Walks you can reach from Attenborough by train

Off-road walking and cycling alongside canal and river — a waterside network of paths. Passes the historic Trent Bridge.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Parks, river and heritage trail.

Museum of Making

Darley Park

Time: 5h–10h30

6 lunch spots: Darley Park (1h–2h30 in) — Darley Park Terrace Cafe, the Little Darley in the Park, the Abbey Inn, or the Darleys; plus the Joiners Arms (3h–6h in), or the Orangery Café (3h–6h in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Victoria Inn, or the Waterfall

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Similar walk: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership.

Canal, river, wooded track and roadside footpath.

Time: 4h30–9h30

2 lunch spots: Wilford Farm (1h30–3h in), or Dovecote Barn Café (3h–6h in)

Warnings: Short stretch on busy A453.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Waterways — River Derwent, Derby & Sandiacre Canal and Erewash Canal.

Time: 5h30–11h

2 lunch spots: Canal Cottage Cafe (2h30–5h30 in), or the Navigation (3h–6h30 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: Peking House, or the Sawley Junction

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Largely urban walking on pavements and a riverside path, through parks and along the line of the Derby Canal.

1 lunch spot: Waterside Café

Warnings: Only a few trains a day call at Peartree.

Walk details: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership (tips and turn-by-turn directions).

Mixture of off-road cycle path and on-road sections. Part of the longer London-to-Lake-District route.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Repurposed railway track along the Great Northern Greenway.

Time: 4h30–9h30

2 lunch spots: the Bell and Harp (1h–2h in), or the Three Horseshoes (2h–4h30 in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Alexandra Hotel, the Brunswick, the Waterfall, or the Merry Widows

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Time: 5h–10h

3 lunch spots: Gotham (3h–6h in) — the Sun Inn, the Cuckoo Bush Inn, or the Star Inn

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Public roads, footpaths and canal towpaths; railway embankments and woodland tracks and grass areas. Extensively documented railway history of the Long Eaton triangle spanning 1840–1968: wagon works, sheet stores and canal-transhipment facilities, with modern flood defences and Ratcliffe Power Station visible.

Warnings: One stretch alongside the River Trent is liable to flooding in very wet weather; beware of traffic turning off the roundabout at Tamworth Road; beware of fast-moving traffic on Fields Farm Road (40 mph). Canal towpath often under water when the river is in flood.

Walk details: Derwent Valley Line Community Rail Partnership (local insights).

Canal, footpaths and roadside footpath.

Time: 4h30–8h30

3 lunch spots: the Anchor Inn (1h30–3h30 in), the Blacksmith's Arms (2h30–5h30 in), or the Moorings (3h–5h30 in)

1 end-of-walk reward: the Boat Inn

Warnings: Last section on busy road.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Urban and suburban streets, golf-course path, woodland, abandoned canal towpath (partly waterlogged) and active canal towpath. Bennerley Viaduct gives expansive valley views — Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is visible 10+ miles distant. Approximate walking time 4–5 hours.

Time: 4h–8h

Warnings: Heavy traffic at the dual-carriageway crossing near Nottingham; canal paths shared with cyclists.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Flat, mostly on decent paths and along the River Soar and Grand Union Canal.

Waterway: nine tenths along the River Soar.

Time: 6h–12h

Lunch: Nowhere to eat en route — pack lunch!

3 end-of-walk rewards: the Boat Inn, the Navigation Inn, or the Hunting Lodge

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.