The Big Wheel puts Nottingham’s canal on the map with The Big Track

While the Government has recently announced £15 million extra funding for cycling, Nottingham got in ahead of the game.

Last week The Big Wheel team, which promotes public transport, cycling and walking in Greater Nottingham, officially launching The Big Track – ten miles of pure pleasure. The Track is a circular car free route along Nottingham’s watersides, from West Bridgford to Beeston along the River Trent and canal.

The Big Track runs near many of Nottingham’s major sites – Trent Bridge cricket ground and the two football clubs, Castle Marina, Riverside Retail Park, Experian, Boots, Wollaton Park, The Castle, Nottingham Station and, of course, the city centre. Extensions at either end of The Big Track run out to the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont and the Attenborough nature reserve and new centre.

The Big Wheel’s map and booklet gives loads of reasons why you should walk and cycle. Walking along The Big Track for 20 minutes uses as much energy as 17 minutes weight training in a sweaty gym, for instance. While regular cyclists have fitness levels that are ten years below their actual age, according to the Government.

The booklet also contains the history of Nottingham’s waterways, specially researched by local historian Chris Matthews. It shows you where to find the old Hethbeth Bridge, used by kings and queens to cross the Trent – a perilous journey as it kept being swept away. Then there’s the 18th century mortuary where bodies washed up by the river would be stored. On a lighter note there are old playing fields, reputed to be some of the finest open spaces for games in the whole of England, where early morning cricket and football on Shrove Tuesday would be played. When sport was formalised, this was where the city’s major clubs were set up.

The booklet also lists the birds that you can spot. Or maybe the birds will be spotting you. Did you know that migrating species look down and use the River Trent to help them navigate, for instance?

“The Big Track represents a really big effort by both the City and County Councils to actually change the way people get around,” said Derek Brewer, chair of the Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership. Mr Brewer, who is also Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, has been actively supporting the use of public transport, walking and cycling to get to Trent Bridge. A Big Wheel map with bus stops and the section of The Big Track that runs down the canal towpath is now given out to fans at the Trent Bridge ground, for instance.

“Around a third of people say they would walk more if there were better facilities, which is where the Big Track comes in,” said Lynn Hanna of the Big Wheel. “A quarter of all our trips are one mile or less – that’s easily walkable. And three quarters of all personal journeys are less than five miles – just half an hour by bike. That half an hour could hardly be better spent. Just half an hours exercise, five days a week, can dramatically lower your chance of heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. The Big Track is a simple, really enjoyable way for people to get fit.”

The free Big Track map and booklet will be available all over Nottingham at libaries, health centres, leisure centres along with tourist and transport information centres.