so me and Shirl went for a walk across the water. As kids we used to use ropes to get down onto the island to go fishing and we used to go through the box sections across the river, which had no bottoms and you had to step from one girder to another about 30' above the water (would I do that now?)

This is where we accessed the "box" sections over the river, they are now closed off.

Another thing we did was to climb up the centre supports and walk along the top of them.(must have been crackers!)

You can clearly see how the years have not been kind to the original steel work on the other side which remains uncovered.

This was the exit from the "box" section at the other side of the river.

This first part gets us over into Notts.

Tony.

 

[oldcarman]

It's amazing we reach these ages when we think of the risks we used to take in the name of adventure! Glad you survived @t-tony!

 

[Shelly]

Great photos @t-tony
And lovely write up

 

[Grumps]

Bit of history @t-tony. Nice to see.

 

[hard top]

Looks grim up North....

 

[Sean d]

I once fished a match on the stretch Tony, it was a right hike from where the coach parked, a number a flatfish where caught, I was shocked that they swim that far up river, caught my first ever chub in that match, I was only a young un then,

 

[Jack Ratt]

That place looks familiar @t-tony
About 6-7yrs ago I was working for a wire rope manufacturer in Birmingham and one of the jobs I did was to install stainless steel wires to some fences along an old dis used railway along side the river Trent, near to Cottam Power Station. The railway is now a cycleway / bridle path.
We used to park where the old station used to be and the guy who lived there when I was working there rented an out building to a guy who repaired old cars, there was a Jensen under restoration at the time. Behind the outbuildings they kept a few pigs and also had a rough moto cross track that his young grandson used to ride round.
I can't remember the guys name though but he told me he used to race motorbikes in his youth.

 

[t-tony]

That would have been the bridge over thr Trent between North and Soutn Cilfton mate. The guy who lived at the old station at North Clifton would've been Bob Chapman maybe?

Tony.

 

[Jack Ratt]

Could well have been Bob Chapman, but really can't remember. It's a lovely quiet place

 

[t-tony]

Could well have been Bob Chapman, but really can't remember. It's a lovely quiet place

It is now there's none of those noisy trains, that cycle path runs through to Lincoln at least. Not too sure how much further it goes.

Tony.

 

[TaffZee]

We were all crackers in our youth, now you probably wont believe this but in my youth, we used to play a game on the structure below, we would climb through the bars and walk the entire length of it outside of the bars. And ( I only done this once and was terrified) me and a friend climbed under the trough onto the support beams. Still Have nightmares about it.

Some info on the Aqueduct: http://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk/en-gb/top-ideas/pontcysyllte-aqueduct/

 

[t-tony]

Youth has little fear Jim. Nice pictures mate.

Tony.